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!

Another Couple of Nights Away

A Short Break at Studland Bay by Train and Bus

As I mentioned in A Couple of Nights Away, we received a really good offer for a two-night stay at the Knoll House Hotel on Studland Bay in Dorset, quickly snapped up along with reduced-price rail tickets during the "Rail Sale". Last time we stayed there it was more of an adventure than we bargained-for when the heathland between the ferry and the hotel caught fire and our return from a day out took a lot longer than planned owing to a road closure to avoid the fire. This time we just had the adventure we had planned, and weather which was better than we had dared to hope.

The weather did not start well, with light drizzle as we packed our cases, and steady rain by the time we left for Stamford rail station. Umbrellas raised we arrived at the station and caught our 09:56 Cross Country train, a few minutes late this time, to Peterborough where we popped round to Waitrose to buy a packed lunch before catching the connecting LNER train to London at 10:50. We were travelling with First Class tickets to London and complimentary coffee and brunch were served on the way. From Kings Cross we took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and the Bakerloo Line thence to Waterloo - all using our through train tickets booked from Peterborough to Bournemouth: nothing extra to pay for the Underground. At Waterloo we browsed Foyles bookshop while awaiting our train - not a cheap option as we bought three books between us that we had known we needed until we happened to see them in the bookshop!

The train from Waterloo to Bournemouth was comfortable, smooth and quite fast but there is no longer any catering on board South Western Railway trains, which is why we had brought a packed lunch with us. By the time we had boarded the train at Waterloo it was lunchtime and so we set our table and enjoyed a lunch of prepared salad, fruit salad and chilled peach tea. Super, and probably much like we'd have bought on the train had there been a trolley or a buffet. First Class on Southwestern Railway is not like First Class on LNER, but it was comfortable and it got us to Bournemouth in time to get our bus onward to the hotel.

The bus ride to Studland on the number 50 "Purbeck Breezer" is what makes this journey an adventure: it is normally operated with open-top buses and although in summer these sometimes have just a windscreen at the front of the top deck, in winter they tend to use the versions with the first few rows of seats under cover, and we arrived at Bournemouth in nice time to stroll over and board one of these, taking our seats just a few rows back to get the best views while remaining remaining sheltered from the wind. By now the sun was beginning to break through and the rain had completely stopped. The bus wound its way through Bournemouth town centre and the western districts of the town and the leafy pine woods of Canford Cliffs then along the southern edge of Poole Harbour and the most expensive residential land in the UK at Sandbanks before waiting for the ferry across to Studland. We had to wait for a ship to leave the harbour before our ferry could arrive from the other side but were entertained by a Royal Navy Chinook helicopter practising with the Special Boat Service off The Foreland while we waited and the sun gradually showed more of itself through the thinning cloud cover. From the urban townscapes and arcadia of Bournemouth and Poole we were now into the carefully maintained (by the National Trust) semi-wilderness of Studland Heath and very soon we were stopping the bus outside the Knoll House Hotel.

The stunning view from our room, through the hotel grounds to Studland Bay

After checking in we unpacked the smarter clothes we had brought for evenings at the hotel so that the creases would drop out by dinner time, donned our walking boots and set off for a walk down to the beach and along it. The walk down through the hotel grounds and through the woods onto the beach was something we had many times - in summer! It was different this time and our progress was halted by water too deep to wade through in just walking gear, so we had to make a bit of a detour but got there just a few moments later. By now it was past tea time and the National Trust café and shop at Knoll Beach had just closed for the night and Trust staff were busy with their conservation work. We just walked along the beach in glorious sunshine and back again in drizzle! Shower, change and dinner. Dinner was included in our package but we did avail ourselves of the cocktail bar in preparation for dinner, and this was definitely not included. We found ourselves chatting to a local couple who were there simply having an after-work drink - what a lovely place for that! They recommended a whisky bar in Bath which we shall have to try next time we are there.

After a good night's sleep we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day and after breakfast set off for a day out, beginning with a bus to Swanage, too early for our senior citizens' concessionary passes so we had to pay our fares. We had a little stroll around Swanage for old times' sake and then boarded a bus to Wareham which we had only briefly visited, by car, in the past. There we explored, had coffee in a place once apparently frequented by Lawrence of Arabia, and discovered a really ancient St Martin's Church, the same dedication as our church at home in Stamford but very, very different. 

