A Sunny South Tour by Train

A Flawless Train Journey to Chichester 

The time had come for our annual summer visit to our friends in Chichester, slightly earlier than we usually go in order to fit around their other holiday plans. It was to be the start of an extended tour, going on for a few days' holiday in Weymouth and then staying with other friends near Gloucester, so packing was difficult: we needed to minimise and yet cope with unpredictable weather. We have, however, developed our planning and packing skills over the years and all went into two mid-sized wheeled suitcases, with a small foldable backpack for our lunch things and a small briefcase, slid over the extended handle of my suitcase, to carry my computer and a few other bits and pieces. The situation was complicated by our having to carry also a substantial flatbed photo-and-slide scanner which we were lending to our Chichester friends; this went into a larger backpack into which it fitted neatly with all its fixtures and fittings. At least we should not be taking it on to Weymouth and Gloucester! Our friends were to return it when they next come to see us.

In order to cope with all the luggage I booked a taxi to Stamford station, slightly complicated by the closure this summer of the Town Bridge for important structural repairs which meant that the journey's timing was rather less predictable, so we arrived at the station in very good time to await the first in a long list of trains! The usual Cross Country train to Peterborough was on time and we travelled with our next-door neighbour who was off to Hitchin on family business and taking the same Thameslink connection at Peterborough. She had had her lunch but we had a packed lunch to eat on the train and we popped in to the Bike Barista at Peterborough to buy coffee to have at the end of our lunch. Sitting in the declassified First Class section on the Thameslink train we had a nice big table to spread out our picnic.

We were travelling with Thameslink because it greatly simplified travel to the south coast, taking us straight through London to a slick interchange at East Croydon where our arrival and departure were both on time, delivering us to Chichester on time by Southern Railway. The train journey had been flawless, but the whole experience was slightly marred by the ticket barrier at Chichester not accepting our tickets - our friends stood there watching us fruitlessly posting and reposting our tickets while we tried to get to them! Eventually it conceded, opened and stayed open. I didn't see any staff which is unusual when automatic barriers are in use: if they cannot be staffed they are usually left open in order to prevent these incidents. 

And so began a great few days, including our customary visit to Chichester Festival Theatre for their summer musical show, Top Hat this year, all in beautiful art deco style!

Onward to Weymouth

When the time came to leave Chichester the station was heaving. Glorious Goodwood was under way and it turned out to be Ladies' Day. Smartly-dressed and inappropriately-shod ladies and their escorts, some rather tipsy, were all over the place, but we managed to navigate our way through without anything being spilt on us ...

Our train eventually turned up just a few minutes late, the usual sort of electric multiple unit but in red Gatwick Express livery and it seemed to have rather more spacious accommodation than I remember from other journey on trains in Southern Railway livery. Whatever, it gave us a smooth and comfortable journey as far as Southampton Central where we were to change trains for the rest of the trip to Weymouth. We had seats with a table and on the way we ate our picnic lunch we had bought before leaving Chichester, there being no catering on the trains for either leg of our journey.

We had enough time at Southampton to buy some coffee to round off our lunch and sat drinking this in the waiting room until a few moments before the departure of our onward train. We had to ensure that we travelled in the front section of the train, because the rear portion was to be detached at Bournemouth, there being less demand beyond there. This train, operated by Southwestern Railway, was less spacious and although the seats were comfortable the aisles were narrow and it was hard to find room for the luggage - other passengers' luggage therefore crammed the aisles making it hard to move through the train, but we eventually found seats with enough space around them to stow our cases and have an enjoyable trip the rest of the way to Weymouth. The sun was shining, the countryside beautiful, the ride through Poole (which we had often visited by car or by bus but never by train) was interesting, and we soon arrived at our seaside destination. The railway station in Weymouth is right in the town centre and it was a very short walk from there to our little seafront hotel where we were to spend the next four nights.

