Environment, Tourism

Hamburg

Hamburg combines a massive port, industry with a beautiful city including two large lakes, Binnen Alster and the Außen Alster. Lots of history, lots of culture, lots to see. And the there is the Elbe, used by ships to reach Hamburg, which is inland. The container port is built on the Elbe.

Hamburg has a really good public transport system including the S Bahn.

Hamburg has a number of impressive churches.

View from the St Michaelis , including the Hamburger Dom.
St Michaelis
Close up
St Nicolai Kirche
St. Katharinen Kirche
Petrikirche- the oldest site for a church.
Altona Kirche

Not as old as the churches is the Elbtunnel opened 1911. You can cycle or walk through it, free of charge.

View down the tunnel from the north side.
Looking up on the south side.

And then there is the Spiecherstadt. A complex of old warehouses next to canals. Now mainly repurposed.

A view of the warehouses next to a canal.

Some of the bridges have two levels.

Warehouses, picture taken from above the previous picture.

There are other interesting buildings.

Schanzenturm- now a hotel. Formerly the biggest water tower in Europe.
FC St Pauli stadium, Grüner Bunker and Fernsehturm.

The former bunker now has a garden on top.

Hamburger Rathaus

Every year the Hamburger Dom takes place in Winter. It has its origins in the 11th century.

There is a lot of culture in Hamburg, with the Elbphilharmonie standing out as a landmark, built on top of some warehouses.

Elbphilharmonie partially hidden by the bridge to the Spiecherstadt. St Katharinen Kirche in the background.

The Elbphilharmonie is a good place to view Hamburg and the Hafenstadt.

A view from the Elbharmonie.
The Elbharmonie has a long curved escalator.

The port is huge, the third largest in Europe. The Elbe gives an advantage, bringing goods inland reducing costs, but the downside is as the ships are getting bigger they can no longer travel up the river.

A view from the Köhlbrandbrücke.
Also from the Köhlbrandbrücke
Cranes for moving containers
Vehicles for moving the containers.
On a bus tour

There is of course the Reeperbahn

The Davidwache-the famous police station.
Just off Davidstraße is Herbertstaße. No men under 18 and no women allowed.

A few more Elbe related pictures.

Lock at Moorfleet.
Flood control barriers at Moorfleet.
Neue Elbbrücke.
Near Hammerbrook

Hamburg is a a beautiful city but like many cities it suffers from the dominance of cars. The roads are crowded with cars and the seems to be little observance of the 50km/h speed limit. Unpleasant!

There is good provision for cyclists, but could be better. Occasionally the routes are not clear and there are frequent road works which particularly seem to affect the cycle paths. Touring Hamburg on the bike was fun.

And a tip for rainy days. Buy a HVV day ticket and travel on the U3 , which does a loop, mostly above ground, sometimes elevated.

Travel

Wuppertal to Hamburg

Stayed at the Wuppertal Premier which is well situated.
Wuppertal station

Nice comfortable ICE train. However as the journey progressed it got later and later, eventually arriving 25 minutes late in Hamburg.

Just about to arrive at Hamburg HBF
Hamburg HBF

The Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is probably the most impressive station encountered on this trip.

Travel

Surrey to Wuppertal

Now the international journey begins using the Interrail ticket.

Starting at a crowded Farnham.

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.

Cycle route from Waterloo to St Pancras

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.

Packed for the Eurostar.
Ready for the off at St Pancras.

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.

Brussels connecting train.

Next the Köln train leaves late. So I miss another connection.

Köln

A 50min wait in Köln. I finally arrived in Wuppertal four hours later than planned.

Premier Inn German style
Room with a view
Travel

November travels- far north to the south

Setting off on the afternoon train with a grey sky.
It was already getting dark. A downside to traveling in November.
Inverness
This is the standard cabin on the sleeper

The standard cabin has no ensuite, you don’t get breakfast and cannot use the sleeper lounge.

Arrival at Euston
Paddington

Google maps appeared to put me on the wrong train so I potentially could have ended up in Taunton rather than Didcot. Ticket man pointed out the error and I was able to change at Reading.

Travel

Didcot to Inverness in an afternoon.

Didcot
London , heading to Paddington

A quick ride to Kings Cross.

Heading North- the Emirates.
Two Bromptons on board.
Power station in the distance
Durham
Near Morpeth
Alnmouth
Lindisfarne
Torness

Arriving in Edinburgh

A dash from platform 2 to platform 25 to catch the Inverness train. Tight.

Grangemouth in the distance
Stirling

The train that I took from Kings Cross to Edinburgh terminated in Stirling.

River Earn with reflections from inside the carriage.
Sunset in Perthshire
Late arrival in Inverness
Travel

Bridgwater to Dorchester

Bridgwater station

A ten minute journey from Bridgwater to Taunton followed by a wait of over hour.

