15th – 20th April Trips (Oxfordshire, North East, London)

 15th – 20th April Trips

15th April – Thames Path in rural Oxfordshire

It was back in late 2022 I reached Oxford on my exploring of the long-distance Thames Path, deciding to put the rest of the path towards Kemble on hold as the sections required bus moves due to the rural nature of where the Upper Thames (or River Isis as it’s otherwise known by) bus options were a bit more limited.  When I was doing research, I identified a potential split in the settlement of Newbridge and at the time it was served by a rough 2 hourly bus shuttle between Witney & Abingdon.  However, since I noted that down, the bus has increased to hourly and running to/from Oxford (to Witney) which makes things a bit easier.

The day began with the 07:57 service with a busy 158882 & 159014 taken to Basingstoke where I managed to board 220013 on a slightly late running Newcastle service to take me to Oxford, the train getting very busy at Reading with folk heading to Oxford due to this service being slightly quicker than a 9 coach IET which calls at Didcot Parkway.  At Oxford I popped out to the little Sainsburys near the station for lunch items before boarding the Oxford Bus run X15 service to Witney, taking it to the bus stop outside Newbridge (which features a couple of pubs).  This bus headed towards Abingdon, Marcham & Kingston Bagpuize and took a fair while.  I guess in theory I could have taken a Swindon bound (S6) bus to Kingston Bagpuize to change there to save some time, but hey-ho.

The walk began as I made my way round the Rose Revived pub and onto the Thames Path, passing a few moored boats with some views of the "New Bridge" (13th Century) before heading into the peaceful wilderness.  Keeping the river on my right-hand side as I followed the path as it weaved towards Northmoor Lock & the settlement of Bablock Hythe.  Many years ago, there used to be a ferry across the river here as the towpath switches banks, however like a few of the Thames ferries it no longer runs forcing walkers into a detour away from the river.

River Thames (Isis) at Bablock Hythe

The detour took me via a caravan park onto a country lane before picking up a farm track to head in a general northern direction, passing close to the Thames a couple of times before joining back up with the river at Pinkhill Lock, where there is a footbridge across the weir allowing me to cross the river so that it was now on my left-hand side.  Thankfully that was the only major detour required although another short detour was needed a short distance further on due to a marina and private land.  Once I passed the marina and re-joined the riverside I soon returned to the ruralness as the path headed towards the Swinford Toll Bridge, passing another lock.

I continued the walk, now entering a woodland section before fields resumed, the river changing direction a few times reaching King's Lock with the direction of the river changing to be more southernly, the sound of traffic from the A34 getting louder as I reached the A34 bridge of the Western By-Pass and towards Godstow Lock (passing the remains of Godstow Abbey).  This section of the Thames Path was a lot busier than the previous 10 or so miles as I headed towards Oxford, the Port Meadow being on my left-hand side as well as the river.  Sadly, this is where it started to rain as I reached the section of the Thames I've previously walked back in the summer of 2021 as a time-wasting move.

River Thames (Isis) between Eynsham Lock & King's Lock

The last section took me towards the Sheepwash Channel, going underneath the railway, passing the Rewley Road Swing Bridge and a final push to Oxford station, arriving with a minute to spare before 221120 rolled in on time (knowing my luck had I arrived with 15-20 minutes to spare, it would have been late!).  I grabbed a seat in coach B and relaxed for the trip to Basingstoke, where after popping out of the station for some supplies I returned to Grateley with 158880 & 159107 to enjoy some live comedy from Lenny Henry & get my rucksack packed ready for my North Eastern adventure.  It was nice to be back on the River Thames, although I have no idea why I had it in my head it was less than 10 miles where it was closer to 14 miles, not as bad as the next section between Newbridge & Lechlade at 16 miles of ruralness.

16th April – North East Day 1, Ponteland & Wylam

Originally for this long weekend I did book accommodation in the Greenock area for a Scottish adventure, before finding out the WCML was out of action, taking the option to switch location to Newcastle instead due to the time penalty of using the ECML to reach Inverclyde, also for the same price I could have 3 nights away instead of 2.  As usual for my North East trips I was staying in Whitley Bay, using a guest house I’ve used a couple of times before.