The Weymouth Bay Hotel describes itself as a "5 star" luxury hotel on the seafront and it has some brilliant reviews on Booking.com but mixed reviews on Tripadvisor. Now, in the conventional hotel star-rating it is definitely not 5 star for it has virtually no facilities or services beyond its rooms, but it deservedly has some 5-star ratings, for its rooms are really good. The whole building has been refurbished and everything is spotless and tastefully decorated; the rooms have ample power and USB sockets, good en-suite facilities and reasonable tea and coffee making provision. Our room on the top floor was partly in the roof and so was smaller than some but still had two chairs and a small table and, crucially, a very comfortable bed. The hotel is advertised as having no breakfast room and I was expecting to go out and buy breakfast elsewhere, but in fact the room was provided with a selection of cereals and a refrigerator with our choice of milk. We asked for skimmed and the housekeeper went out and bought some for us as the milk delivery had not arrived in time - now that is service. I think my only criticism would be that only instant coffee was available in the room, but this did not affect us as we travel with decaffeinated coffee bags and made our coffee using those. The room's tea-bags were fine for making tea. "Luxury"? Well, it depends on your perspective, and I suppose that compared with the run-down boarding houses of most seaside resorts these days, the Weymouth Bay is head-and-shoulders above those and I think you'd struggle to find anything much better. We asked for a look at some of the other rooms and there were some at the front on other floors that looked spectacular and when we return, as we surely shall, we shall ask for one of those: I think my days of climbing three flights of stairs with my luggage are, or jolly-well ought to be, over now, and to climb one or two flights to one of those wonderful rooms will be fine by me!

After checking in and settling in we went for a stroll around Weymouth and re-acquainted ourselves with a place we had visited before and stayed with an acquaintance when our children were children, so maybe thirty years ago, and once for a day when staying at Maiden Newton when we caught a train here from the little station there. Dinner was at the Marlboro fish and chip restaurant, still trading and still as good as when we went there on our first visit. They do "light bites" which are actually the children's portions and were perfect for us after almost a week of eating well with our friends in Chichester. And so to bed. Tomorrow was Friday, the first day of August, and we had our plans ...

A Seaside Holiday in Dorset

Our first day, Friday, began with a visit to The Tudor House in Weymouth, which we had discovered on our evening walk on the day of our arrival. It is open only occasionally and now was the time. A volunteer guide took us on a fascination tour of this house which, built of stone, is not what a midlander like me thinks of as a Tudor house. The story of its preservation is almost the most interesting part of its history and it is well worth a visit if history or architecture is your thing.

After our tour of the Tudor House we strolled down to the café by the riverside where we had reserved a table for crab sandwiches for an early lunch. I can take or leave crabmeat myself, but my wife adores it so that is what we had, with a cup of tea in this sort of establishment. To me, I think, a unique lunch in my life to date. Then we walked back across the bridge and found the appropriate bus stop for the next number 10 bus to Dorchester, where we had long ago decided to spend some time on this holiday. All the buses to, from and around Weymouth have their terminal at a place called "King's Statue," a square created around a great statue  celebrating the golden jubilee of King George III so it is easy there to look around for the bus you need. We would be back the following day for our next outing. 

In Dorchester the only thing we really did was to visit the remains, long buried and relatively recently unearthed, of a Roman Town House. The site is well-presented, although usually unmanned, in a public park right behind the council offices in the town centre. Such a town house is, apparently, unique in England and therefore well worth seeing.

We wandered the streets for a bit, looking at shops and after refreshments walked to a suitable bus stop and returned to Weymouth where we arrived just in time for an ice-cream for supper before Henley's ice-cream shop closed for the evening, We went for long walk into the evening up to Nothe Fort and along the harbour wall and the former ferry terminal. All trace of the disused boat train tramway now seems to have disappeared and you would never know that trains and ships to the Channel Islands once used connect here. But there was a tall ship moored there which deserved further investigation .... 