Taunton
Glastonbury Tor in the distance

Next stop Castle Cary.

Castle Cary Station

Castle Cary station is a long way from anywhere.

A long wait at Castle Cary as the connecting train had an air leak with its brakes.

The train arrives at Castle Cary

Dorchester West
Plenty of room in the Premier Inn
Brewery square
Brewery square from the hotel
The bizarre place that is Poundbury
Sunrise

Travel

To the south west

Starting in sunny Thurso.
Loch Lucya I believe.
View across the Moray Firth
Waiting for the next train
Near Golspie
Cromarty Firth
Looking inland near Invergordan- low clouds
A monstrous cruise liner at Invergordon.

How could someone design such an ugly ship?

Approaching Inverness

I had to catch the lunchtime train to Inverness due to a reduced timetable.Time to kill in Inverness.

At Eden Court

Were they playing or tuning up?

Complementary drinks and snacks at the Sleeper Lounge.
Boarding the sleeper service
Started raining just after boarding
Breakfast at Rugby
Euston
Paddington Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal end
With waterfowl
Heading to Bristol

I had a seat booked in this train, which someone sat in- no point moving them as the seat next to it was free.

Bristol

I caught the Penzance train here. A few issues. Firstly the train rolled past platform 5 to platform 6, leaving everyone rushing over to get on board. And it wax crowded.

The Penzance train leaving Bridgwater
Bridgwater

Bridgwater is not particularly bonny, but I did find a picture to make it look good.

Environment, Travel

Coast to coast north south north by train

Low cloud in the far north

This journey, starting in the far north of Scotland, visiting Oxfordshire (twice), London, West Sussex, Poole, Surrey, Cheshire , Liverpool and Inverness.

Cloud still low
Rain has started
Change to the Caledonian Sleeper at Inverness.
Sunny breakfast on the move

No dishwasher working on the train, hence the disposable cup.

Sunny at Euston

The only issue on the cycle to Paddington was a close pass from a speeding motorcyclist. Why are they allowed in the bus lanes and why can’t they ride better?

Paddington

After chatting to the man on the train doing the food trolley he said he would give me a free tea, if he got time before Didcot. Very kind.

Vapour trails
Free tea
The Thames
Didcot
Didcot again

First train issue- train to Paddington delayed so caught a different train.

Cycle across London in glorious sunshine, taking in Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, London Eye…

I came across a new menace in London, motorised skateboards exclusively ridden by idiots. These are not legally allowed to be used on pavements, roads or cycle paths. What happens if collide with an illegal vehicle, with no insurance and no sense?

After a stay in London I trained on from south London via London Bridge to Sussex.

Eastbourne Pier
Eastbourne Pier from a different angle

The trip included cycling on the wonderful cuckoo trail. Lots of birdsong but no cuckoos heard,

Sunny view of the sea
Back on the train again at Eastbourne
Early start, so breakfast on the train
A green interlude
Brighton
Brighton station
River Itchen
Southampton station
Near Christchurch

A stop in Poole then back on the train.

Always end up in Reading 🙂
A rainy view of the Thames
After a wet ride from Didcot Station
Oops, accidentally got on first class at Didcot- on a crowded train

Change at Reading, on to Ash.

Ash

Fun at Ash, delayed train from Guildford due to something being thrown on the line.

A stay in Surrey for the weekend.

Leaving Farnham
London

Another cycle across London.

Euston station
Berkhamsted?
Chester station
Capenhurst
Liverpool

Things started going pear shaped at Liverpool from where I was trying to travel to Inverness.

Liverpool station

Caught an earlier train , which I was only able to do due to having arrived early at Liverpool.

Change at Preston for Edinburgh
Passing through Lancaster
Back into Scotland- sun getting low

The train got stopped, so my connection at Haymarket started looking unsafe,

Edinburgh Airport

Despite warning the conductor and his best efforts we missed the connection to Inverness. ScotRail refused to hold their train. Splitting up British Rail was not a good idea.

Shoved on a train to Perth.

Sun setting on the Forth
I did not expect to be going through Kilcardy

After a late taxi ride from Perth to Inverness I eventually got to bed.

Up bright and early
Back at Inverness station
Crossing the river Ness
Near Lairg
Sunny with a blue sea near Brora.
River Helmsdale
Near Kinbrace
Preparing to disembark
Travel

Two weeks (almost) around the UK by train

Flow country
The far north train
Daffodils are out at Forsinard
Breakfast
Cranes

Sleeper went via east coast so arrived from wrong direction at wrong time resulting in being parked up for an hour.

Cholsey
The Thames
Verdant
Gatwick is not a pretty station
Brighton
Gull in Rose Street
Edinburgh

A bit of industrial action and a few cancellations to make the trip more interesting.