The day began with the 06:57 service into Waterloo with a busy 158880, 159013 & 159018, where I had just over an hour to stroll towards Kings Cross for the 09:30 Edinburgh fast service.  As expected with the WCML being closed, 801221 was very busy, even in coach G as it took me to Newcastle calling only at York (and strangely going via platform 4 at Peterborough instead of the usual down fast line).  At Newcastle I picked up a “TNE Day Saver” ticket which for £7.50 is good value for money. For it includes Metro, train between Blaydon to Sunderland and buses (not only in Tyne & Wear, but also Durham & Northumberland, making it ideal for cross border adventures).  I got lucky and landed straight onto dud 555019 on an airport service to take me to Newcastle Airport where my first walk began.

555019 at Newcastle Airport

The Ponteland railway path runs along the old track bed of the railway line to the town of Ponteland, part of the railway was used by the Tyne & Wear Metro when it opened in the 1980s, diverting at the airport end to serve the airport.  Once I made my way out of the Airport itself, I crossed over the A696 road at the airport roundabout and onto a blocked off lane (which used to serve some industrial thing).  The path quality was good as I made my way in a mostly north westerly direction in the countryside crossing over the B6545 to reach Ponteland.  Along the way were some information boards which is always a nice touch giving some history of the line & the area.  I reached Ponteland Park, doing a little loop before picking up cycle route 10 which runs along the Darras Hall branch.

This was more woodland as it headed to the suburb of Darras Hall, I carried on for a short section reaching Western Way where it looks the railway path continues along an old colliery railway, but with one eye on the time I headed back towards the Broadway near some shops, to catch the half hourly Stagecoach run X78 service to take me to Eldon Square bus station.  This bus route passed some quite expensive looking houses & the Airport heading towards Kingston Park and a fast-running section via Cowgate to reach the city centre.  After grabbing some bottles of Pepsi Max from a Poundland I headed to Monument, jumping onto 555028 to take me to Whitley Bay going via North Shields as there was a large gap in services going via Benton.

Darras Hall Branch of the Ponteland Railway, Ponteland

After checking into my accommodation, dropping off various things from my rucksack, I returned to the station, taking 555034 to Monument, once more going via North Shields, where I had a fast walk to Central Station to jump onto 158848 to take me to Wylam where I started the second of today’s walks.  This walk had been on my massive list for a while, the Keelmans Way path running close to the south bank of the Tyne towards Blaydon & beyond.  After a couple of photographs near the station and the signal box high above the road, I located the start of the path in the car park.  Very much a woodland path giving the occasional glimpse of the Tyne at the bottom of an embankment.  The surface was quite good as I headed along the Tyne skirting round the edge of Ryton golf club & Ryton Willows to reach Newburn bridge.  Good to see the river being used by rowers and the path being used by cyclists, dog walkers & joggers.

After Newburn Bridge the path continued towards Stella and a modern looking housing estate with the path following the roads for a short distance before returning to the riverside and another section of woodland.  I passed the start of the Blaydon Burn path which is another short path on my list (my plan is to combine it when I walk from Winlaton Mill).  The walk ended at Blaydon station where there is a handy access path between the platforms & the riverside.  As I only had a 7-minute wait before the next train to Newcastle I remained at the station, as the backup option was one of the frequent buses towards Newcastle or Gateshead. 156479 rolled in from Prudhoe to take me to Newcastle station where once more I headed to the Metro to take 555028 to Northumberland Park.

Keelmans Way Path between Wylam & Ryton

This was a bit of an unplanned trip, but I made the connection onto 156451 on the next Ashington service to take me to Bedlington to tick off the line for stations visited.  I made use of the time to visit the nearby Co-Op to grab some supplies for dinner before crossing the tracks via the level crossing to board 156451 back to Northumberland Park, transferring across to the Metro station getting lucky with 555015 arriving within a couple of minutes to take me to Whitley Bay, complete with security staff on board (I guess to counter some of the anti-social behaviour the Tyne & Wear Metro suffers with out of the city centre.  I will return to Bedlington again at some point to walk into the town centre as there is an interesting looking path, and I can exit via a bus.  Anyhow back at Whitley Bay I had a gentle stroll back to the guest house, making myself comfortable for the remainder of the evening, as I was weighing up various walking options.

