Off the rails

My penultimate day kicked off fairly early from Epsom at 06:53 in to London and by tube to Liverpool Street and the 08:30 to Norwich. This was my first time on Greater Anglia trains and I was much impressed – the best interiors for sure. I guess it was also a note-able trip for the fact that my redundancy from Microsoft, following a period of Consultation, was confirmed, after 17 years with the company that has taken me pretty much 2/3rds of the way around the world.

The GA train bombed out to Norwich and we arrived at 10:22. I had about 20 minutes to spare so I just shot out of the station for a quick look see. The station hall ceiling was beautiful and the facade suitably grand – one of many in the country. I have been to Norwich once and the county of Norfolk a couple of times and think this is an underestimated part of England. I was headed to Cromer on the coast for lunch (you guessed it – fish and chips) but realised I could get some bonus mileage in the time I had by continuing on the train up to Sheringham (great stop for the North Norfolk Railway) and back. Cromer was not very busy and pretty windswept but I did manage to have an absolutely delicious serving of Rock from Mary Jane’s where I’d also been to when we came here as a family. I just about managed to eat it on a bench in front of the pier looking out on the waves crashing in on the shore. Classic!

On to Ely just before 2pm. The ride across this part of The Fens was fairly unremarkable until the approach to Ely and a stunning view of the cathedral. Ely has been put on the list of places to visit.

Quick ride in to Kings Cross where it was buzzing with people and the tube around to Paddington in plenty of time for the 17:48 to Cardiff and the Pullman Dining. I had been looking forward to this and it certainly did not disappoint. I had a cup of tea in the GWR 1C lounge on Platform 1 and, as I remarked at the beginning of this little venture when I visited just before taking the Riviera Express, it is really quite sad and lets GWR down compared to many aspects of its service which have been top rate.

Boarding the train was instantly relaxing and soon the crew – in particular a gentleman by the name of Mark – was checking what time I would like to eat. I could tell this was something that I shouldn’t rush and with the dining car being practically empty on this trip – worked out I could travel beyond Cardiff and still get back there not too late. Wise decision although getting off at Port Talbot was a bit of a come-down.

I almost felt this whole experience made it worth going out for dinner in London for by going to Cardiff. It felt luxurious, the view out the window was enhanced with a setting sun and of course was constantly changing. The food was top rate – I had a smoked haddock and crab salad, followed by the rump steak with dauphinoise potato and beetroot, washed down by half a bottle of an exceptional Bordeaux Superieur that seemed to have more glasses in it than usual! The food was matched by the service and I think I probably bored friends and family by waxing lyrical over WhatsApp and making them envious with photos. Big kudos to GWR – this is the way train travel should be. I also thought that you could basically enjoy 1C travel for free by eating in here for the price of a standard class ticket – although you can not make a reservation in standard class and I was told that it does get busier as the week goes on. It might also be fun to be a group of people dining together and I even thought that it would be really good fun to take the dining service out and return in time for the sleeper to Penzance!

The meal with wine came to £66 and it was worth every penny. Truly fabulous end to my penultimate day (with a small lone celebration to my 17 years at Microsoft!)

How has the following possibly stayed with me:

“Time goes by when you’re a (“passenger”) on a train and I ride (on the footplate) there and back again. Under bridges over bridges to our destination…”

Anyone remember which BBC children’s program this was from? No? Just me? Oh dear, perhaps I am a bit sad 🙁 but it does seem to perfectly capture the last 4 days. I had a stack of books with me to at least make some start on/use as reference, occasional newspapers, an intent to listen to a number of podcasts and some downloaded documentaries to watch. I’ve barely made a scratch on any of these. Perhaps, it’s been the absorbing scenery on most of the journeys, combined with the generally slow WiFi/poor reception in remote areas.

My route back home to Epsom for a night was not as spectacular than the last three (although the northern Peak District was an exception for a small part of the journey) and Sunday’s are generally not a great day to travel on Britain’s railways. Perhaps I got lucky as the day ran smack bang on schedule and was generally, like the preceding days, smooth and effortless, if not a little unremarkable.

Well that is apart from overcrowding on the Trans-Pennine Express train from Liverpool to London and the highlights at Sheffield of the Sheffield Tap, an old waiting or dining room on the Platform with a wide range of real ales and selection of beers, and a glut of Class 37’s in Derby. I am genuinely surprised to see some many of the beasts still in service. I had no idea!

By the conclusion of the day, I had clocked up a total of 2,283 miles and a general impression that we have a reasonably impressive railway network in this country and one that can be effortless to move around on. Let’s hope this impression remains true over the final two days – both of which are going to cover a fair distance with the final day presenting the most logistically challenging – stay tuned!!