It remained sunny all day with very little wind, and temperatures were good for February (up to around 10 degrees C), and in the sun it was quite warm when walking and we removed our coats and gloves very early on. When we caught the bus back to Swanage I also removed my jumper, for the top deck was like a greenhouse! From Swanage we travelled as far as Studland village and then went down to the beach there and walked along to Knoll Beach for a snack lunch at the National Trust café. Sitting there in the sun it was just like the summer (except for the number of people in coats) - indeed it was better weather than we had in the summer of 2020 when we came here with all our family.

We strolled along the beach in the direction of Poole Harbour - with no intention of going that far, of course - and along part of the naturist beach where, not surprisingly in February, I suppose, everyone seemed to be wearing clothes. A few horses, a few dogs (they're allowed here from 1st October to 1st March, and then forbidden for the sake of the wildlife for the rest of the year).

It was time to walk back now, time to rest and recover from what had been quite an energetic day for us. Bath and change (and a brief unintentional sleep!) and ready for dinner again. No cocktail this time but we did have Prosecco with our meal, and pudding. We were hungry after such a day, and we slept even better than the night before.

Our last day was a Friday and we packed and paid our bill and checked out straight after breakfast, leaving our luggage at the hotel to set of, suitably booted, to walk to the Old Harry Rocks. These rocks (see heading photograph), vertical chalk stacks at the end of a headland, are a constant sight and landmark along this section of the coast and have been a distant companion on many of our holidays and especially of our walks along the beaches but we have never before visited them and seen them at close quarters. It was a walk of about a mile and a half from Studland village and rather than walk along the road we took a route out of the back of the hotel grounds and over the heath - which took us through more mud than we really wanted to encounter - the last time we went this way was in summer and there had been some mud but not so much. We returned along the road from the village! The walk between the village and the rocks was all good off-road walking and all very easy. On the way back we had coffee at a beach café at Studland Middle Beach before returning to the hotel, recovering our luggage and taking the Breezer bus one last time back to Bournemouth. This time it was a closed-top bus, which is fine in winter, but we always travel on the top deck here for the views of Studland Heath, of the ferry crossing, of the trees of Canford Cliffs. In Bournemouth we had lunch at a town centre café  and then walked down to the seafront to "say goodbye" to the sea before taking the next bus to the railway station and await our train home. 

It had been a short break but I think we had made the most of every moment.

We boarded our train at Bournemouth and had a smooth and pleasant ride to London Waterloo, then easy interchange to Kings Cross via the Underground. At Kings Cross it all began to fall apart. Our train, on which we had reservations in Coach L, turned out only to have five coaches owing to trains being out of place following earlier disruption due to a fire somewhere else. It was jam-packed in Standard Class and overfull in First. We did not have seats until someone took pity on a couple of pensioners and gave us a seat; refreshments could not be brought through on the usual trolley but we could visit the galley and pick up our sandwiches and drinks. Then it unravelled even further when the train stopped at Stevenage owing to problems further along the line. It eventually transpired that it would be held for some time and our kind train manager suggested that those heading to Peterborough might like to get off and take the next train to Cambridge, which would soon stop at the adjacent platform, where we could get a connection to Peterborough. For us, of course, that would provide us with a connection home, albeit two hours late but we were already missing the planned connection and were by no means sure that we might make the next at Peterborough. So we baled out of the overcrowded train, beer cans in hand along with our luggage, and caught a Thameslink train to Cambridge. Once there we made our way across to the platform where a Cross Country unit was waiting to form the next departure for Birmingham which would take us home. To my surprise it was a newly-painted refurbished class 170 Turbostar. I think they only had one, possibly two, in the fleet at that time, so it was a bit of a silver lining to have the chance to travel on one. New seats with slightly more legroom and bigger seat-back table which comfortably took my large MacBook Pro (on which I am writing this article now).

The lovely day then unravelled further still when a very disruptive passenger boarded and racially abused a couple of other passengers, threatening one of them and generally causing mayhem. We could all have done without that and some of us texted British Transport Police as we are always being urged to "say it" when we "see it" so that it can be "sorted". He was leaving the train at Peterborough anyway and was taken care of by the BTP, but as time went on it became clear that he was ill rather than criminal and I think he was well known by the police as someone in need of support.

And so into Stamford and the usual walk home across the meadows and through the town, two hours later than planned but I understand from LNER that the train we had abandoned at Stevenage did not reach Peterborough until very much later. We await our Delay Repay compensation, but I have to say that none of this disruption really affected our enjoyment of a really great couple of days away. We had packed in so much and so many new things, and we were still home before our usual bedtime. The train staff coped brilliantly and the thinking-on-their-feet action of the LNER train manager who suggested the detour via Cambridge certainly saved the day for us - and for those left on the stranded train there were now more seats available, vacated by those like us who had taken the alternative.