17th April – A trio of old railway walks

I headed out of the guest house towards the station, jumping on 555015 for the trip to Monument via North Shields as there was a gap in service heading the other direction, at Monument I headed to Central Station on 555007 with the idea of grabbing breakfast before making a final decision at where to head to, as I wanted a walk in County Durham.  That plan changed when I saw a stopper for Middlesborough being delayed as the inbound was late, and I climbed onto 156487 to take me towards Seaham, a place I’ve wanted a decent explore as I had only ever been around the station area.  After-all who doesn’t like a visit to the seaside?

The first section once away from the station was to follow the route of what I believe (looking at old maps at least) to be the former Rainton & Seaham Railway towards the harbour area.  A lot different these days compared to the height of coal production no doubt.  I headed towards the harbour itself, climbing up the stairs to the Red Acre Point for some decent views.  After enjoying the sky I headed via an Asda to grab some supplies for lunch and also something for a late breakfast (for I was getting a bit hungry at this point).  After a bacon sandwich I followed some of the streets to reach the route of the former South Hetton Railway.

View from Red Acre Point in Seaham

This was a long climb away from Seaham passing a golf course before the urban area gave way to ruralness before I reached a section where the path detours away from the original railway due to the construction of the A19 dual carriageway, the cycle route crossing this busy road on a roundabout with the A182.  This is where I could have got wrong and followed the signs for cycle route 1 which instead of following the old railway runs alongside a road heading towards the modern Jade Business Park, but I was careful and picked the route of the old railway (although not like there was any clues to the path's former existence.  At Jade Business Park the original route (and cycle path shown on Strava) has disappeared under construction with an alternative path following the access road with various business units (some under construction), before the cycle path resumed on it's own with the section towards the settlement of South Hetton, which was a railway junction back in the olden days.  I carried on with a link path (which wasn't the best of surface quality) to link up with the route of the former Sunderland & Hartlepool Railway, now called the "Hawthorn - Ryhope Way".  I headed south towards South Hetton before doubling back, to save a job for when I get round to walking from South Hetton towards Shotton Colliery, Wingate & probably Hartlepool (although there is a path all the way towards Stockton).

The surface quality of this path was decent (for it was part of cycle route 1 according to some signs) as it headed north (ish), skirting round the side of the settlement of Murton with some nice countryside views on this peaceful path.  I soon reached the small settlement of Seaton, not that far from my starting point in Seaham, crossing over the A19 once more, the next part running close to the A1018 road so wasn't as peaceful, as soon countryside was replaced with the urban environment as I reached Ryhope, located to the south of Sunderland.  This path ended at the former Ryhope station, the only evidence remaining being the old footbridge (now fenced off).


I had the option to finishing the walk at the village green where there was a frequent bus service towards Sunderland, but decided to carry on, following some roads to reach what I think was the route of the former Silksworth Colliery Railway, heading towards the site of the former Ryhope Colliery, finishing the walk with an uphill stroll towards Silksworth, but finishing on Tunstall Bank where a Go North East route 63 rolled in, running late, to take me towards Sunderland city centre, terminating at the bus stop outside the Winter Gardens.  I can only guess Go North East control instructed the driver to run set-down only once within the city areas due to late running as it was quite fast.  Anyhow when I was waiting for the bus, the weather turned a bit wet (which was expected from the forecast).  I was toying with ideas of what to do next as I remembered the route 56 service to Newcastle, which felt like a good way to waste some time as I boarded a double decker for a different view as the bus headed via Southwick & North Hylton (passing Hylton Castle).

After crossing over the A19 it passed the massive Nissan factory to head towards Concord (to the north of Washington) before heading towards Gateshead via Springwell (passing the Bowes Railway).  I decided whilst I was in the area to alight at a bus stop in the Wrekenton area to walk a path along the route of the former Team Colliery Waggonway towards the Angel, picking up the Angel Cycleway path to take me towards a housing estate in the Low Fell area.  I was glad I did this walk from Wrekenton as it was mostly downhill.  Anyhow once more I was trying to decide on a potential bus move, part of me wanted to visit Saltwell Park, but in the end I jumped onto a route 93 bus towards Gateshead Interchange, going via the large Team Valley trading estate.

