Easter Holiday Trips, 3rd April – 7th April

 Easter Holiday Trips, 3rd April – 7th April

With part of the week off work with my first railtour of the year on the Thursday, it was time to do some exploring.

3rd April – Exploring the North Dorset Trailway

The North Dorset Trailway is the name given to a mixed used path which makes use of the former Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway route, running from the town of Sturminster Newton towards Blandford Forum then onwards to the village of Spetisbury with a short gap in the middle of Blandford due to modern developments and the viaduct over the river Stour.  It is a walk which can only be done on a weekday due to the buses which serve Sturminster Newton being weekday only (served by both an infrequent ‘CR3’ route from Gillingham (ran with South West Coaches) and a rough 2 hourly ‘CR4’ run by First between Yeovil & Blandford Forum.  It is also a lot easier for me to get to Blandford Forum on a weekday as the infrequent direct Salisbury – Blandford bus only runs on weekdays.

Anyhow the weather forecast was looking promising after a couple days of horrible wet weather, so the trip began with a drive to Salisbury, parking in the London Road Park & Ride site and having a gentle walk into the city centre, swinging via the toilets in the shopping centre before heading to board the route 20 bus to Blandford Forum. I was a bit surprised to see a Damory Scania OmniDekka (1013) considering when I did this route last year this service was an Enviro200.  Anyhow I got a seat at the front of the bus for views of the countryside as it made its way towards Blandford Forum mostly following the A354.  One passenger alighted at what appeared to be a farm (who boarded there in the evening, so I suspect someone who works there).  Only detour away from the A354 was to visit Sixpenny Handley.  The bus got busier on the outskirts of Blandford (in the Pimperne area), and at Blandford it formed a CR8 (renumbered X12) for Weymouth.

Damory Bus 1013 in Salisbury on a route 20 for Blandford Forum

I alighted in Blandford Forum, having a little trip towards Morrisons to have a little look (I got lunch from Boots in Salisbury) before making my way to the bus stop outside the Crown Hotel to board the next First Somerset run CR4 service for Yeovil (with bus 44534).  This bus headed away from Blandford Forum going towards the villages of Durweston, Shillingstone, Okeford Fitzpaine, Child Okeford & Manston before reaching the car park at Sturminster Newton where it had a booked wait, which is where I alighted to begin my walk (after popping to the toilets alongside the car park as my theory is better to make use of the toilets when you can as you don't know when the next time would be).  An interesting bus route via the Dorset countryside.

Before picking up the North Dorset Trailway I headed towards the Railway Gardens, built where the station used to stand before heading via the car park to reach the starting point of the mixed used path. The first section was quite busy with dog walkers (and some joggers), although after the crossing of the river Stour the path turned quiet.  A couple areas of mild flooding & mud along the path but nothing that major (and to be honest something to be expected after all the recent rain).  The path headed into the countryside before requiring a detour via a road due to the route of the railway going into a nature reserve (near Bere Marsh Farm).  The route of the old railway was joined near Shillingstone station, home of the North Dorset Railway which have a small collection of railway memorabilia including some old coaches & wagons (plus a couple old locos).

Hudswell Shunter at Shillingstone Station (North Dorset Railway)

The walk continued after the station with the village on the right and some nice scenery on the left.  I continued towards the village of Stourpaine with another crossing of the river and onto another section where the original route of the railway has been lost resulting in a detour via the village, passing the church before joining up with the railway route once more as it went underneath the A350, passing a tree with many old tyres around its trunk (which had been there for a while based on how tall the tree was).  I'm not sure how much of the next section was along the route of the old railway or how much had been lost to the A350 as the path went across fields (on a decent surface with fences both sides).

I continued, going underneath another bridge below the A350 road and back onto what seemed to be the route of the old railway due to being in a cutting.  A good time to pause for some lunch before continuing towards Blandford Forum with the path coming to an end at the site of the former station (complete with old footbridge).  The next section was via the roads to reach the Stour Meadows where the railway crossed on a viaduct with only a small section remain.

Remains of the Somerset & Dorset Railway viaduct over River Stour in Blandford Forum

Crossing over the river Stour to Blandford St Mary, I headed south via a large Tesco before a short section alongside the A350 to pick up a footpath along "Ward's Drove" which took me towards the southern section of the North Dorset Trailway.  This was a quieter path (in terms of other path users) but still very pretty.  I carried on passing the remains of Charlton Marshall station (with tiny platforms) enjoying the sunshine.  Eventually I reached the platforms at the former Spetisbury station with the end of the path reached a short distance later as it came down onto the road near Crawford Bridge, the end of my little stroll along the North Dorset Trailway.

I had around a 20-minute wait before the next bus for Blandford Forum would arrive so after a quick visit to the river bridge, I took a seat and relaxed.  The Damory route X8 service rolled in with a MoreBus branded 1611 (both parts of Go-Ahead South) to take me back towards Blandford Forum, remaining on board as the bus did a loop of the town (just to waste some time).

After alighting from the bus, I popped to Morrisons for some dinner items and relaxed in the town centre before the last route 20 service for Salisbury rolled in (with hired-in Salisbury Reds Enviro200 2709).  A reasonably busy service heading away from Blandford Forum, but after Pimperne the next time the bus stopped was to pick up the worker at the farm as the remaining passengers were for Salisbury.

Remains of platforms at Charlton Marshall Station (Somerset & Dorset Railway)

In Salisbury it was a short walk along Endless Street to board a R2 service (formed of 2714) for the trip towards Bishopdown area of the city and I alighted at the bus stop near Jewell Close, also known as the unofficial bus stop for the park & Ride site (saved waiting round for the next PR7 service).  Salisbury Park & Ride is the sort which has free parking where you buy the ticket on the bus, rather than like Winchester where you pay for parking and get free bus travel.  Anyhow back to my car, changing from my boots to shoes I drove home to get changed into fresh clothing, packing my rucksack with clothes and drink before making my way towards the station, having purchased my ticket for Reading on the bus between Blandford & Salisbury.  I was aiming for the 18:59 service which was direct to Reading (how handy), however typical of the railways that service had been cancelled.

Had I noticed it was cancelled before leaving home, I would have stayed at home a little longer to have my dinner, ah well.  Next up was the 19:36 service from Exeter formed of a busy 159022 & 159108 to take me towards Basingstoke, the next SWR to Reading also being cancelled so it was a 25-minute fester at Basingstoke before 165104 took me to Reading, arriving a mere 80 minutes later than expected (at least my single ticket got a full refund).  Originally, I had booked the Travelodge in Reading, near Oxford Road, however I randomly decided a couple of weeks ago to have a little look at alternative hotels just in case I found something cheaper (Had paid £95 for 2 nights flexible rate).  Easy Hotel wanted £88 for both nights (which for Reading was quite reasonable as Reading suffers from being used by visitors to both Oxford & London).  I randomly looked up the Premier Inn website expecting it to return a stupidly high amount but was surprised when they wanted £70 for the 2 nights (or £80 for the semi-flex rate with free cancellation up-to 3 days beforehand, which was a bit of insurance at the time due to the landslip near Telford)

165104 at Reading Station

So, I switched my booking to the Premier Inn at Caversham Bridge (deciding that one over the ‘central’ one near the Kennet based on recommendations.  Also, I had previously used this Premier Inn back in August 2020 (when I had an early start from Reading to tick off the Oxford bound platform at Ascott Under Wychwood).  It was a 12-minute walk from the station, checking in, and getting a refurbished room.  A quick sort out of my bag and clothes for the morning followed by a shower before I headed to sleep with alarms set on both my phone and my tablet to act as insurance.  It had been an enjoyable walk in Dorset with some beautiful scenery, and good to remove another disused railway line walk from my list when the £2 bus fares are still happening.

4th April – Pathfinder to Cambrian Coast

My first railtour of the year was the Pathfinder tour to the Cambrian Coast, towards Pwllheli. They run several of these tours a year each with different starting locations & pick-up points, so I was happy they were running one from Reading, even if it did mean the expense of a hotel room for 2 nights.  The day started with a 05:30 alarm and a gentle walk towards the Tesco Express near the former Post Office in Reading town centre as that opened at 6am allowing me to grab some supplies for both breakfast & also something for lunch (to save the lottery of what would have been available on the train).

After my supply run, I headed to the station at Reading to find my seat with 67005 up front for the section towards Shrewsbury and knew it would be a long day when both the other passengers at my table didn’t even respond to a “morning” (and one of them remained near enough silent throughout the day, the other coming to life after Birmingham where his friend joined).  Anyhow the train departed on time, calling at Didcot Parkway, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington & Dorridge (where I scored a tiny bit of new track as the train went into platform 3 from the south to get overtaken by a couple of service trains).  After departing Dorridge is headed towards Birmingham New Street where it did get quite busy in the other coaches (as Pathfinder tends to do the seating plan by coach so one coach could be empty where the coach next to it was empty).

