A Change in the Weather

To Ely by Train, Again 

I have only just finished writing up the summer trip to the Home and Garden Show at Ely Cathedral when I was off again on the train to Ely Cathedral for its Christmas Fair. It was a grand day out, as ever, but it was as cold as the July trip had been hot. We did not sit outside, we did not seek the shade everywhere we went and we did not feel the need for constant drinks and ice-creams. It was a relief to see that Stamford railway station was staffed (it normally is in the morning, but now and again there is illness or holiday making it unstaffed for a day or more), which meant that the waiting room would be unlocked and available! We waited there for our train and then walked to the former First Class section, now declassified and enjoyed the bigger seats with charging points to make sure our iPhones would work all day (they had our return tickets on them after all).

Although cold it was a lovely day and we had a warn very pleasant ride, with hot chocolate from the refreshment trolley. The fens just look delightful - from the train; I'm not sure I'd have wanted to be out there! In no time at all the cathedral seemed to appear on the horizon and then as it drew nearer to swing around as we approached the station. We walked our usual route from the station to the cathedral, via the riverside with its pubs and restaurant (but this time we did not stop). To my amazement there were anglers fishing in the river in the cold weather: it's not like it's a sport where you get to move around a lot and keep warm.

At the cathedral grounds we could go through three enormous marquees full of stands displaying (and selling) all manner of food, drink, giftware and clothes, and then there were the hot food stalls at which we could have had lunch ... but that would have meant eating outside, so we didn't! By this time our tickets for the stalls inside the cathedral were valid so we joined the short, fast-moving queue at the main door and went inside. The lighting and decorations in the porch were stunning, and then we were into the throng that filled all three aisles of the cathedral, and I must observe that at 71 I felt I was one of the younger people present ... presumably the families will come at the weekend when they are not at work. 

After a thorough browse we had a mulled wine in the Lady Chapel and then left for a late lunch at The Almonry Kitchen, which I can thoroughly recommend. The first item on the menu was a beef and mushroom pie with potatoes and vegetables and I looked no further.

We had Anytime Day Return tickets and looked at our watches and decided to make our way to the station and buy our coffee there to drink on the train rather than have it in the restaurant and then wait most of an hour in the cold for the next train. We took a similar route back to the station but finding ourselves slightly ahead of time, extended it for a slightly longer walk along the river so as to keep going and keep warm!

Our train home was on time and again we managed to take seats in the former First Class section - it had never been worth paying extra for these on such a short trip but they are worth searching out, no longer actually labelled First but still with the yellow stripe above the windows, so easy to find.

I'm glad we had our coffee because although there was a trolley we never saw it move from the vestibule. Cross Country just can't seem to get a grip on their catering. Anyway, the coffee from Locoespresso at the station was far superior to what is served on the train!

The slight snag with travelling in the section of the train where we did is that it was at the front this time which meant we had the walk the farthest to the exit at Stamford, but that really didn't matter. And then the walk to our nice warm home after a really lovely day out. We had not bought much although we had spent a lot on fares and lunch and drinks but we had enjoyed a really good day. Worth every penny.

Homes and Gardens ... and Wine

A Day Trip to Ely Cathedral by Train

Every now and then our cathedrals put on a show of some sort. Sometimes they are connected with the festivals of the Christian faith, or with the history of the Church, and sometimes they just put things on because they have the space and facilities required for a show of some sort and can make money for their mission or the upkeep of their historic buildings. A festival we visited in the summer was one of the latter, nothing directly to do with Ely Cathedral's mission at all, but great fun for all and well worth the ticket price. This was the Home and Garden Show, using the cathedral grounds and the interior of the cathedral at Ely.

Ely is an easy train ride from our home in Stamford, and just as easy from Cambridge, Peterborough, Leicester or even Birmingham by the very same train. In fact, Ely is an easy train ride from lots and lots of places, even London by a different train, being a junction of lines from all over England. So we were soon there. It is a pleasant ride most of the way, through the Welland valley out of Stamford passing farms and villages, then alongside the East Coast Main Line to Peterborough before passing under it after Peterborough station and running alongside the River Nene out of Peterborough before crossing the fens to finish beside the River Great Ouse. Approaching Ely is always a joy: we look out for the cathedral and then watch it appear to revolve as we swing around the city to enter the station from the north, having joined the lines from Kings Lynn and from Norwich.