And the ditty at the beginning? Well a fabulous little program called….Chigley. Very cute. Really not sure how it is so ingrained in my memory but there we are and how apt it appears to be 🙂

Interesting title, hey? We’ll get to the inflatable part later but the real highlight of my fourth day on the rails was undoubtedly the Carlisle-Settle route, the most famous route in England. Despite all my previous rovers, I’d never completed the journey before and the reason for that remains a mystery.

After spending the night with my friends in a small village outside of Warrington, I caught the 08:26 out of Bank Quay for the short journey up to Preston with Avanti. First Class was empty and I was greeted with a wonderful bacon sandwich and cup of tea, finishing just as we pulled in to Preston. I was expecting a fight for good window seats on the 09:03 to Leeds, via Settle, but the train was almost deserted which gave me the ability to swap sides of the train according to the views. There was much swapping! The weather was mixed between rainy and sunny, creating an almost moody feel to the scenery passing by, and the views were completely absorbing. Alongside the journey from Inverness to Perth, this route will go down as one of the highlights and one which I will do again. Stunning.

Arriving in to Leeds (on time) was almost a shock after such relaxing, calming scenery. The city was buzzing from the station concourse, most notably with large numbers of groups of females, dressed up to the 9s and ready for a night on the town. Early start I guess 🙂 And this included a particularly raucous group wandering around with an inflatable penis, waving it and directing traffic. Quite a sight!

I had just under 2 hours to play with and hoped to find a local pub but struggled and wandered a little distance from the station which scuppered my chances of eating something with a pint. I managed to find a true locals pub which served a very good pint of Samuel Smiths. There were a number of signs asking customers not to use phones/laptops and not to swear. As I took an obligatory picture of my pint, and then sent it on, I was politely asked by the bar maid, not to use my phone. Fair play, I like the rule however the second part of the customer rules was not followed by anyone in the establishment!

Another scenic ride took me back to Preston for a short wait for my train to Burscough Junction where my eldest sister was kindly waiting to pick me up and take me to my Mum’s in Ormskirk for a brief visit. As it wasn’t a “proper” family visit, I’d contacted a couple of old school friends, one of whom I hadn’t seen for an incredible 39 years. 39 years ouch!! It was a lot of fun catching up – there was quite a bit to talk about. The pubs stay open a fair bit later than they used to for sure and conscious my Mum was probably waiting up for me (bless – she was) and the fact I had to leave fairly early in the morning (and the spring time change in clocks made it an hour later), I bailed just before midnight.

A quick breakfast with my Mum and then I headed to the station, ready to return home for an evening before my final two days. Like my sister said, much of this will feel like a dream. If I think back to powering out of Paddington behind the Class 57 (definite highlight and I’ve watched the video several times :-)) it already does.

Writing up Day 3 is difficult. Difficult because I’m currently sat on the Carlisle-Settle route, one of the most scenic routes in the UK, and the scenery is nothing short of spectacular.

So Day 3, after a dull rainy start, was beautiful – travelling 180 miles from Inverness down to Glasgow in 3hrs, over the Druimuachdar pass which is the highest in the UK at 1,484ft. The diesel multiple unit train effortlessly cruised through the wild country with splendid views of snow capped mountains. Once again, a fairly long train journey whizzed by in a flash. My old friend from Hong Kong days was waiting for me at Glasgow Queen Street. He is more of a bus-geek but enthusiastic about rail.

OK, so the scenery did prove challenging and I’m now on the 14:57 Leeds-Preston service making a second attempt, after an interesting brief stop for lunch in Leeds

Alan, a tall Chartered Building Surveying Scotsman was one of the first people I worked with when I landed my first job with Hong Kong Telecom in, well, Hong Kong. He christened me Jimmy Whizz. He mistakenly thought the Beano character was called Jimmy, as opposed to Billy, and gave me the name on account of me whizzing around a 5-a-side pitch and generally leading life at a fairly rapid pace. The Scottish-fication of the character’s name stuck and will always remind me of some great fun we had at HKT.

Right to a point, we whizzed off for lunch, meeting his wife, Jill and eldest daughter, Jackie-May who I hadn’t seen in many years.

After lunch, we just about had time to squeeze in a quick pint of Scotland’s best Tennants lager in the famous Horseshoe bar which bore resemblance to the Philharmonic Pub in Liverpool. I didn’t have chance to check-out the urinals to see if it compared in that department (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, do some research!), and then round the corner to Glasgow Central for the 14:42 down to Warrington. As we departed, champagne corks were popping on a table of 4 ahead of what, by the looks of the start, was going to be a great weekend in London!