67005 at Reading Station

The charter departed Birmingham New Street, calling at Wolverhampton before losing some time due to signalling issues towards Telford with a final pick-up at Shrewsbury where the 67 detached and winners 97304 & 97302 attached to the rear (the 97s being 37s modified with the signalling equipment to run on the Cambrian line).  It had been a few years since my last trip on this line (think it was 2021 when I visited Bow Street staying in Wolverhampton and getting messed around with the Premier Inn).  It was nice to do the line again as I always forget how rural it gets as well as some speed, the delay being recovered due to a shorter pathing stop on the double track section near Welshpool.

The next stop was at Machynlleth for a pathing stop and a much-needed bit of fresh air (also a chance to move my legs as legroom on the Mk2 coaches is rubbish).  After the 158s had arrived the charter continued onto the coastline where speed was much reduced (all the better for some stunning views), the first stop was at Barmouth where some passengers alighted before continuing to pause at Minffordd and Porthmadog [for another pathing stop to allow the next Birmingham train to pass].  The charter was a few minutes late by this point but regained the time when it arrived at Pwllheli where I think a good portion of the train headed to the Wetherspoons.

97304 at Pwllheli Station

Meanwhile as the sun was shining, I decided on a little explore of Pwllheli, and after checking cost of tickets decided on a little stroll along the Wales Coastal Path route, along the beach to Abererch station where I flagged down 158836 for the run to Porthmadog.  I was planning on another little explore but the rain arrived, so I detoured into the large Tesco to grab some supplies for dinner before making my way back to the station, trying to dodge the smokers polluting the air underneath the canopy.  The 97s arrived and I returned to my seat and relaxed for the trip back south and back towards Shrewsbury with darkness falling around Newtown.

Beach between Pwllheli & Abererch

At Shrewsbury the 97s were replaced with 67005 for the trip back towards Reading, emptying out at Birmingham New Street (where I relocated to a half empty coach to a private table so I could watch something on my tablet and spread out).  Not the fastest of runs after Banbury due to following an Oxford stopper (I forgot there was a couple of random late night Chiltern services which go Marylebone – Oxford – Banbury to get them back to the depot).  I was glad when the train arrived at Reading for a walk back to the hotel where I crashed out (after putting some things on charge).  It was an enjoyable railtour but one long day.

387135 at Reading

5th April – Grand Union Canal Walk

My original idea for today sadly went into the bin with the latest overtime ban (and strikes) as I was originally going to try and sample a 701 and have a short 730 hunt with walking the Grand Union between Tring & Leighton Buzzard.  After looking at maps and measuring distances I came up with a plan for a walk along the canal which didn’t make use of London Northwestern.  But first I wanted to do a little random novelty of Reading town centre with the limited served “Southwest” Interchange bus stop which seems to be mainly used for football buses and a handful of regular bus services a day.

After checking out of the Premier Inn I made my way into the town centre, swinging via Sainsburys for some breakfast (sadly it seems the Sainsburys Bacon with tomato sauce sandwiches are being rarer and rarer which is a shame considering the other breakfast related sandwiches they offer include a product which comes out of a chicken’s rear end).  I was a bit surprised when the next route 23 towards Caversham Park (doing a loop to the north of Reading returning via Caversham itself) was a little Optare Solo (fleet 186) rather than a double decker.  Anyhow I boarded and took a seat for the little trip round Caversham the bus emptying out at the Southwest interchange stop before carrying on to the termination point near Sainsburys on Friar Street.

Reading Buses Bus 186 (RG55 BUS) in Reading

Random bus route in Reading complete, I headed towards the bus stop used by Arriva for the next route 800 service towards High Wycombe (with a Merc Citaro, 3025).  Reasonably busy on departure as it headed towards High Wycombe going via Lower Shiplake, Henley on Thames, Medmenham & Marlow to reach the bus station in High Wycombe.  At High Wycombe I headed towards the next Aylesbury bound bus, the next departure being a Redline operated route 130 (rather than an Arriva operated X9 service.  The only difference at a glance seems to be a different route taken between High Wycombe & Princes Risborough.  Redline is a new operator for me, and this is one of the trio of routes they are taking part in the £2 fare scheme (where they have competition).  Anyhow it was onto YX12 AXU (an Enviro200).  This route headed towards Aylesbury via Bradenham, Princes Risborough, Little Kimble & Stoke Mandeville.  Aylesbury bus station isn't the nicest of places due to being located underneath buildings, so I was glad to exit the bus station and towards the Morrisons located close to the railway station to grab some lunch (and make use of the toilet before my walk).

My walk today was to take in two branches of the Grand Union canal, the Aylesbury Arm & Wendover arm with a short section along the main canal, and after grabbing supplies I picked up the Aylesbury Arm at the basin (overlooked by a Travelodge) and set forth along the towpath.  The towpath was decent quality, all be with a few areas where it was flooded due to the recent rain as I headed away from Aylesbury and into a very rural area.  Very peaceful and relaxing, until I reached lock 13 (Red House Lock) where the decent towpath surface just ended, and the towpath turned quite muddy and slippery.

Grand Union Canal (Aylesbury Arm) between Aylesbury & Wilstone

 

Weather wise the day was lovely sunshine mixed with some strong wind gusts.  Back to the towpath as my average speed dropped from 3.9mph to 3.4mph due to having to go slowly in places to avoid making a big splash.  I reached Wilstone and carried on to the end of the canal arm at Marsworth, the towpath in the last few miles was quite variable with some parts worse than others.  Shame as otherwise it was a lovely canal arm with countryside views.  Anyhow at Marsworth I joined the main line of the Grand Union canal heading towards London passing the Tring reservoirs.  I reached Bulbourne Junction where the Wendover arm branched away, a canal which is part in use by boats, part dry & part restored as it was originally closed in 1904 (quite a history with the arm being built to provide water for the summit of the canal but was found not to be enough hence the reservoirs were built).

The current limit of navigation is near Tringford pumping station with a changeable towpath.  The canal currently finishes in a small basin just beyond Little Tring Road where parts of it is being restored but for the time being it was a short walk along a footpath alongside Little Tring Road to reach an access path to the route of the canal which is in various stages of being restored.  I carried on reaching the section which has been restored and holds water, reaching Buckland Wharf where the towpath swaps sides once more.

Grand Union Canal (Wendover Arm) under restoration between Tring & Buckland

Housing was to my right and lovely countryside on my left (Chiltern hills I believe) as I continued along the canal heading into some lovely woodland, bringing with it some more mud.  Very peaceful in this area as I carried on reaching Halton and onwards towards Wendover where the canal ends on Wharf End (it used to continue further on, but that section has no walkable towpath).  Along the way I passed the remains of an old railway path towards RAF Halton which I didn't explore due to being muddy (and having one eye on the time).  I had time to swing via a little Tesco Express before making my way to Wendover railway station buying a ticket from the TVM and rolled onto a busy 165008 & 165028.  I don't think 165028 was that healthy as the engine kept cutting out when it stopped at stations.  The train only got busier as it reached Amersham and I continued to Harrow on the Hill, switching to the Metropolitan line with a sub mile 21009/21010 set being first up (it was already on the platform when I came up the stairs, so I just jumped on).  This took me to Finchley Road where I doubled back to West Hampstead with 96028 & 96023 exiting the station (I wasn't sure if the short walk between Finchley Road LU and Finchley Road & Frognal Overground was a valid OSI).

I walked the tiny distance to West Hampstead Overground station to take a reasonably busy 378223 to Clapham Junction with some time to kill before the 19:27 Exeter service rolled in.  A very busy 159006 leading 159016 & 158880, very busy even in coach 2 of 9 where I was lucky to get a seat (didn't help that two people sitting on the table opposite decided their oversized suitcases needed their own seats).  This service took me to Grateley where I had a gentle walk home to sort out my bag and relax for the rest of the day.  Other than the mud it was a good day, two interesting canals for views with some lovely weather to boot (which unlike my boots which were filthy and one job when I got home was to try and wash off some of the mud).

Metropolitan line 21088 passing West Hampstead

6th April – Exploring the Meon Valley Trail

The Meon Valley Trail is a mixed used path which makes use of the former Meon Valley railway route which ran between Fareham to Alton, starting from the village of West Meon running towards the town of Wickham.  The day started with a drive towards Winchester, parking on some street parking on Chilbolton Avenue to the north of the city as it was free and walked towards a bus stop on Stockbridge Road near Bereweeke Road to catch a route 3 service (formed of Stagecoach’s 27775) doing a round trip in the Weeke area of the city before heading towards the bus station (I purchased a £8 gold ticket valid on Stagecoach South services giving me some flexibility at what to do).

After arriving at the bus station, I had a gentle stroll towards Sainsburys to grab some lunch items returning to the bus station to board the infrequent (3 times a day) route 67 service for Petersfield.  Formed of an Enviro200 (26048).  The bus headed away from Winchester following the rough route of the river Itchen going via Kings Worthy, Itchen Abbas, New Alresford, Cheriton before reaching West Meon.  I decided to stay on for the section towards East Meon and onto Petersfield going via some Hampshire countryside.  The bus terminated at the Tesco in Petersfield giving me a chance to pop into the store to make use of the toilet before returning on the same bus (probably confusing the driver) to alight in West Meon near the Thomas Lord pub, close to the starting point of the old railway line path.