From Ely railway station we walked down to the marina area and had lunch siting in the warm sunshine outside one of the pubs down by the river. This really is a very pleasant place and it would be easy to while away a whole afternoon here! But the show was calling (and we had paid for the tickets!), so off we went when the time came and queued at the entrance gate.

It was a really hot and sunny day and there was not a lot of shade in the outdoor parts of the show, but there were plenty of stands offering samples of wines, beers, gins, soft drinks and ice-cream from various local and regional producers, which came in very handy.

We visited the stand of the Mallard Point vineyard and distillery which is local to us at home and whose gin we have bought in the past, and there we bought a couple of tumblers to bring home as a souvenir. Like their returnable gin bottles these are made of aluminium rather than glass and are painted the same garter blue colour that LNER painted Mallard and most other A4 locomotives. We use them in summer when dining or drinking outside to reduce the chance of broken glass in the yard.

We took business cards from a number of other stands - not all drinks producers, queued for and enjoyed an ice-cream and then went to look at displays elsewhere, in a courtyard garden and inside the cathedral. A bar had been set up in the last chapel but we did not call there.

After a cup of tea and cake at the Almonry restaurant it was time to make or way to the station for our train home. The train was indicated on time and by the time all the crowd heading to Ely from Cambridge had left, there was plenty of space for us to find seats together for our smooth and comfortable ride home. Another super day trip to Ely.

Ironically it is much quicker and easier for us to visit Ely Cathedral (or Leicester, or Peterborough) than out own cathedral in Lincoln which requires a change of train and takes a lot longer. Even Birmingham Cathedral is easier to reach than Lincoln!

The Writing, or at least the Drawing, is on the Wall

To London by Train for Banksy - Among Other Things

A few days in London looking after grandchildren in term time always seems like a good idea, with weekday daytimes to explore London and quiet nights with them asleep ready for school the next day. This particular trip coincided with the Banksy Limitless exhibition in South Kensington and we arranged to go there on our last day, a Monday, before we came home.

Things didn't start too well: I'd had surgery two days before on my right hand to try to put an end to the pain and difficulty caused by osteoarthritis at the base of my thumb, but for the time being it was more painful and disabling than the disease had been. I certainly would not - could not - have gone on my own on this mission, but my wife was able to do up my shoelaces and so together we could cope!

So I bought the train tickets just the day before travel, as soon as I was confident that I'd be able to go. I don't think I'll ever quite understand train ticket pricing and after a lot of trial and error finally came up with a pretty decent pair of super off-peak singles through from our local station, Stamford, at 09:56 to London Kings Cross, with a really good change of train at Peterborough. By this time First Class was out of the question (and not being a meal-time we did not need the included catering) and I really expected to have to travel on the slower Thameslink trains, but no: these tickets were for any train and the itinerary given included reserved Standard Class seats with LNER, which I was able to choose. A pair of airline-style seats was perfect: LNER's "Azuma" trains have plenty of legroom even in Standard. Alison was having to handle all the luggage, of course, which we managed to compress into one case for our short stay. We were in London before 11:40, a pretty good journey, smooth and relaxing on both stages, assisted by coffee from the Bike Barista at Peterborough station during the change of train.

Before going to our temporary home in Shepherds Bush, we popped into Fortnum & Mason's branch in St Pancras International station and bought some of the St Pancras Blend tea which we like so much and which is only available in that shop - just in case we did not have an opportunity late in the trip, then we made our way to the Underground, Hammersmith & City Line and settled in for lunch at our son and daughter-in-law's home. Just two days after surgery under general anaesthetic I needed a rest after all that travel and before my young charge arrived from school later in the afternoon!

Short trips that we might normally make on foot were often taken by bus or Underground on this trip and yet we still managed to walk a lot more than we normally do at home: one of the really great things about travelling car-free is that we get plenty of exercise. 

As it happened the children had a "sleepover" at their school on the Friday night (the teachers at that place are absolutely marvellous), and as it happened our friends from Egypt were at their London flat at the time and invited us round to dinner that evening, so having taken the children back to the school after their teatime, bearing sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses, and each with a wheeled suitcase, we were then free and took an Underground train just the two stops to Hammersmith from where we walked to our dinner date. The journey back that night was very similar except for not having to pick up the children! We were later than I'd like to have been but it's hard to tear yourself away from friends you don't often see.