Arrival at Stamford on the newly-refurbished Cross Country Turbostar, with brighter paintwork and much smarter interior. We love arriving at Stamford station on our way home and being welcomed by all the church towers as we cross The Meadows.

 

The Best Laid Plans ...

Not quite the trip we planned - but still a great trip

We were to look after our grandchildren in London while their parents were off to Scotland for another relative's eightieth birthday celebration. Great, the first trip for a while and we would have the Friday while they were at school to do something in London. I booked to usual route there, local Cross Country train to Peterborough - cheaper than before now that Advance tickets are available on this short trip - and LNER to London; I also considered Thameslink but LNER's Advance First Class tickets were at a good price and as we would be travelling over lunchtime on the Thursday (in order to get things done before we left home), this would be a way of having lunch on the move in pleasant surroundings. We booked tickets to The Silk Road Exhibition at the British Museum for the Friday, which we both thought would be a god thing to see and had long had in mind to go next time we found ourselves in London. 

Booking the train ride home was not so straightforward: this would be on the Sunday and, as often happens at present, the main line between Kings Cross and Peterborough was to be closed for engineering work. Usually we take a train from St Pancras to Leicester when this happens, and change there for Stamford. But for some reason this option did not seem to be available either. LNER and Thameslink both offered various options involving a replacement bus between various stations on the Midland Main Line and the line to Peterborough but these did not look attractive for a cold, dark Sunday night with luggage, so I looked at travelling from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge and from there to Stamford. It was a long way round and slow, but straightforward with just one change. There would be no catering, either, so we'd have to cope, but having a good Sunday lunch before leaving should make that OK!

Although our train from Stamford to Peterborough was a few minutes late, it still easily made our connection to London without us having to rush, and we took our reserved "club duo" seats in the second coach and relaxed as the cold drinks trolley came along, followed by the food and hot drinks. As I have remarked before, we felt very much at home in the care of LNER's First Class hosts and enjoyed our cold buffet from their basic "Deli" menu which is always the option served on the Lincoln-London train. We like these five-coach trains because they are seldom crowded and with a small First Class section we never have to wait long to be served. I have also travelled Standard Class on them on my various trip to Lincoln and there is very little crowding there, too, and never a queue at the little buffet counter.

Arriving in London our first job was to pop over to St Pancras station to visit the Fortnum and Mason shop there and buy some St Pancras Blend tea, for we had run out of it and have never found a worthy substitute locally! Then we made our way to the Underground to go to our temporary home in Shepherds Bush. And this where a series of unfortunate events began (we seem to be having these recently!). Now the weather forecast was not good: a Red Warning was in place in the north of England, in all of Ireland and the south of Scotland. We were a long way from there but did not entirely escape the mischief of Storm Éowyn and when we left the Underground there was an enormously heavy shower well under way. We paused at the station to do up all our clothing and make ourselves ready to step out: the man on duty at the station even checked that we were OK as we were taking so long to leave! We had decided to take a bus two stops along the street to our destination rather than walk as usual, and we were fairly soaked just walking to the adjacent bus stop. People already in the shelter made room for us and we squeezed our way in - Londoners are so friendly, especially in this multi-cultural part of the city which we have grown to love since starting to visit. The bus dropped us a short walk from the house and by the time we let ourselves in we were pretty wet and although our storm-proof jackets had taken most of the rain we were wet from the knees down. The suitcases dripped onto the floor but certainly proved themselves as waterproof. No sooner had we arrived than the sun came out and it became a glorious afternoon, and even warm by recent standards. But too late for us.

We had more-or-less dried out when we went to meet the children from their out-of-school club and take them home to dinner. The following day was to be our "free" day in London, once we had taken them back to school after breakfast at home. It is an easy trip to the British Museum from Shepherds Bush, just a simple ride on the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road and a short walk. We were about half-way there when an email message arrived to say that they could not open and that we would not be able to visit the exhibition ... we went along anyway to see how much of the museum might be open and whether the problem might be fixed - we had all day, after all - but staff came along the substantial queue to explain that they could not open the museum yet and had no idea when they would be able to open but to "check the website in a couple of hours". So we immediately decided that a refund was the way forward for us, and indeed it later transpired that the temporary exhibitions have not opened yet as I type this on the following evening ... and may not even open before we're back in Stamford.

The actual Neal's Yard, where the remedies come from. It really is a yard!