Stagecoach (South) Bus 26048 (SN16 OPB) at Petersfield Tesco on a route 67 to Winchester

Unusually this old railway line path doesn’t show on Google Maps, so it was a case of using my OS Map app to find the footpath across the river Meon and up a steep hill to reach the track bed of the old railway line, reaching the remains of West Meon station where there is a small car park.  The first section was reasonably busy with other walkers with a few runners and cyclists as the path was reasonable, a bit muddy in places but more surface mud on a hard surface.  I left West Meon on the path heading towards Wickham as the path turned very rural with some lovely countryside and bird song.

The next settlement I reached was the village of Meonstoke before carrying on towards Droxford with a couple small detours down onto little country lanes due to the bridges being removed (including one which was a bit flooded).  At the sight of the former Droxford station the route of the old railway has been taken up as private land forcing a short detour round the edge before joining the route of the old railway to carry on towards Wickham returning to some lovely countryside and some woodland.  The path quality was a bit rough in places due to flooding & mud, but this section was quite quiet in terms of other path users.

Remains of Droxford Station (Meon Valley Line)

I reached Wickham passing the site of the former station where there was a busy car park and continued along the path with an uncertainly because there was reports the final dead-end section had been closed by the council but either it has been reopened or the reports were wrong as I managed to carry on reaching the end of the Bridleway where the Meon Valley line met with the Eastleigh – Fareham line is.  As it’s a dead-end I simply did a U-turn and headed back towards Wickham, leaving the route of the old railway line path and headed to the town centre swinging via a couple of shops to have a look if they had anything of interest.

An enjoyable walk in the South Hampshire countryside, although the section of the old Funtley deviation line avoiding the tunnels from Knowle will have to wait for another day.  I boarded the route 69 service from Winchester towards Fareham (with Stagecoach’s 19158) where I remained on board for the return service towards Winchester back towards Wickham then going towards Swanmore, Bishop's Waltham & Fair Oak before heading towards Winchester via Colden Common & Twyford.  An interesting journey, not the easiest for the bus driver due to some narrow urban roads.

Stagecoach (South) Bus 18512 (GX06 DXK) at Wickham on a route 69 for Winchester

At Winchester I had some time to kill before boarding a route 7 service towards Sparshot with Stagecoach’s 27556.  I was surprised when it departed Winchester city centre with only myself on board as it headed away from the city centre towards Harestock and Littleton Deane going via Sparsholt College (farming college).  After the college it went via some very narrow roads to serve Sparsholt village itself before heading back towards Winchester.  I alighted at the bus stop near Bereweeke Way leaving just the driver on board, nobody wanted that bus today.

I walked back to the car, changing out of my slightly wet & dirty boots, changing socks and drove home to relax for the rest of the evening after an enjoyable day in South Hampshire followed by a couple of bus routes in the Winchester area.  I got home, gave my boots another wash and broke out my backup boots ready for the Sunday.  My original idea to head towards Exeter for the old railway line path from Okehampton was put on the shelf due to the forecast weather being both wet & windy, so I spent a short while looking at ideas for something in the London area.

7th April – A trip to (North) London

Due to engineering works, it was a later start than normal for me, no point catching the first train from Andover (which was being served as a shuttle service between Andover & Basingstoke due to engineering works between Andover & Salisbury) as that connected with a stopper from Basingstoke which took so long that the service an hour later connecting with a fast train only cost me around 20 minutes.  I drove to Andover (always a wise decision based on the history SWR have with replacement buses which don’t turn up) and boarded a busy 159007 on the shuttle to Basingstoke, making my way from platform 4 to platform 3 and heading to the rear of the train as 450113 & 450102 rolled in from Southampton.  My reward for heading towards the rear was a nearly empty coach compared to what seemed standing room only at the front coaches.

These 450s took me to Waterloo where I headed to the underground for the first time in what felt like ages (at Waterloo that is) with a Bakerloo line service formed of 3562 & 3246 to Oxford Circus changing to the Victoria line for sets 11084 & 11083 to Finsbury Park.  Faced with a 20-minute wait for the next train to call at Alexandra Palace I popped out of the station to visit Tesco to grab some items for lunch before returning to take 717020 to Alexandra Palace to start my first walk of the day.

159007 at Basingstoke Station

When I attempted to do the northern section of the Parkland walk last November time I was hit with the Alexandra Park being closed post fireworks, thankfully this time the park was open as I followed the path via the park towards Muswell Hill where I picked up the route of the old Muswell Hill branch of the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway route also known as the northern section of the Parkland walk (the main section being from Finsbury Park towards Highgate).  Some nice views of London from the old railway viaduct on this very busy path leading towards Fortis Green and a muddy footpath towards Highgate Wood and the Capital Ring.

My original idea was to do a little loop of Highgate Wood, but the gates were closed with a notice about the wood being closed due to the high winds being forecasted.  Ah well, a that loop can wait for another day trip to London as I followed the Capital Ring path towards East Finchley underground station via Cherry Tree Wood Park (which was quite nice).  The first walk finished for the day as I headed up the stairs linear jumping to Finchley Central with 51633 & 51634 before taking 51583/51582 to Mill Hill East, exiting the station and heading onto the road before picking up the former railway embankment used previously by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway but closed after the failed Northern Heights project.

A Northern Line service at Mill Hill East (from disused railway embankment)

This path whilst it was a bit muddy was very scenic in terms of woodland, and peaceful (in terms of other path users).  It didn't go on for long as it ended in the Mill Hill area on Page Street (the route of the old railway being built on with housing & roads).  I headed south away from the road via a footpath close to a rugby stadium, going underneath the Great North way road via a subway and into Sunny Hill Park (which was a steep hill, but gave some nice views of North London).  At the Hendon end of this park I continued via a couple of footpaths (West View) to reach Hendon Park.  At the southern edge of this park, I followed a path which headed towards the large Brent Cross shopping centre (following part of the path alongside the river Brent).  After making use of the toilets within the shopping centre I headed to the bus station with a few ideas in my head.

I picked a route 210 servide (run with Metroline Bus TEH1235) for Finsbury Park, going away from Brent Cross shopping centre towards Brent Cross itself before going towards Golders Green & the northern edge of Hampstead Heath.  I'm sure in the past I used this particular bus route to access Kenwood House for a Keane concert many years ago.  After Hampstead Heath it went towards Highgate then Archway before terminating at the western side of Finsbury Park station.  First time I've used this entrance from memory as I headed to the Piccadilly line to take the first available Piccadilly line train to Manor House (formed of sets 200 & 111).  I got a bit lost finding the correct exit of Manor House but eventually found myself at the bus stop for the route 141 which I had some unfinished business.

Various London Buses parked up at Brent Cross Shopping Centre

Eventually Arriva's HV187 rolled in on a Palmers Green service to take me north, a very busy bus on a busy slow-moving road.  Going towards Harringay, Turnpike Lake & Wood Green (where the cause of the heavy traffic was noticed due to traffic lights near the shopping centre).  I alighted at the final stop on Tottenham Road, just south of the North Circular.  I set off on foot towards Palmers Green station before deciding on a late notice detour via the New River Path back towards the North Circular before going towards Bowes Park, where I ended the walk at Bounds Green underground station.  Another short section of the New River Path complete (one of those paths on my list to try and finish this year once it gets warmer, so the mud goes).

A Piccadilly Line service took me to Finsbury Park (sets 242 & 193) where I changed to the Victoria line to take me to Oxford Circus (set 11021 & 11022), crossing the platform once more to board a Bakerloo line service towards Waterloo (sets 3266 & 3546).  I arrived earlier than expected at Waterloo and jumped on the Exeter bound train formed of 159002, 159005 & 159006 as far as Basingstoke (where it would head to Salisbury going via Southampton).  At Basingstoke I made my way towards platform 4, noticing that the motion sensors on the door to the waiting room has been replaced with push button ones (good thing as those motion sensors were a bit rubbish).

New River in Bowes Park, London

A short wait before 159007 arrived from Andover to form the next busy shuttle service to take me to Andover, after a couple of photos of some of the rail replacement buses & coaches outside the station I headed to my car, changing my boots to my shoes to have a drive home (to have a nice pizza for dinner).  I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and making a start with my logs after the last few days of exploring.

Thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr Here

29th – 31st March, Easter Weekend Exploring

29th – 31st March, Easter Weekend Exploring

29th March - Centurion Way & Hayling Island

Good Friday, the weather forecast was a bit changeable, so my rough ideas changed a few times in the days beforehand, eventually settling on a couple of shorter old railway line walks in the south as the weather was looking slightly more reasonable compared to say Birmingham or London.  The day began with a drive to Romsey, parking in the library car park making use of the free parking on offer due to being a bank holiday and I made my way to the station to pick up my ticket from the TVM.

First train was the GWR Portsmouth service formed of a busy 158768 for the short distance to Southampton Central (which was in a bit of chaos due to signalling problems towards Dorset, a large crowd was waiting on the platform for a London train).  I popped out of the station to visit the little Tesco Express to grab some supplies for lunch before returning to take a seat on 377214 on the Victoria service for the run to Chichester where I decided not to wait 30-odd minutes for the next Midhurst bus and decided to flip the walk around, so I walked north rather than heading south.

