cologne | Insight

Early start at St Pancras means that I should get to München at a sensible time of 6pm local time. The ticket told me to be at St Pancras at ten to six. An early start.

We came to a stop. Announcements came periodically as the delay lengthened. The reason was eventually announced. A train had broken down in the tunnel so only one line was available. Trains were being sent in one direction and then the direction was being switched. Eventually we got going.

Eventually we made it to…

The next train left slightly late, a DB IC, heading for Frankfurt, but I was due to change at Frankfurt airport.

The train took a curious route due to work on the more direct line.

The ICE got further delayed so I bailed out at Köln, seeing that I could catch a slightly delayed train heading to München. This proved to be a good move as the train was mobbed at Frankfurt. I had a seat.

The bright sun is getting low near Stuttgart

Arrived at München around 9 local time. Three hours late although the final train was actually early . A long day.

Met some interesting people on the way. The Portuguese lawyer working for the EU who can speak about 7 languages, and the group returning from a family wedding in Eritrea. All evidently having grown up in Germany as shown by German being their preferred language.

Now the international journey begins using the Interrail ticket.

The Interrail app is confused by the Farnham to Waterloo journey, thinking that I have to change at Woking, which I don’t, so I arrive early.

The cycle route was full of commuting cyclist. Some of which were very fast, some not so, and some who didn’t seem to be quite aware of what was going on.

Nice smooth journey across to Brussels Sud.

But things then start going awry. There is simply not enough time to make it from the Eurostar to the connecting train. A combination of being the wrong end of the train, passengers getting in the way and it being too far. Connection missed! Resulting in a two hour wait. Then the Köln train is shown with no platform and a bit of text suggesting that the train was going from another train. A quick check with the information confirms this and I am told to get on a local connecting train ton Brussels north. Not just a change of platform but a change of station.