I thought that maybe a visit to Seven Dials, just a short walk away, may be in order as I had not seen the place for about fifty years when I visited a run-down and largely derelict area on a field visit from my Town Planning degree course. First call was to a coffee shop, near to which we also discovered what looked like an excellent fish and chip restaurant, where we bagged a table for an hour or so later. Seven Dials is worth having a look for its interesting collection of shops, eating and drinking places (we fitted in half an hour in a pub between coffee and lunch!) and even a couple of theatres, all among historic streets including the original Neal's Yard. I wouldn't come to London just to see it, but a trip to London can include it if you like that kind of thing. The pub was surprisingly uncrowded: when we left we reduced the clientele by two thirds. So it was a peaceful pint, unusual in London, but I gather that Fridays have become quiet post-pandemic. 

The fish and chips were superb, and I think The Rock and Sole Plaice lived  up to its advertising as the best fish and chips in London - not that I have tried them all, but is hard to imagine anything better. 

After lunch we had a final walk around streets we had missed - there are seven radials plus a few streets linking them - and then made our way back to Tottenham Court Road Underground station to go home. That was when the wind struck, the only real trace of Storm Éowyn that we encountered that day, but we were soon sheltered inside the entrance to the Underground station and by the time we emerged at White City the wind had dropped and we could feel the warmth again, the warmest day for some time, and warmest we were expecting for some time to come.

That was our day out done, for we were on our way to collect the children from school and go home to dinner.

Saturday was spent doing family things with the children and then on Sunday they wanted to take us to their church, which is not their local one five minutes' walk away but St Mary Abbots in Kensington where their Dad is a churchwarden (an absent churchwarden that Sunday!), which involved another rail adventure by Underground. I usually walk when I do this on my own, but it's too far for children. We took the Central Line from White City station to Notting Hill Gate and walked from there, a pleasant enough walk along Kensington Church Street, and then on return we decided to do less walking and went a slightly longer way round from High Street Kensington to Edgware Road by Circle Line where we changed to the Hammersmith and City to return home from Shepherds Bush Market station - less walking at both ends!

Before the train filled up at Tottenham Hale

And so home - and this was the interesting bit. Such a shame it was during winter so that the view from the trains was just for the first few minutes. After lunch we took the Hammersmith and City Line through to Liverpool Street. Either route would have got us there, but this is a nicer ride than the Central Line, and either route would have allowed a change into the Elizabeth Line, but all the apps suggested that we did not change, so we didn't. We arrived at Liverpool Street just ten minutes before a Greater Anglia train to Cambridge. This was ten coaches, high density commuter stock with little luggage space and we easily found seats, although not as spacious as we're used to. The first stop was at Tottenham Hale where hundreds more people joined the train! This is the connection point with the Victoria Line Underground and my guess is that these were people en route from Kings Cross or St Pancras to Cambridge and beyond who could not ate their usual train for the same reason that we could not. I don't know if Great Anglia had added more coaches to this train to cope or not, but all the seats were soon taken and there were many standing in the aisles. It might have been prudent to increase the frequency of the service in the circumstances, but the fragmented railway simply does not work in this way - roll on Great British Railways and its "single guiding mind" ... I hope.

The crowds thinned out after Bishops Stortford and most people got off at Cambridge with us - the train was going on to Cambridge North. We walked along the platform to where our connecting train home would stop and were able to sit in a pair of seats near the luggage rack. There was a refreshment trolley from which we eagerly anticipated buying a cup of tea, but it did not start its rounds until just before we reached Stamford, which was a bit of a disappointment. As the refreshment vendor was standing in the vestibule right behind us I wish I had approached him and asked for tea, but I didn't and now it was too late; we had tea after we'd walked home. After a few hours on trains taking the long way round it was good to walk across the Meadows and through town home, much quieter on a Sunday evening than on the more usual Friday or Saturday!

It turned out that the alternative route home worked quite well, but it would have been better if it had been daylight. I also still wait to see the Midland Main Line route in daylight: we only ever seem to get these diversions in winter! 

And now, coming up soon we have a trip to Bath via Birmingham and Bristol, done before but not for a few years, and Studland Bay via London and Bournemouth, a new route for us because we have always gone via Birmingham before. Then, Zermatt, St Moritz and Venice via London and Paris. Suitcases are never away at the moment.

Delays and Cancellations - and that's just me ....