377214 at Southampton Central

The Centurion Way is a mixed used path which uses part of the route of the former Chichester – Midhurst railway line, a line with a mixed history.  The first section of this walk was along the A259 towards Chichester college before picking up the route of the old railway line near a footbridge over the tracks & yard.  A decent surface of mostly tarmac and the sun had come out as I made my way along the old railway path skirting around both old housing & new housing under construction before getting views of the Platinum Jubilee Country Park and the path going into a woodland cutting.

Quite a busy path at the southern end in terms of other users as I continued the walk leaving the city of Chichester and into the countryside leading towards Lavant where the only remains of the station was the station building (now a private house).  This was a short section of walking along the road of a housing estate (with pavements) due to the route of the old railway being lost, the railway path resuming to the north of the village.  This was a lot more rural with some beautiful views of the countryside, also a lot quieter compared to the southern section.  One more short detour from the track-bed due to a farm before going underneath the A286 to the south of the village of West Dean and a final section to a bridge over a little lane where the path came to an end.  The railway continued beyond West Dean towards Midhurst but sadly that area has either been lost to modern developments or is in private hands with no public access.

The first walk over as I made my way along the little lane to reach the main road for a handy bus stop outside the Selsey Arms pub, I made good timing and got lucky as I only had a 5 minute wait for the next hourly bus (Sunday timetable) on a route 60 for Chichester with Stagecoach bus 27741 on a busy service (part of me was toying with the idea of catching the northbound service to Midhurst before riding the entire route but that is a job for another trip).  This route follows the A286 via Lavant before reaching Chichester where it got quite busy.  I was also toying with an idea of doing a little explore in Chichester with the city walls but decided that could wait for another day as I made my way to the railway station for the next train towards Havant.

Centurion Way (former Midhurst Railway) in Lavant

It was onto a very busy 377409 from Brighton (I think) for the journey to Havant where after a quick visit to the station toilets I started my second walk.  Exiting Havant on the south side, it was a walk via the car park to pick up the route of the former Hayling Island branch line taking me towards Langstone, crossing a busy road and onto the remains of the former viaduct across Langstone Harbour which was one of the reasons the line was closed (to avoid costly repairs, the short slightness of the governments of the 1960s).  At the end of the little spur of land I did a U-turn to head back towards the mixed used path which headed onto the busy Langstone road bridge with a strong wind coming across the water as I reached Hayling Island and picked up the route of the former railway line, which is now branded as the “Hayling Billy Trail”.

This section of path was a bit rougher than the previous section in Havant, a hard-core surface with some areas of mild flooding & mud from the recent rain.  After doing a little detour to the southern spur of the former railway viaduct I headed south into the countryside and some beautiful views of the water as the railway ran along the edge of the island.  Passing the site of the former North Hayling station (nothing remained that I could see) I continued along the path enjoying the views on both sides (as well as the peaceful nature).  Soon the path when into woodland (where the path got muddier in places) but sadly came to an end near the former station at Hayling Island (which is now used as a theatre).

Restored signal on old Hayling Island Railway

It was onto the roads of “West Town” to reach the waterfront on the south coast of the island picking up a path running close to the beaches crossing over the track of the Hayling Seaside Railway.  This was nice to walk along the beach in the sunshine as I reached Eastoke Corner where the Seaside Railway had the depot, making a small detour towards the depot for some photos where I noticed the train was in operation (I checked the website when on the train from Chichester & Havant where it said it wasn’t running so it was a nice little bonus).  The next departure was due in a few minutes as I made my way to the station to board the train in a compartment coach.  The loco up front was "Edwin", a Ruston & Hornsby built loco from 1967, as it departed towards Beachlands roughly a mile away.  It gave my legs a short rest on the gentle trip there and back, some unusual track into my book with a well-run tourist railway narrow gauge line.

Hayling Seaside (Light) Railway Loco Edwin at Eastoke station

Back to my walk as I picked up a path along the Hayling Island Promenade, sticking to the path at the bottom due to the top path walking along the soft stoney beach which still gave nice views.  The path entered the Sandy Point nature reserve which was very scenic giving views towards West Wittering in Sussex.  The path came to an end near a boat club as I headed inland, ending up at a bus stop near the (annoyingly closed) toilets at Creek Road for the next Havant bus.  There seems to be 2 bus routes (a 30 & a 31) which seem to run in opposite directions on a loop at the south of the island, joining together to do another short loop around the housing in Eastoke.  Next up for me was a route 30 (with Stagecoach's 27863) doing the loop in Eastoke before heading towards the mainland via Mengham [the 31 goes back via West Town].

The bus took me to Havant bus station as I headed back to the railway station swinging via an Iceland & a little Cost-Cutter shop to grab some dinner items, not ideal but this area of Havant didn’t have much open on a bank holiday.  At Havant railway station I looked up options to reaching Romsey, as I took 377469 to Fratton, changing to board 450054 & 450102 to take me to Eastleigh changing once more to board 158881 on the Romsey terminator via Chandlers Ford.  A very busy train when it rolled into Eastleigh due to the continuing chaos caused by signalling issues with heavy delays to London trains.  Thankfully it emptied out at Eastleigh as I headed towards Romsey to end the day with a relaxing drive home.  An enjoyable little day trip with two different former railway line paths as well as a seaside walk, the weather behaving itself.

Hayling Bay from Sandy Point, Hayling Island

30th March – Exploring the Strawberry Line

The Strawberry Line is the name given to a mixed used path which runs between Cheddar & Yatton, making use (in parts) of the former Cheddar Valley line (which in the progress of getting restored further between Cheddar & Wells/Shepton Mallet with some parts already opened).

I was originally going to do this walk at the start of the month but put it on hold due to the forecasted heavy rain (switching to walking in Chard).  Today the weather was on my side with beautiful sunshine forecasted (all be with some wind).  I drove to Salisbury parking in my usual place on Churchfields Road (saves paying out £5.30 for parking in the station car park) and headed to the station with a slightly late running 07:30 service formed of 158765 & 158760 to take me to Bath Spa where I had around 15 minutes to wait before a very quiet 800306 rolled in on a Weston Super Mare terminator, calling only at Yatton between Bristol & Weston (giving me a tiny bit of new IET coverage leaving just the section of track south of Weston to the mainline).

With some time to kill in Weston Super Mare I headed to Tesco to grab supplies for lunch, also to look for a hat as I had foolishly left my hat at home (nothing of interest in Tesco).  After grabbing lunch and taking photos of various First buses I headed back to the railway station to board a busy route 126 service for Wells via Cheddar, a bus route which thankfully came back from the dead.  This service was in the hands of a former Southampton Wright StreetLite, 47672.  Going via Uphill, Hutton, Sandford & Axbridge before getting stuck in a large traffic jam caused by tourists heading to Cheddar Gorge.  Eventually the bus cleared the traffic, and I alighted in the village itself, spotting a little charity shop which I randomly popped into seeing a decent looking M&S hat for a couple of quid, something to keep the top of my head from getting burned.  An enjoyable little bus route with some good views, but it got quite busy after Axbridge and with a large crowd waiting for it in Cheddar.

Cheddar Bus

The first section was a walk along the road to reach Draycott Park to the south of the village (annoyingly a place the bus doesn't stop at) picking up the route of the old railway line (although in this area the only evidence that it used to be railway was the bridge over the Cheddar Yeo).  This first section ends alongside the A371 near a school with another short walk along the road to reach an industrial estate where Cheddar station used to be located.  Back onto the route of the old railway line as it headed away from Cheddar towards Axbridge, where I had a little detour to reach the banks of the Cheddar Reservoir.  One of my original ideas had me circling this reservoir but for some reason I decided against the mile long round journey round the edge.

The section of railway in Axbridge has been lost under the bypass road forcing a detour into the pretty town of Axbridge, where I decided to sit down to have my lunch (ironically a cheddar & ham roll) in the town square before continuing away from the town centre towards the route of the former railway line once more.  Some steep hills giving some lovely views of the Somerset countryside and soon I was back on the old railway line route as it crossed the A38 road and onto a reasonably busy path going via Shute Shelve tunnel to reach Winscombe where the former platform of the station remains.

Shute Shelve Tunnel on the Strawberry Line Path (former Cheddar Valley Railway Line) between Axbridge & Winscombe

I continued along the old railway line path as it went via a woodland cutting towards Sandford where the path detours away from the old railway line as the station is used as a small centre with an old loco alongside the platform.  The next section of the path didn't use much of the old railway line route and has recently been opened up to avoid a walk along Nye Road (as part of the National Grid's Hinkley Connection Project).  The old railway line route was shortly regained after passing a sewage works onto a long straight across open countryside towards Congresbury (where the old station remains).  Another short section where the path doesn’t follow the railway line with a detour along the Congresbury Yeo to reach a bridge across this river then along a farm access track to reach the route of the old railway once more.  Onto the final push (so to speak) as the countryside returned and path headed towards Yatton station, ending in the car park alongside the station giving me 15 minutes (or thereabouts) before my booked train which I had booked a couple of hours earlier when in Sandford.  An enjoyable little old railway line walk, mostly a decent path with some mud with some lovely countryside.