Along the Coast by Bus

Another trip we had promised ourselves on this holiday, the weather bring suitable, was an adventurous bus ride to Bridport, where we had enjoyed a couple of summer holidays by car, going on to Lyme Regis which we had visited for days out from Bridport on those holidays. (As an aside, it was on our way home from one of these previous holidays that I decided never again to take a summer holiday by road, so dreadful was the drive home.) There is a reasonably frequent open-top bus service along the coast road to Bridport from Weymouth, and then a connection onwards to Lyme Regis, although we'd be in no hurry because we wanted to see Bridport again anyway. After breakfast in our room, then, we caught the 09:14 X52 "Jurassic Coaster" bus to Bridport. 

It had an open section on the top deck, but although the weather was pleasant we did not feel it was quite warm enough to justify sitting in the open on such a long coastal trip, so we sat forward on the top deck under the minimal shelter provided. The scenery was, as you would expect, really good, although the sea was not visible all the way. There were some great views of Chesil Beach, though, and we squeezed through some very attractive towns and villages and were already looking forward to seeing them from the other direction on our way back later in the day. (Unfortunately photographs do not do justice to this sort of thing, so you'll just have to do it for yourself!). After a look around Bridport market (the traffic to which caused our bus to be delayed!) we had coffee at Beppino, an Italian style coffee and ice-cream shop, and then went to take an onward bus to Lyme Regis, the X53, which did not have the open-top option, but that was fine.

Again, some great views but by now Chesil Beach was behind us and much of the route was more inland. We walked along the promenade at Lyme Regis which we had known from previous visits, heard a choir sing and began looking for lunch, which we eventually found after climbing a zig-zag path through the park back up to the town centre, at a community café called Waffle Lyme, although we did not have a waffle.

Back on the X53 we headed back to Bridport where I visited an outfitters shop I'd been in before and came out with a new pair of shorts ... and we had coffee and an ice-cream back at the Italian place before taking the X52 Jurassic Coaster back to Weymouth, taking a sunset walk along the promenade and out beyond the town, then back to our room for a picnic supper.

Traditional Sunday

Sunday morning was a slightly later start. After breakfast in our room we went off to Holy Trinity church, just across the bascule bridge, which we thought looked like our sort of place for a Sunday morning. Parish Eucharist at 10:00, not too early for worship on holiday! After the service we went straight to the nearby bus stop and took a bus out to Chickerell, on the edge of town for Bennett's Water Gardens which we had seen advertised since arriving in Weymouth. Straight to the coffee shop (accessible without paying to enter) and then we bought our tickets and went in to see the gardens, home of the national collection of water lilies. We spent a good while here enjoying the marvellous spectacle and finishing with a cream tea back in the café which passed for our Sunday lunch!

One final look around and we went back to the bus stop and made our way back into Weymouth. Buses are not so frequent on Sundays but with so much information available on smartphones these days it is not hard to find our way around by bus even on the edge of a town like Weymouth.

So, church, a day out and a cream tea, but rather less traditional for a Sunday was our final meal at Marlboro fish and chip restaurant (the small portions again after our cream tea!), and then we had booked to look around the replica of Colombus's ship, Santa Maria, which we had seen berthed at Custom House Quay when we had been exploring the harbour area earlier in holiday. It is amazing to think that all those people crossed the Atlantic Ocean, not knowing where they were going or what they might find, aboard such a small vessel. She was due to sail the next day and we were very fortunate to have had the chance to look around her.

Our time in Weymouth was drawing to a close, but the following morning after checkout but with our bags safely stored for us at the hotel, we had one final morning before taking the train to the next destination in our 2026 tour of the south of England.

The museum in Weymouth was closed for substantial building works, but meanwhile there was a series of "pop-up" museums in empty shops in the town centre, and we fitted in a visit to the current one on our last morning, bought some lunch - and gifts for our next hosts - then collected our cases and made our way to the station for the next phase of our holiday.

