I shared a cabin with five other travellers.
The train set off late evening? Travelling through Denmark in the early hours.
The train was a bit dated with a seventies vibe,
Now getting close to Stockholm,
Hamburg to Stockholm- through the night
Tag: river
London to Hamburg-four countries in a day
It’s an early start to catch the 0816 Eurostar to Brussels. The ticket tells me to turn up at 0701.
Not off to a good start, there is a 24 minute delay. But this should not be a problem as there is plenty of time for the connection at Brussels,
We travel through Kent.
Difficult to get decent photos from the train in Kent.
Struggled getting decent photos in France too.
I checked the notice board for the train to Cologne. Spotted that there was an issue, it looked like the train was delayed and was leaving from a different station, Brussels-Nord. I confirmed this, and was told what train to catch.
The next leg is to Hamburg. This train is also delayed, by maintenance work on the track.
The Far North, London, Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxford
A February far flung journey, starting in the north,
The downside to travelling this time of year is that it is dark for most of the journey, so not many views.
I had a really good nights sleep, waking up for breakfast in the buffet car.
Caledonian sleeper have added a new stop at Birmingham International. This looks potentially very useful. I saw the airport just after sitting down for breakfast.
No bike with me this time. I had an appointment in London within walking distance. The time to get there was pretty similar either by foot or public transport, so off I walked.
Then it was off to Marylebone Station, for my first ever visit. Also by foot.
Also first time I had seen the BBC buildings.
Things went a bit awry at this point. A goods train had broken down so the route was blocked.
Take a picture or filming shows how much the boards must flicker.
The intention is to get to Oxford to change trains. Eventually a train is provided with loads of carriages to enable taking all the passengers from the cancelled trains. The route to avoid the blockage involved travelling to Princess Risborough, the train then reversed heading to Bicester Village, where again it reversed, eventually arriving in Oxford.
At Oxford some of the tracks are sectioned off. There are no trains to Didcot, only rail replacement buses. This is why I went via Marylebone rather than Paddington.
Smooth onward journey to Moreton-in-Marsh.
After my appointment in Moreton-in-Marsh it’s back to Oxford in the dark.
Northwards in the sun
Manchester, Birchwood, Inverness – drama in Edinburgh
The train is delayed by trespassers.
The delay meant I could not get a decent lunch.
The train to Edinburgh was delayed due to trespassers. However there was plenty of leeway to catch the connecting train, especially if I changed at Haymarket.
As we headed north the delayed train lost time rather than catching up.
We arrived at Haymarket. As I got off the train. I heard the Inverness train leaving. That added another hour to the journey. Why can’t the trains cooperate to avoid these problems. It was minutes. And why was the Edinburgh train continually slowed down.
Time to kill so time to grab food.
Now this is when things got crazy.
I was looking at the display times for the trains on platform four. A man stumbled down the stairs grabbed hold of one my belt loops, span round out of control, falling off the platform, onto the train track. At that point my thoughts were , was a train coming, how do we get this man off the tracks, going down onto the tracks was not an option, too risky. We coaxed the man to his feet, and four complete strangers hauled the man onto the platform.. We restrained the man to stop a further incident.
I thought that the next train was mine, got on discovered it wasn’t. After getting on the correct train I realised just how traumatic I had found the incident.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The problem with catching the late afternoon train in autumn is that it’s dark. No views.
The ride from Euston to Paddington was less affected by the traffic lights than normal. As a result I managed to catch an earlier train to Reading.
Then on to Mortimer.
What a smooth journey, all the trains on time. No overcrowding. I had slept very well on the sleeper. A good journey.
And then……
On to the train at Reading to Manchester Piccadilly. It was rammed. Totally overcrowded.
Things started going really wrong and confusing as we went to Oxford. Announced that we would have to change trains. Then announced we would not have to change trains but we needed to go past Oxford into a siding and then come back. A long wait in the siding then back to the station. Then it was announced we would have to change trains after all.
There was a signal failure near Banbury.
We crossed Oxford Station and caught a train towards Hereford, changed at Worcester, heading to Birmingham. This was bad as now I was due to be in Manchester two hours late.
Change at Birmingham New Street. This is a very badly designed station. The signage is poor. Very confusing, The ugly side of architecture.
More delay due to trespassers on the track. The train had to go slow as a precaution.
The Premier Inn is a quarter mile from the station.
South by train – with a non-folding bicycle
First time traveling in a long while with a non-folding bike. The chief difference is that I had to book the bike on most of the trains, including the far north line and the sleeper.
A stunning train ride to Inverness.
The bike went into a room on a carriage for bikes and large luggage. Not sure about the way the bike is hung up.
Interesting ride, an impressive number of cyclists on route to work, some with no road sense. One, who was on my right, turned left across my path without looking or signalling.
Nice to be the fastest for a change. Faster than the bikes and the cars 🙂.
Some jeopardy getting onto the SWR train, as they don’t do bookings for bikes. Will I get a space?
It only required three trains to get from the north coast of Scotland to the south coast of England. Weather good all the way,
North
No window seat on the way to Paddington, so no photos.
Still had a four hour journey north and the sleeper breakfast is not sufficient. So..
Too much chatting to take pictures. I reach my destination only ten minutes late.
Surrey and beyond
The cycle lanes marked out in Guildford are beyond useless. No segregation, suggesting a totally inappropriate position for the cyclists to take on the road. I would cycle at least at the line. I actually cycled in the mostly in the middle of the lane to take the decision away from the drivers, so they did not attempt to overtake at the frequent traffic islands. Of course I was hooted at, but ironically I was going faster than the motorised vehicles. Guildford suffers from pollution,
There are plenty of stations in the commuter belt.
Someone had pulled a communication alarm on a train causing all the trains to be delayed.
Two days later headed back to Oxfordshire. Dodged the rail replacement buses by travelling from Farnborough.
North to the south
Changed from the far north line to the sleeper at Inverness.
Not sure this breakfast looks appetising. It tasted ok. A few issues on the train. The lock on the cabin was not fully functioning, no pull out table in cabin, coffee machine in buffet car not working. There are some maintenance issues it appears.
Arrival in Euston is 20 minutes late due to work in the line. I had been forewarned by text.
Then headed back east
I witnessed an old couple falling over on the escalator just after getting on. while they were heading up. I was heading down. A woman at the top shouted for someone to hit the emergency stop. A hapless woman holding a dog appeared transfixed and unable to hit the button. After what appeared to be an age someone finally hit the button. Chaos. No staff about.
Insight 