Anyhow it was back to the trains with 802006 to take me to Bristol Temple Meads on a Cardiff train (complete with the usual sitting outside the station for 5 minutes waiting for a platform), it was a short walk across to platform 14 to board 158766 on the Salisbury stopping service which departed a few minutes late due to a late arrival.  I was lucky to grab a seat to relax only for things to go a bit wrong after Bradford on Avon where the train got caught up in congestion caused by a broken-down Weymouth service at Trowbridge.  That broken down train eventually got moved to Westbury (I presume) however the damage had been done with the train I was on terminating at Westbury with passengers for Salisbury told to wait for the next Portsmouth train which at the time was 45 minutes away (as the next Portsmouth & Salisbury service was both cancelled)

Train at former Sandford Station on the former Cheddar Valley Line (Strawberry Line)

For lack of a better idea, I decided to walk into Westbury town to visit the Morrisons to grab some dinner items (originally, I was going to grab something in Salisbury) returning to the station still with 15 minutes to waste.  I dread to think how busy the Weymouth train would have been which was in front of the Portsmouth being the first train from Bristol/Bath towards Trowbridge for 90 minutes, but it kept on losing time.  Anyhow eventually 166215 rolled into Westbury, as expected it was quite busy, but I managed to get a seat in the former 1st class area at the front.  The train did empty out at Salisbury as I made my way back to the car and had a relaxing drive home.  Other than for the farce with the trains it was a good day, beautiful weather in Somerset and another old railway line walked.  The newer sections between Cheddar & Wells will probably wait until more of it has been opened, whenever that will be.

31st March – A random day in London

A day in London with mum was the aim of todays little trip, with no real plan in mind only ideas to do some random bus routes after a boat ride  The day began with the 07:38 service from Grateley formed of 159010 & 159020 featuring a couple of revenue protection officers checking tickets, we took this to Clapham Junction jumping back to Wimbledon on the first available service which was 455910 & 455913 transferring to the underground with 21372/21371 taken to Putney Bridge.  Since some-point last year the Thames Clipper service has been extended to run to/from Putney every hour at weekends rather than being at peak time only.

We made our way out of Putney Bridge underground (barriers wide open), across Putney Bridge and to the pier which is 3rd party owned where passengers having to wait by the access door before a member of staff from the boat comes up to open it.  The first boat of the day was the 10:05 sailing with Galaxy Clipper on the RB2, we got lucky to grab seats at the front of the vessel for some lovely views of the fast-flowing river (even though the sky was fifty shades of grey).

Galaxy Clipper (Thames Clippers) at Putney Pier

After an hour or so we alighted from the boat at Canary Wharf, the limit of the Central zone (getting our moneys worth) and walked towards the DLR station at Canary Wharf (via the toilets in the shopping centre), jumping onto the first Lewisham bound service formed of 103, 144 & 135.  At Lewisham we exited the station making our way towards the town centre shopping area (via Greggs for lunch) to board a route 108 bus for Stratford International, formed of bus MEC10 (a London Central Citaro).  A busy bus as it headed away from Lewisham towards Blackheath, Charlton & North Greenwich, getting caught up in traffic before going via the Blackwall Tunnel towards Bow, then towards Stratford International station.  A gentle walk took us towards Stratford City bus station for a route 388 service for London Bridge (in the hands of Stagecoach’s 12509).

This was a reasonably busy route departing from Stratford heading towards Hackney via the Olympic Park, then on a one-way loop via South Hackney (near Victoria Park, an area to explore as I've only been there once before, back in 2008 when I saw Radiohead play live).  After South Hackney it went via Bethnal Green then Spitalfields before passing Liverpool Street and heading to London Bridge via the City of London.  An interesting route for different views of London which I wouldn't have seen by train, or even by foot.  The next bus route on a bit of a “wing-it” afternoon was a route 17 run with Metroline’s BDE2647 (an electric Enviro 400).

Go-Ahead London Bus MEC10 (BG09 JKJ) at Stratford International

This route took us from London Bridge towards Archway going via the City of London (passing St Paul's Catherdral), before going north via Kings Cross towards Holloway then Archway terminating near the underground station.  Another interesting little view of parts of London.  Part of me was tempted to head back south on the Underground but I decided on another random bus route, this time the Stagecoach operated W5 (with a little Optare Solo 47986) service.  This route went from Archway towards Crouch End (with some Hail & Ride) before going towards Harringay terminating at the bus stop outside the large Sainsburys, quite a bit of residential houses and steep hills (which gave some nice views of the centre of London).

We headed away from the supermarkets (all closed up due to being Easter Sunday and it being after 4pm) towards the main road, jumping onto a busy route 141 service (with Arriva’s HV379.  This route headed back towards London Bridge going via Canonbury, Shoreditch & Old Street.  A 5-minute pause on the bus stop on London Bridge itself due to running early before the bus terminated into the London Bridge bus station.  The day on the buses was at an end as we headed into the railway station to catch 378146 on the Overground service to West Croydon (running from London Bridge due to engineering works), which was busy near the front but quieter nearer the rear.

378146 at London Bridge

At West Croydon, we exited the station for a walk towards Wetherspoons for dinner (and also a much needed toilet break), before heading to East Croydon jumping onto 377109 & 377444 on the first Victoria bound service to take us to Clapham Junction, changing to board 444036 & 444040 into Waterloo to allow us to get a decent seat on the 19:45 Salisbury stopper formed of 158888 & 159001 to take us back towards Grateley, the end of a nice day in London.  Nice to have done the Western extension of the Thames Clipper network as well as some random London bus routes giving different views of the capital.  Weather wise was a bit wet walking home as it looked like the rain had arrived early at Grateley with Monday being a bit damp, so I had a lazy day, the closest I got to the railway was a random walk to a disused railway bridge in the so-called Hampshire Gap area for a couple of photos misjudging the weather.

159006 heading towards Grateley at Hampshire Gap

*159*

March overall has been a busy month, not so much with long distance travel but some disused railway lines walked, some more photos from my Easter weekends travels can be found on my Flickr, *here*.  Thanks for reading :)

Trips on 23rd – 24th March (Didcot & Grand Union)

 Trips on 23rd – 24th March (Didcot & Grand Union)

23rd March – Dodging the Didcot Rain when walking the rails

Originally, I was planning to head towards Birmingham or even Cardiff today, but the poor weather forecast put a stop to those plans, so I decided to do a walk I was planning to do in a couple of weeks’ time before the latest strike days got announced involving a short old railway line walk in the Didcot area which had been on my radar for a while as the forecast was dry until around midday.

The day began with the 07:59 service from Grateley with 159009 & 159005 working this busy service from Honiton to take me to Basingstoke where after popping out of the station to visit Sainsburys for some supplies (also to waste time) I returned to board 221132 on the next XC service towards Reading, easily getting a decent seat as in my experience these XC services only tend to get super busy beyond Reading.  At Reading I had a short wait before boarding 387144 & 387147 to take me to Newbury for a gentle stroll towards the bus station.

221132 at Reading Station

I caught the next Thames Travel operated X34 service (with a Scania OmniCity fleet 944) on the Didcot service.  Busier than the last time I used this bus route (when it was only myself & mum from Newbury) with half a dozen or so passengers on board for the fast run along the A34 to the village of Chilton where I alighted from the bus to start my walk.  The first section was along a couple of footpaths leading towards the railway cutting used by the closed Didcot, Newbury & Southampton railway route, crossing over the cutting on a bridge before following a footpath along the top of the cutting (no public access to the railway cutting itself).

This footpath led me towards the village of Upton, passing the former station house with a short walk along the road before going via the Upton playing ground to pick up the railway embankment before a cycle path (route 544) joins and path goes from more rural grass to tarmac.  I continued along the old railway line as it passes close to the village of West Hagbourne before going into Didcot from the south.  One short section of the old railway has been lost to modern developments forcing a little dogleg before gaining the old route near a lovely old road bridge before more modern development (mostly housing) has been built over the old route the closer it got towards the town centre.  The cycle path dodges round some of the houses before joining up with the road.

Path along the former Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway route in the Didcot area

I headed across the road and underneath the railway into the Ladygrove area of the town following a couple of paths before the rain arrived, not just light rain but some heavy rain so my planned explore of the Ladygrove Hill and a footbridge over the railway line (on the line towards Oxford) was put onto the back burner and I headed towards Didcot Parkway station via Cow Lane to end my walk with a couple of options for trains to Reading.  Either 387147 & 387144 on the stopper or a gamble with a 5 coach IET from Oxford, I went for the 387s as at least I knew I would get a seat where I could put my phone on charge and have my lunch, even if it was a couple of minutes slower than the nonstop service.