Slow Train to Gloucester

There is an hourly GWR through train service between Weymouth and Gloucester, believe it or not, which served our purposes to perfection. The train was waiting at the platform when we arrived with our luggage but was not due to depart for a while and so we chose a good place to wait for the sort of seats we wanted and I went off to buy coffee to finish off the lunch we brought to eat on the journey. The train appeared to have former First Class sections at each end which would give us better seats and a decent table as well as power sockets  - essential to keep our devices charged on such a long journey. In due course the crew arrived and the train was started up and unlocked and we took our places. Another advantage of sitting in an end section is that there is less disturbance from passengers walking through at stations, although it does usually mean a longer walk to the toilet - but that is usually only once per journey! 

This train passes through the heart of the English countryside and is scenically extremely good. Although there had been some drizzle in Weymouth we had excellent weather for most of the ride and thoroughly enjoyed the view from the train, beginning by passing through the western side of Dorchester town centre and out towards Yeovil, Bath and Bristol before the final run in to Gloucester. This is a curious service, a long-distance and yet local train! It stopped at every station on the way and not many people were travelling the whole length of the route as we were doing; it suited our purposes perfectly, inexpensive, comfortable, interesting and quick enough. For me, the stretch on the approach to Bath Spa station, through both the countryside and the town, is the best part of the journey, but it's the best of a lot of good bits and others may have different views: you have to travel it for yourself. I'd love to do it one day when I have all day to spare and can stop at pubs and cafés along the way and enjoy the places I go through!

At Bristol the train reverses to go north to Gloucester so we were at the back of train on arrival, unfortunate because the train terminates at the end of one of the longest stations platform in the country and we had to walk pst the whole train and then a lot further to the exit, where we were met by our friends who took us by car to their home for the next three nights.

Our stay with our friends there did include one day when we set off by bus to visit other friends for lunch in a village south of Gloucester. I had long understood that the friends we were staying with were reasonably served by bus and that we could have arrived there by bus if they had not picked us up: now I had a chance to sample the bus service and see how easy it would be to use. The trip, crossing Gloucester, meant taking a  number 71 bus from the end of the lane into the city - a journey of just a few minutes - and changing at the new Gloucester transport hub, a huge improvement on the old bus station that I had known there when we lived in Cirencester. There we took another bus on route 63 on to Woodchester where our other friends live. We had lunch with them and then a short walk, returning the same way after taking a bus back to Gloucester from another stop near them, with the same change of bus in Gloucester. Some of the scenery on this route, especially along the escarpment, was fantastic with views for miles, so much better seen from the top deck of a double-decker bus than we have ever seen it before. We drove this way several times when we lived locally but I had never seen it from a bus before.

Everything in Gloucester exudes history, often Roman history, even the bus interchange!

At the end of our time with them, our friends drove us on to Cheltenham Spa station to begin our journey home, a path we have trodden many a time, beginning with a Cross Country train, in First Class, to Birmingham New Street. It is not far and I remember little about it except the arrival, slightly late, through Edgbaston and the southern suburbs of Birmingham. Fortunately we had reserved seats and the journey was fine, with attentive hosts - not guaranteed on this route.

At New Street we had a few minutes to make our way to the platform for our connection onwards to Stamford, the last leg of a very long adventure around the south of England. The little Cross Country "Turbostar" did its job smoothly and without incident and we were soon on the platform at Stamford station and making our way around to look for our private-hire cab. While on the train as it approached Stamford station I had used the local taxi firm's app to book a ride home so that there would be a cab waiting for us at the station. These apps do make things much easier, although there are some glitches to be sorted sometimes ... anyway, we got our ride home, on time.

We had had a great time, packing in a lot and although visiting places we had seen before - and even lived in one case - we had still seen much that was new or seen differently. And we still had a holiday to look forward to shortly, but first a couple of weeks looking after grandchildren!