Severn Valley Railway

By this time of the year I usually have a few winter trips arranged and one or two in the summer and autumn of next year, too. This time I only have one booking in the diary, a Great Rail Journeys escorted tour in Switzerland by way of celebrating my forthcoming 70th Birthday (although it will take place some months after the date, which is just as well in the circumstances). I write from a Thameslink train on my next adventure, for which I bought the tickets on departure, and we are planning a visit to the Birmingham Christmas Market but do not yet have a date. The vagueness in the planning is a result of some medical issues I am currently experiencing, but the way forward is now a little clearer and I hope that some plans will soon take shape. I have been a little cautious about announcing any group days out until I know my own availability and until the industrial relations in the rail industry become more stable, hopefully soon.

Meanwhile a recent road trip did include a day exploring the magnificent Severn Valley Railway, so I'll take the opportunity of my current train ride to bring the blog up to date with a description of the day on the SVR.

The Severn Valley Railway Adventure began with the Market Deeping Model Railway Club's annual summer lunch party at which a raffle was held and my ticket was drawn. One of our members had a couple of shareholders' First Class Freedom of the Line ticket vouchers left which he would be unable to use and had given them as a prize in the raffle, and they were still available when I went to claim my prize ... 

We were staying in a Premier Inn in former industrial premises in the centre of Kidderminster and walked across the town centre to Kidderminster station on the Severn Valley Railway on a sunny autumn morning, via breakfast at Caffè Nero. The idea was to catch the first SVR train of the day to the other end of the line at Bridgnorth and then wander back to Kidderminster on various trains, ending with the penultimate train of the day in order to allow some slack in case of a problem: with our car parked in Kidderminster we had to be back there in order to get home. At Kidderminster we went to the ticket office window of the Severn Valley Railway station with our Freedom of the Line vouchers which were converted into First Class tickets by the simple process of stamping them with the date. The first train of the day according to the timetable was at 10:00, but while I was having the tickets stamped an announcement was made that there would be an additional train at 09:40: experience had shown that he first train of the day was overcrowded so by adding an extra one twenty minutes earlier they were more easily able to cater for the crowds - a Good Sign. We boarded the train, composed of 1940s-50s maroon coaches hauled by a BR standard steam locomotive, the sort of train that would have been the latest technology when I was a toddler travelling with my parents! We sat in the buffet car (which was not serving: we'd have had to travel in the scheduled 10:00 train for that, but we'd just had breakfast so that was OK) and we almost had the space to ourselves.

At Bridgnorth I watched the locomotive run round the train for its (unscheduled extra) trip back to Kidderminster and then we walked into the town to explore. There we had coffee and visited the local museum. We had been to Bridgnorth before and did not need to see much, and had plenty of time for what we did do! Back at the station there was time to buy a pint and crisps before boarding our next train: the plan was to visit most of the stations on the line by travelling back and forth, also using most of the vintage trains that were in use that day. One of the great things about the Severn Valley Railway is that it has several complete rakes of coaches of more-or-less matching vintage and style, so it is not simply a steam locomotive with random coaches. We drank our beer and ate our crisps on this train, which took us to Arley, a two-platform country station on the river bank.

At Arley we had (just!) enough time for a country walk to see Victoria Bridge, an impressive cast-iron bridge which carries the Severn Valley Railway over the River Severn, which we remember seeing used as a Scottish bridge in the film The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Back at Arley station we caught the next train back to Highley, a delightful country station where for those who have more time there is an opportunity to visit the locomotives and other historic items on display nearby. Here there was a short shower of heavy rain for our visit, and the station is not blessed with a lot of shelter, but there was just enough for the crowds awaiting the next train, and the rain soon stopped. From there we took the train to Bewdley, where we had allowed ourselves a bit of time to explore. Being honest, arriving at 15:47 the exploration consisted almost entirely of selecting a place for tea and cake and consuming it (The Courtyard Bar - stunning cakes and friendly service, and on the Severn riverside). I could imagine that in summer this would be a glorious place to spend some time at the riverside bars and restaurants. We walked back to Bewdley station to await our last train of the day, back to Kidderminster.

It is a short ride from Bewdley (once the southern terminus of the Severn Valley Railway until the station at Kidderminster was built), past the West Midlands Safari Park with some of its exotic animals visible,  to the SVR terminus at Kidderminster. We had had a wonderful autumnal day out which had mostly felt like summer, if a little cool, and with just one short shower. The Severn Valley Railway was as busy as ever, with a decent service of interesting vintage trains and good service at its many refreshment facilities, and the Severn Valley countryside and the town and villages were wonderful to visit. I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Severn Valley Railway: by rail to Kidderminster it is an easy day trip from much of England and Wales, or makes an easy day excursion from Birmingham (trains from Moor Street or Snow Hill) as part of a longer break.