Again, it was a challenge to read anything due to the scenery on show outside and also the slow onboard WiFi (this has been consistently slow on all trains). I have no idea why I brought 3 heavy books with me as I’m not the best of readers. Well, the intent was there but I might ditch them when I spend a night back at home on Sunday.

Eased in to Warrington Bank Quay bang on time. It’s a station I remember from my teenage trainspotting days as being one the smelt fresh and clean and, after rain, had bubbles on the platform on account of the factory across the way (which has now closed and possibly be demolished). Waiting for me was a very nice pick-up in the form of a very sweet Aston Martin, although this was initially obscured by some party revellers who had fortunately been sat a little further down the train!

My friends in Warrington go back to my Hong Kong days, but lived in Australia. Maintaining connections over the years and miles with great friends is important and worth every effort to see someone, even if in this case, it hadn’t been much effort at all thanks to a breeze of a journey.

Seems an apt title for the retrospective on Day 2. Day 2? Is that right?? It almost feels like I’ve been travelling across time zones and I’m jet lagged. Mind you, there used to be many “time zones” in the UK and it was the railway system that brought about a unified time in the country. But that’s another story.

So Day 2 kicked off in Brighton. And that’s pretty much, give or take, a fairly southern part of the country. And the aim was to head due north pretty much as far as I could in a day. I briefly made the most of the room upgrade by standing on the balcony to watch pretty wild waves crashing on to the south coast shores before a quick breakfast and making a quick 15 minute march up to station for the 07:44 Thameslink to London St Pancras. Originally, I had planned to take the 08:16 but decided on erring on the safe side. Plus I was awake again around 06:00 so no worries. Proved to be sensible.

Brighton station has a terminus feel to it and wasn’t particularly busy. At 12 coaches, the Thameslink train was sparsely populated, especially in First Class at the head of the train. The scenery out of Brighton all the way up to the M25 is lovely but it became clear that my decision to leave earlier, rather than later, was wise and the optimism, based on day one, that all trains would be on time, was mis-founded. Signalling problems led to a 20 min late running. I remained relaxed an it was nice to have time to pop in to the First Class LNER lounge at Kings Cross.

The lounge was a couple of steps up from GWR’s lounge at Paddington but still falls short of airline lounges. My 1C experiences on Avanti, GWR and LNER lead me to think that the train companies could up their game here. More on that shortly – but seriously, is there really a need to put up a notice telling 1C passengers not to take items (such as a pack of biscuits or small bottles of water) out of the lounge? I ignored it, irritated by the instruction, and sneaked out a bottle of water.

(now arriving in Carlisle – gosh I remember my rail rovers taking me up here 40 years or so ago…and there’s a few decent locos around!).

Exiting the LNER Kings Cross lounge presented a nice opportunity to view the platforms from an elevated level and reminded me of departure from Eurostar at Gare Du Nord in Paris. See pic on my Instagram account. Awaiting was the impressive Azuma train. First class was packed and fortunately I managed to find a better seat than originally designated. The journey up north is magnificent. Speed and scenery combined means that I didn’t make much headway on the list of things I want to do.

So, on to food. 10:00 departure. Service was lunch, not brunch, and served around 11. Dilemma as I was told there was only 1 food service per journey. At least until crew change at Newcastle!? Anyway, I got the super-sized sausage roll (one sachet of tommy k, so needed to ask for an extra which seemed to be a problem) and overcame the service challenges to arrive in Aberdeen not hungry.

However, the signalling challenges south of London had migrated north and we ran 21 minutes late up to Edinburgh. On board announcements suggested we would make the time up. We didn’t, so I missed the 19 min connection in Aberdeen. Oh well, it only added 40 mins to the journey and gave me the chance for a quick whizz around the granite city. Grey on grey. But I’m told it sparkles when the sun shines.

Third and final train of the day up to Inverness was sadly mostly in the dark and I arrived just after 8:30pm. The tally for the day – 685 miles in 12 hours. I think that categorises itself as an epic trip.

Inverness is the furthest north I have been in this country. It was quiet and small, divided by the exceptionally fast flowing river Ness, over which I had a lovely view from my (again) upgraded room. Thank you Accor All loyalty program. Dumped my bags and headed straight out for another 9pm dinner, a short walk across the bouncy pedestrian bridge, to a fabulous seafood restaurant, surprisingly run by an Cornish man. If I ever opened a restaurant, this is how I would run it.