Local Trips by Bus and Underground

When we collected the children at 09:00 the following morning it was straight into their full-on Saturday activities and it fell to me to take the younger one to football practice, normally within walking distance ... but not only was I still having to take things easy but also she had her suitcase (the school had very kindly let us leave the sleeping gear until Monday morning). I had twigged that there was a bus route that would get us quite near the football place and as we approached the stop there was a bus coming, so we boarded and sat near the luggage rack. It was one of those meandering urban routes that is not in a hurry to get to the end of the route but serves a lot of streets on the way and it dropped us right outside the place where we were going and we were ten minutes early and had to wait for the football coach to unlock the gate to the pitch. While my granddaughter enjoyed her football practice (after what had apparently not been a good night's sleep!) I popped home with her suitcase and bought a takeaway coffee on my way back to fetch her. 

I needed a new shaver, my wife some new boots and so we all went to Westfield shopping centre - an easy walk - in the afternoon. The children also looked at clothes there and after consulting their parents on holiday we ended up buying stuff for them, too. They did need things, apparently, but there had been little opportunity to go shopping ...

Sunday involved getting to church in Kensington by Underground train - a new children's group had been started for older children and the senior granddaughter was excited about going to that and not having her little sister with her! With all the  busyness of Saturday we had not yet bought the chicken for Sunday dinner and naively assumed that we'd be able to buy one after church in Kensington High Street ... no, no useful shop was open there before noon. So we went back to Shepherds Bush and bought our food at the Westfield shopping centre instead - and needing a snack lunch because dinner would be rather later, the children introduced to Mr Pretzels where we acquired our snacks, sweet for them (did I need to say that) and savoury for me. Excellent: I must remember this chain and look out for it when I need a light but sustaining meal.

We were early: more people did turn up before the service started!

I think I had seen enough of Westfield by now, and back we went for the children to catch up on homework and the adults to get dinner ready. And all of us to eat it.

The Art at Last!

And so to Monday morning and, for us, the Main Feature, Banksy Limitless! This was at a gallery in Sussex Mansions, just a couple of minutes from South Kensington Underground station. It was easy enough to find the building, which was basically a huge apartment block with shops and cafés on the ground floor, but it took us a few minutes to track down the entrance to the exhibition! (Just as well, as we were a touch early!) We had pre-booked tickets and so went straight in and were fascinated by all there was to see, learning a lot about what Banksy has been doing over the years and what good work he has done with the earnings from his art. I was not at all sure what to expect or how long we should be there, but I would recommend this exhibition to anyone at all interested in street art, in art as political protest, or just in art! Or politics. Or social history. All good stuff. There was a bit about his work in Palestine which is quite moving in the present time.

Travelling Home with the Commuters

And so to home. First of all back to Shepherds Bush to pick up our luggage and say hello and goodbye to our son and daughter-in-law who were now resuming responsibility for their children, and then Undergound to Farringdon where we had a little while to wait for our Thameslink train to Peterborough. This was now the peak travel-home time for commuters and we were taking a train from the heart of the City. It was all very busy and yet almost every train was on time. Very impressive. Trains to Peterborough are half-hourly and connections from there to Stamford are only hourly, so with care we were able to choose a time when a neat connection could be made at Peterborough - otherwise we would probably have taken a private-hire taxi at Peterborough at considerably more expense but worth it in the circumstances. As ever on Thameslink we travelled in "Fake First," the declassified First Class section at the rear of the train. Of course, at peak commuting time there were plenty of other people wise to this dodge but even so we had two seats together and as the stops went by, starting at St Pancras International, this section, like all the train, became less and less full. I must say that with a service entirely run with twelve-coach trains, Thameslink do seem to have overcome the overcrowding that this route used to suffer in the past. 

With wide gangways the train is effectively one huge carriage, allowing easy access to less-busy spaces. By Peterborough there were few enough passengers on board for us to walk forward a few coaches so that when the train stopped we were right opposite the lift, ready to make our way over to platform 7 where our connection would soon arrive for the last stage of the adventure ... well, I say the last stage but there was still one thing to come, dinner. We had nothing planned because we had not know what time we'd be home. A number of alternatives came to mind and we opted for Pizza da Mario, on the way home from the station, provided that they had an indoor table for two, which they did. Monday evening, not too hard! I could not actually eat a pizza with only one hand, but they do some exciting salads, too, and it was a great way to round off the trip, reminding us that although we love London, our home town of Stamford has a lot to offer, too!