At Reading I had a couple of options, but as the rain was still coming down heavy, I headed across to platform 1 to board 387152 on the Newbury stopper to take me to Theale to have a look at the new footbridge/lift combo which had popped up since my last visit.  Looked quite good, and nearly done at a glance, certainly will help passengers as the stairs to exit the station at Theale are quite steep (although hopefully those stairs will remain available giving passengers a choice to use the new footbridge or exit onto the road).

387152 departs Theale Station

The next train back was formed of 387161 to take me to Reading West where the rain had been replaced with sunshine as I exited the station via the recently opened station building with revenue protection ready to catch out those who think payment is strictly optional whom used to exit at Reading West to avoid the gateline at the main Reading station.  I had a gentle walk along Oxford Road, swinging via a couple of shops, passing a Travelodge I was going to be using next week before changing to a cheaper Premier Inn for a railtour.  I reached the bus stop on Friar Street to board the next Thames Travel operated route 143 service on the once-a-day extension to Goring station (normally only runs to Upper Basildon).  Bus 855 (a Citaro) was working this service which shares the route towards Tilehurst along with a couple of other Reading bus routes before breaking away to run along the A329 road (passing Tilehurst station itself) with a couple passengers alighting on this section.  2 more passengers alighted in Purley-on-Thames leaving just myself and one other passenger as headed towards Pangbourne (where the other passenger alighted).

Leaving just a private bus as it headed towards Upper Basildon doing a loop of this nice-looking village before heading back towards Pangbourne and heading towards the station, following the A329 via Lower Basildon and Streatley, heading across the river Thames to terminate outside Goring & Streatley station.  An interesting route of some nice countryside and towns, one I can remove from my list of bus routes to do in the Reading area.  At the station I entered and caught 387153 & 387155 to Didcot Parkway, returning to Reading with 800304 (I was hoping to have intercepted a pair of fast 387s from Cardiff, but that service had been cancelled).

Thames Travel Bus 855 (TF56 OXF) outside Goring & Streatley Station on a route 143

At Reading I headed towards platform 2 to take a seat on a 3 coach 165 which had just rolled in from Basingstoke and would form the next Basingstoke train, just sitting down relaxing when using my phone.  It was delayed before getting cancelled for some unknown reason with the guard saying any passengers for Basingstoke should board the Cross-Country service on platform 7, which is what I did as I even managed to get a seat on 220031 as it emptied out at Reading (I even had a choice of seats, going for one with a decent view).  This voyager took me to Basingstoke where I had 25 minutes to waste before the next Salisbury train, so I popped out of the station to visit Sainsburys just to waste some time before returning to board 158881 & 159012 for the run to Grateley.

An enjoyable short day (nice to get home when it was still light), a short walk in South Oxfordshire to cover another disused railway line path, as well as another novelty bus route before it gets cut back due to low use.

24th March – Grand Union Canal Walk

Unlike the Saturday the weather forecast for Sunday was looking good for a nice walk, after careful consideration I decided on a walk along the Grand Union Canal, making use of the cheaper fares available on a Sunday.  Due to engineering works I drove to Andover to catch the first train for London (rather than playing replacement bus lottery) with 159008 & 159003 taking me to Clapham Junction where after a quick visit to Sainsburys to grab lunch items I headed to Watford Junction on 377708 before taking 390009 to Milton Keynes Central.  I was in two minds at the walk I was considering doing, either taking a bus to Newport Pagnell to walk the old railway line to Wolverton followed by the canal or heading to Wolverton to walk the canal.

In the end I decided to start at Wolverton with a busy solo 350104 taken the 2 and a half miles to Wolverton on a Birmingham service, making use of the fast line platform for something a bit unusual (engineering works via Northampton so the LNR to Birmingham was running direct via Weedon).  Access to the canal was close to the station and the towpath quality was variable as I set off heading towards London (as the canal weaves due to following the lay of the land).  Once away from Wolverton and into a section of the canal near Oakridge Park it was very quiet (in terms of road noise) and quite scenic with views of lakes.  It went underneath the old railway line path near Great Linford and soon went into a section where the towpath alongside the canal was more rural (grass) with a mixed used path being constructed running close to the canal but behind some trees (branded as the Canal Broadwalk).

350104 departs Wolverton Station

I could have taken the easy option to walk along the mixed used path, but decided to stick to the original towpath, even if was muddy at times.  Mainly to give me views of the canal (certainly this is an area I would revisit to walk the broadwalk path as that also looked scenic with woodland).  I ran into a running competition heading in the opposite direction, thankfully they were using the hard surface rather than the towpath but there was a few parts where we were sharing the same path (near a marina at Campbells Wharf).  Milton Keynes itself is an area on my list for another good explore as it has various public parks & lakes which looks interesting on the map.

Continuing along the canal towpath reaching the Woughton on the Green area of the city, the path turning quite rural again as it headed away from Milton Keynes and into the Bletchley area (followed with a short section in Fenny Stratford).  When I reached the lock at Fenny Stratford, I decided it would be a good time to sit down to have lunch before continuing, deciding to push on towards Leighton Buzzard to avoid the mile walk from Fenny Stratford to Bletchley due to being a Sunday with no Marston Vale Trains

Grand Union Canal in the Simpson area of Milton Keynes

After lunch, I restarted my walk along a well-made path (which I think was part of a cycle route in some places), although it was quite narrow in places.  I was glad to have packed my summer hat to help with the sunshine on this beautiful spring day as I departed Fenny Stratford and the Bletchley area to head into countryside, the next settlement passing was at Three Locks near Stoke Hammond with a very busy pub.  The towpath continued running close to the WCML (with a soundtrack of various trains) with some limited views of the railway tracks as the towpath reached the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard, going back into a wobbly canal (again to avoid hills I presume), passing Ouzel Meadows where the river Ouzel made an appearance running alongside the canal as it reached Leighton Buzzard with many boats moored up.

I caught it a day at Leighton Buzzard near the large Tesco (which was sadly closed due to being a Sunday) and headed up a steep hill to the station in the Linslade area of the town, having worked out a route home, with the need to have to travel via Kensington due to the routing on my ticket.  Thankfully the next stopper was formed of 350109 & 350110 where I easily got a decent seat putting my phone on charge as I relaxed calling at the various stations along the way, the semi-fast service I could have caught passed this service near Kings Langley and seemed to be a pair of 350/2s, not like it would have made much of a difference as it only reached Watford Junction a couple of minutes before the stopper.  I remained on the stopper to Harrow & Wealdstone where I made a fast move to board 710264 on the next Overground stopper to Euston, taking this unit to Willesden Junction.

A Pendo alongside the Grand Union Canal in the Soulbury area

Next up for me was a 10-minute connection to 378204 on the next Clapham Junction bound service, giving me time to pop out of the station at Clapham Junction to the little Sainsburys local to grab some bits for dinner before returning to board the next Exeter service.  Due to engineering works around Brookwood services from London were running earlier (this would have normally been the 19:20 service).  159003 & 159008 from this morning had been joined with 159016 as I got a seat in a busy coach 2 of 9 for the run towards Woking before going onto the wrong line running section, running along the London bound fast line after Woking passing Brookwood and crossing back over to the correct line using the crossover after Farnborough station (for a random microgrice).  Nothing else happened along the way and soon it reached Andover station for me to have a drive home and to rest my tired legs after a near 19 mile walk along the canal.

An enjoyable canal towpath walk, getting my legs back into a better shape as the next section of the canal towards Northampton is a similar length (with a curveball of some road walking due to Blisworth Tunnel, but that is a job for another Sunday walk when the sun is out over Spring/summertime.  A lot more photos are available on my Flickr (Here).  Thanks for reading :)  Next up is the Easter weekend & some trips with some enforced East leave, where I’ve got rough ideas but all depends what the weather does.

15 - 18th March – Long weekend exploring Derbyshire & Yorkshire

 15 - 18th March – Long weekend exploring Derbyshire & Yorkshire

Making use of my last day of annual leave before my holiday year resets at the start of April, I booked a 3-night stay in my usual shared house in Crewe with several ideas in my head of what to do for both days.

15th March – Onwards to Crewe

The trip began with the 17:59 service from Grateley towards London Waterloo, a busy 159013 which got caught up with some delays at the London end due to congestion, nothing major.  At Waterloo as I had over an hour to reach Euston and the weather wasn’t wet, I did my usual underground avoidance walk over Waterloo Bridge then via Holborn to reach Euston station, saves some money and wastes some time along the way.  Euston was in its usual state of chaos with late running/cancelled Avanti services causing a large crowd on the concourse, thankfully I was using RTT to bypass the crowd to board the 350s on the 20:46 service to Crewe before it got announced.

Lady luck was on my side with Desiro Roulette this evening as the 20:46 was formed of 350112 & 350105 and I took up my usual seat at the front of the train on the extra legroom table seat (allowing me to relax and watch some videos).  This was a very quiet train in terms of loadings at the front, I went back after departure to make use of the toilets and there was 5 other passengers in the front coach and hardly anybody in the 2nd coach.  No doubt the rear coach would be full & standing due to the wisdom of the norm rule which states there is only one set of doors.  I even had a ticket check between London & Milton Keynes.

Nothing out of the ordinary along the way with the train arriving at Crewe a couple minutes ahead of schedule allowing me to walk to the shared house and making myself comfortable (by turning the heating off as the room was quite hot).  After visiting the kitchen to put a sandwich in the fridge I sorted my bag out ready for an early start on the Saturday.

350112 at London Euston

16th March – Walking the Cloud Trail

The Cloud Trail Greenway is a mixed used path along part of the disused railway route from Derby towards Ashby de la Zouch (known as the Melbourne Line).  The southern starting point is in the village of Worthington in Leicestershire which isn’t blessed with many buses (2 buses each way on a Saturday on a Leicester – Castle Donington service).  I did some planning and times worked out with a potential backup option if things went wrong on the first leg (for its always good to have a back-up plan when it comes to the railways).

My day started with the 06:XX EMR service from Crewe to Newark Castle with 170505, before I boarded a 68 rolled through with a freight service as well as a top & tail 37 hauled inspection train for some early morning noise.  Once on board the 170 I managed to find a seat which wasn’t completely collapsed and settled down for the trip towards Derby where the 170 rolled into 170509 to form a 4-coach formation, losing some time during the reversal.  This is the morning train which calls at the underserved Peartree and there didn’t seem to be any boarders this morning.  I alighted at Long Eaton, sadly couldn’t get a picture due to the angle of the sun and headed towards the little Sainsburys local to grab some items for lunch.

68003 at Crewe Station

After a supply raid (and a mental challenge trying to remember my Pin for my card as contactless wasn’t working) I headed to the bus stop for a Coalville bound “Skylink Nottingham” service with Trent Barton’s bus 122 (an Enviro 200 with broken USB sockets).  This was an interesting bus route which headed towards Castle Donington before going into East Midlands Airport running round the freight side before going into the passenger terminal.  All the road signs saying “if you stop you will be charged £100” made the airport seem very unwelcoming and hostile in my eyes.  

There was a good turnover of passengers at the airport as the bus continued towards Coalville going via Diseworth, Long Whatton, Shepshed & Thringstone, some nice little settlements in terms of buildings & some nice Leicestershire scenery.  Soon the bus arrived at Coalville and with 40-odd minutes to wait before the route 125 from Leicester I had a little walk along a mixed used path along an old colliery line (Snibston Colliery) which has been turned into a museum featuring some of the old track & trucks, an unexpected surprise.  Anyhow I returned to the bus stops near Memorial Square to wait for the next route 125 service to roll in from Leicester.  Run by Diamond Bus East Midlands bus 30991 (an Optare MetroCity).  It rolled in with 2 passengers on, both alighted in Coalville leaving just myself for the trip into the countryside Sinope, Coleorton & Newbold before reaching the village of Worthington where I alighted near the church.  Passing a group of walkers, it was a short walk along a lane before picking up the access road leading to a small car park near the former Worthington station.

Snibston Mineral Colliery Railway Depot, Coalville

After a couple of photos and brief stop to try sorting my bag out (as my bottle of water was digging into my back) I continued onto the mixed used path which is part of cycle route 6.  A busy path at the start as there was a running club out and about on a run.  The quality was a bit rough at the start before it turned more tarmac but with some areas of mud from recent rain, nothing major.  The path itself was quite rural in places (one of those walks where the only sound was from nature) as it ran close to the Cloud Hill quarry.  There was one section where the track bed has been lost under modern development (the A42 dual carriageway) forcing a little detour along a pavement on Doctor's Lane to join the route of the railway after the dual carriageway.  I carried on, passing the remains of Tonge station as the countryside continued passing into Derbyshire with a marked boundary post (near Wilson).

I continued along the path as it reached Melbourne, although not much evidence remains of the former station of this Derbyshire town.  Soon I reached the point the runners were turning back on themselves, roughly 5 miles from the start of the trail as the railway line crossed over the River Trent and Trent & Mersey Canal (where the cycle route splits to running onto the canal towpath & carrying on).  The last section went via some woodland which was quite scenic and joins onto Swarkestone Road near the railway bridge of the Castle Donington freight route.  This marked the end of the first section of my walk as beyond this point the railway towards Sinfin has been mostly lost.

Path along the former Derby - Melbourne - Ashby Railway line (Cloud Trail) in Melbourne

Next up was a short section of walking along the road before accessing a footpath towards the Trent & Mersey canal to join the towpath (much safer) towards Swarkestone Lock where I left the canal towpath and onto the towpath running alongside the closed Derby Canal.  I went underneath the Derby Bypass (A50) and into the suburbs of Derby starting with Chellaston before reaching Shelton Lock.  This section wasn't the most interesting in parts as it was quite urban (and does anybody in Derby know how a bin works?)

The weather changed from being sunny to raining as I passed an Aldi reaching an industrial area (passing a place which had the plastic front sections of a 222 attached to a building).  I soon reached Alvaston Park where the route of the old canal has been lost underneath Pride Park and I headed towards the banks of the Derwent near the railway bridge carrying the Derby - Long Eaton railway.  I arrived at this area at a bad time due to football traffic coming in the opposite direction (had I had time I was considering heading across the river and towards Spondon station, but time wasn't on my side due to the slightly limited service that station was receiving today (roughly 2 hourly)

Derby Canal Path (Cloud Trail) in Chellaston (Derby)

I continued along, passing the kickball fans heading to the kickball ground at Derby, most were pleasant enough, but some were singing rude songs whilst drinking cheap supermarket branded lager (clearly not understanding a concept of a bin either considering how much rubbish was left behind).  That was quite an experience, and I was glad when I reached Derby station to finish the walk.  I had a couple of options, first was to head towards Nottingham to intercept 170422 which was working on the Robin Hood line before a short tram hunt with the 19:16 service to Crewe (I didn’t want a late night as I didn’t sleep that well due to some idiotic youths playing with an off-road motorbike in the early hours).  However, there was the chance to do the novelty of a detour via the Barrow Hill line to approach Sheffield from the Woodhouse direction (due to engineering works with the Dore re-modelling) (plus the novelty of doing a 222 to Crewe on a football extra).  I decided to do the random track around Sheffield as sadly the timings didn’t work out to intercept that 170 and get back to Derby in time for the 222.

Turning down a 222 on a Sheffield terminator I waited a few minutes before a busy 221141 rolled in on an Edinburgh service, getting lucky to grab a seat on this 4-coach unit (XC lottery).  Nonstop to Sheffield but soon lost time as it caught up with the EMR in front as it ran via the Barrow Hill line and then towards Woodhouse and Sheffield where it lost some time standing outside the station with congestion.  With the limited time I had available I decided to take 150005 to Meadowhall, returning to Sheffield on 150276, had I had a bit more time I would have taken a tram to Rotherham Central to tick off both the Parkgate bound tram platform & Sheffield bound NR platform.

221141 at Sheffield Station

Back at Sheffield and I decided to board 158774 & 158864 on the next Sheffield – Norwich service for the novelty of a 158 via Barrow Hill.  This took me to Chesterfield using platform 3 and a short wait before 222012 rolled in to take me back to Derby running a few minutes late due to congestion caused by a late running XC getting given the route out of Sheffield first.  At Derby I arrived before 222013 rolled in from the depot and once the doors got released, I headed towards declassified first class near the kitchen (my theory is that it would have been a quieter journey).  I had never noticed before at how bad the window to seat alignment is in 1st class with seats facing towards the cab having a decent view from the window but those facing away from the cab-end having a view of plastic.

I settled down and relaxed before the rest of the 1st class area started to fill with (mostly) Bolton football supporters and departure was around 15 minutes late.  This service had the novelty of running nonstop to Stoke, passing a massive crowd at Uttoxeter from the races (not helped with a 2-hour gap in Stoke bound trains due to the missing diagram).  The delay had been made up by Kidsgrove with an on-time arrival into Crewe.  For lack of a better idea, I decided to turn in for the night, heading towards my accommodation swinging via the big Tesco to get some supplies and one of the many (many) takeaways in Crewe for a meaty pizza.  It was a good day, the weather behaved until the end on my walk with the novelty of a 222 to Crewe and passenger services via Barrow Hill.

222013 at Crewe Station

17th March – Exploring the Monsal Trail

I was a bit worried when I checked the weather forecast on the Saturday evening when eating my pizza that the forecast for Bakewell was showing as “Heavy Rain” until 2pm then ‘thunder showers’, so worried that I came up with an alternative idea just in case.  However, checking the forecast again in the morning (after a night of heavy rain) found the Met Office was suggesting dry after 11am with sunny spells.  Good enough for me considering I wouldn’t be arriving to that area until after 11am due to the timetables.  The Monsal Trail is a mixed used path which makes use of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway route between the town of Bakewell & Topley Pike, with a limited bus service at the Topley Pike end (roughly 2 hourly).

The day started with a loco hauled set on the 08:35 to Manchester with DVT 82201 leading and 67014 pushing the set on the Sunday morning detour via Styal.  At Piccadilly I had some time to kill so popped to a shop to get lunch items before returning to the station and taking a seat on the Buxton service with 156406 leading 150104 relaxing before it departed to head towards Buxton, a line I hadn’t been along in a while (might have been early 2020 when Northern had 2tph before the world went crazy).  Quite a few passengers (looked like a school group) alighted at Disley and at New Mills as the train continued into Derbyshire arriving at Buxton near enough on time.  I headed towards the bus stop at Sylvan Park in the town centre where the route 65 service picked up from.  This is a bus route very much on my list to do in full as it looks like it gives some beautiful scenic views of the Peak District.  Anyhow Stagecoach’s 37186 rolled in (in ‘North Western Road Car’ colours) for a brief stop before carrying on to the Market Square where there was a short break.

Stagecoach (Yorkshire) bus 37186 (YY64 GUA) in Buxton on a route 65 for Sheffield

After the bus does a loop of Buxton town centre it went onto the A6 and I was the only passenger to alight at the Topley Pike bus stop, near the Wyedale Car Park, where my walk began.  The first section was along a woodland road running alongside the river Wye going underneath the Buxton – Peak Forest freight line a couple of times before picking up the disused railway line at Blackwell Mill (with some steep steps leading to a fenced off viaduct) and onto the path.  I carried on enjoying the views and the construction with some steep cliffs and a couple of short tunnels before reaching the platforms at Millers Dale station, the former junction station.

One thing I will say is just how busy the Monsal Trail is in places, with walkers, cyclists and even some joggers/runners.  The path surface was quite reasonable with some areas of puddles from the recent rain.  I continued along the path, going via some more tunnels (choo choo!) and over a couple of viaducts with the river Wye running close by before that disappeared in the Longstone area.  Soon the path started to head south heading towards Bakewell, passing the remains of Bakewell station (only the buildings survive, nothing remains of the platforms), and I carried on to the end of the trail at the Coombs Road viaduct where the old railway continued towards Rowsley.  An enjoyable walk with some beautiful countryside, I was sad when I reached the end.

Inside Chee Tor Tunnel on the Monsal Trail (Former Midland Railway) between Blackwell Mill & Miller's Dale

At the end of the trail is a steep hill leading to road level, which was the worse section due to mud.  I was now onto the minor Coombs Road Lane walking towards Bakewell town centre, swinging via a couple of shops before heading towards the bus stop on Buxton Road where the Transpeak bus stopped.  Bakewell itself looked very pretty and was busy, a place I will need to return to one day.  Anyhow it was onto the next Buxton bound service with bus 806 (a Buxton Buzz Citaro) on the "TransPeak" service from Derby.  A busy bus as it went via the countryside serving Ashford, Taddington & Burlow before dropping to Buxton where I alighted at the bus stop outside the railway station.  This is another bus route on my list to try and do in full, although I suspect I've done the most scenic section.

Back to the trains and onto 156461 with 150109 up front on the next Manchester train, my phone going straight on charge as I grabbed a decent seat for the run towards Stockport.  I was a bit tempted to bail at New Mills to walk the short railway line to Hayfield, but I decided that could wait for another day (where I can bolt it onto a walk along the Peak Forest Canal). I was originally going to bail at Stockport but due to a delay (caused by a late running XC) the unofficial connection to a southbound TfW was missed and with Avanti in melt-down (caused by signalling issues at Watford) the next couple of London trains were cancelled, so I stayed on the 156 to Manchester Piccadilly where I had a fast walk to platform 14 to jump onto 197109 on the next Chester train to take me to Warrington Bank Quay.

390156 at Warrington Bank Quay Station

Next up was 390040 on a London train for my first example of a refurbished 9 coach Pendo for the short journey to Crewe where I had a short wait before 197011 rolled in from Chester.  Annoyingly RTT was showing this service as another 2 coach 197 but during the day it seems it had swapped over and headed to Manchester, ah well.  I took this 197 to Chester as it continued towards Holyhead where I noticed another set swap with the next Crewe train (was meant to be 005 but turned out to be 006).  Merseyrail was in a state of chaos due to cancellations so the only thing I could do was sit and wait 15 minutes for winner 197110 to roll in from Holyhead where it emptied out and took me to Crewe where I decided to end the day.  The crowd on platform 5 was massive as well as a crowd on platform 11 for a Holyhead bound voyager, so I exited the station swinging via Tiger Bite for a burger meal deal and headed to the shared house where I munched on said burger and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.  I would recommend the Monsal Trail, but for those with public transport starting at the Topley Pike end due to the more limited bus service (and at least at the Bakewell end, you can waste some time looking around the town, rather than waiting in a basic bus shelter on the side of the A6!)

18th March – Back to London via North Yorkshire

Back in October time when heading home from West Yorkshire I got delayed for over an hour due to Grand Central cancelling a service, giving me the option of either getting some money back or getting a free single ticket.  I went for the free ticket option as I felt like it could be of more benefit (I was originally going to use it last month but was hit with the engineering works at Peterborough with no GC running).  I also had a few old Northern freebie singles from a few years ago which I wanted to get some use out of (rather than Crewe – Manchester – Bradford with a walk along the Rochdale Canal) so after playing with RTT I came up with a plan to go to Bradford via North Yorkshire.

It was an early start with the 06:46 service from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly with 323225 calling at all the stations, the train only getting busy after Stockport in terms of people standing (rather than taking a seat next to someone else).  At Piccadilly I had a short walk to board 195117 on the next Barrow service, a busier service compared to the 323 but also quite slow going via Bolton as I think it caught up with a Blackpool bound stopper.  I remained on this 195 to Lancaster where I had a 45-minute wait for the next train so I popped out of the station heading towards a large Sainsburys in order to grab supplies for lunch, out via the roads (passing the bus station which will be useful for future reference) and returning via a path next to the river then the old railway line path.

Stagecoach Bus 10030 (PX12 DNU) in Lancaste

At Lancaster station once more and it was onto 158787 working the next Leeds service, going via the “Little Northwestern” line, with my good friend Stu boarding at Carnforth for a little catch-up along the way as well as looking out of the scenery at a very under-rated line.  We alighted from the train at Gargrave to start a short walk.  First, we headed into Gargrave itself and reached the Leeds & Liverpool canal, turning east to walk the towpath into the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside (only downside was a busy road running close to the canal so not peaceful bliss).  The towpath was decent quality other than one short section which is shared with a farm access track (and was a bit muddy due to the recent rain).

We walked along the towpath reaching Skipton, staying on the canal passing the station and entrance to the short Spring Branch canal to exit the towpath at a footbridge near Gas Street, near the bus station.  I said my farewell to Stu who was going to head towards Spoons, and I headed towards Skipton station via the “Black Walk”, a footpath next to a Morrisons which annoyingly no access due to a fence.  I arrived at Skipton station arriving earlier than expected and managed to board 158789 on a service from Carlisle (which emptied out at Skipton).

Leeds & Liverpool Canal between Gargrave & Skipton

I took this 158 to Leeds (because connection at Shipley for the next Bradford Forster Square train was nearly 30 minutes due to the lack of Ilkley – Bradford services at that moment.  Also, I was comfortable with my phone on charge looking out of the window at the scenery.  At Leeds it was a short walk to board 195015 & 195018 on the next Chester service for the slow trip to Bradford Interchange where I exited the station, heading into the city centre to grab some more fizzy pop (as my bottle of water was nearly empty) before returning to Bradford Interchange to wait for the doors on the Grand Central service to get released.

This afternoon, it was 221143 on the London train, and I boarded coach D, ignoring my seat reservation because it was crap and managed to grab one of the unreserved tables (before heading to remove my seat reservation label to tell people it was available).  The voyager departed on time and headed towards Brighouse (bringing back memories of “I walked that canal last month” when it crossed over the canal a few times.  Mirfield was a worksite due to the various upgrade works and the train waited time at Wakefield Kirkgate, it would normally continue towards Pontefract, but that line was closed to a landslip, so it was diverted via Fitzwilliam (which benefited me as it was a bit of new track for voyager coverage lol).

221143 at Bradford Interchange

It wasn’t the fastest of runs towards Doncaster due to following a freight service but the train had another planned dwell at Doncaster to get it back onto the correct path on the ECML (as going via Fitzwilliam rather than Pontefract is faster).  As usual for Grand Central the train got busy at Doncaster for the nice fast run to Peterborough where it had another 5-minute dwell, getting even busier before running to London Kings Cross, arriving near enough on time.  As I had just over an hour before the 19:20 service from Waterloo, I had a gentle walk towards Waterloo (saves paying TfL for a peak-time Zone 1 journey on the underground).

40 minutes later, I arrived at Waterloo, grabbing something to eat from Tesco before heading to the platforms, heading to board the 19:20 service which was formed of 159017 & 159101, and I settled down for the run to Grateley to end the long weekend.  From memory the train was delayed due to congestion caused by earlier delays but nothing too major.  It was an enjoyable weekend with a couple old railway line paths walked as well as another section of the Leeds & Liverpool canal (for I have far too much on my list of things to do, not enough time).

Anyhow, thanks for reading, a lot more photos can be found on my Flickr, Here, back to a couple weeks of day trips (including the Easter weekend) before a busy looking April