Path along the Team Colliery Waggonway, Gateshead 

At Gateshead Metro station, I headed to the platforms, jumping onto 555005 to take me to Gateshead Stadium, simply as a way to get more fresh air (as I don’t really like hanging around too long at the underground Metro stations).  A short wait at Gateshead Stadium saw me score 555032 for the trip to Central Station, jumping on dud 555012 back to Gateshead Stadium, followed by winner 555030 which I took to Pelaw (nicer to hang around at than Heworth).  I noticed when looking at the path a potential future walking idea from Pelaw as a winner unit rolled in on a Pelaw terminator (as this week the South Shields branch was replaced by buses with engineering works), so it was a case of waiting for 555036 to return from the sidings to take me back underground where I decided to remain on board to Palmersville as it was such a beautiful evening, felt a waste not to do a short walk.

Leaving the station at Palmersville, it was via an industrial estate to reach the Killingworth Waggonway Path within the large Rising Sun Country Park.  Quite busy with other walkers (and jogger) as I followed this path via the scenic country park towards a housing estate (Addington Drive) in Wallsend.  A short walk along the road followed before I picked up another path heading back towards Palmersville station, some more good views within the country park.  At the station I had a 16-minute wait before 555035 rolled in to take to Monkseaton where I went via the large Morrisons for some supplies before making my way back to the guest house via the local Spoons for something warm for dinner.  Today was quite productive for walks, even scoring a trio of 555s into my little book.  I didn’t sleep that well for some reason.  Didn’t help there was a couple of other people staying in the guest house who kept going outside for a smoke during the night and weren’t that quiet about it.  

18th April – South Tyne Trail between Alston & Haltwhistle

This was a walking idea which came to my attention in February when I was looking at the maps around the Tyne Valley line, seeing the tell-tale green line to the south of Haltwhistle, looking at the OS Maps saw it heading towards Alston (also the same time I spotted the short path from Brampton station into the centre of Brampton).  Bus options to Alston are somewhat limited to 3 buses a day from Haltwhistle, with the timings slightly nicer on a Saturday compared to a weekday, 10:52 instead of 09:14.

The day began from Whitley Bay heading towards Central Station on 555036 where I grabbed some breakfast and as I was slightly ahead of time, jumped onto 156484 to take me to Hexham for a little stroll towards a large Tesco to waste some time, before returning to take 156496 the 16 or so miles to Haltwhistle.  After visiting the little Co-Op for some lunch items (as the Hexham Tesco was a bit bare boned) & the public toilets I hung by the bus stop near the station also used by the AD12 bus route between Carvoran & Hexham (a bus route which had gone onto my list to do) for the route Go North East operated 681 bus to Alston with a little Solo.  A handful of passengers alighted within Haltwhistle (the bus comes from Birdoswald via Greenhead) leaving just myself and 2 other passengers to enjoy the scenic delights of this bus route.



This was a beautiful route heading away from Haltwhistle via some small villages (Coanwood, Lambley, Halton Lea Gate, Slaggyford) with some fast running and some steep hills.  Nobody else boarded or alighted from the bus as it reached the town of Alston where my walk began, going down the hill heading towards the railway station (served by the South Tynedale Railway) crossing over the River Nent.  The first section was a footpath skirting the edge of the station site following the river before picking up the permissive path which runs alongside the heritage track (reminded me of the path between Hoveton & Wroxham & Aylsham).

The path quality was reasonable, probably not a path you would want to cycle along (as there were a few gates along the way), nor probably do during winter time.  As soon as the path headed away from Alston the views opened up for this is one beautiful part of the country (North Pennines National Landscape), just a shame the weather was a bit changeable with some light rain a couple of times along the way, nothing that major but it did reduce the scenic views.  A steam train passed me near a bridge over the River South Tyne, but other than that the path was very peaceful.

Steam engine Nakło on the South Tynedale Railway between Alston & Kirkhaugh

I continued the beautiful walk passing Kirkhaugh & Lintley Stations before reaching Slaggyford the current northern terminus of the railway, complete with cute little buffet coach parked in a north facing bay platform.  The track ran out but the South Tyne Trail continued, with the path quality being quite changeable for the next couple of miles with some muddy & flooded patches but nothing that major.  Some beautiful woodland featured still with some views of the valley on the right hand side before I reached the area of the former Lambley station, where due to the station & land being sold into private hands when the line was closed, the footpath diverts down some steep stairs to go underneath the viaduct before going up some more steep stairs to re-join the old track bed to the south of the viaduct before crossing over the Lambley Viaduct which was the last time I saw the River South Tyne for a while.

After the viaduct came some woodland and sadly a heavy downpour lasting only a couple of minutes but long enough to get wet as I reached the former Coanwood station site where cycle route 68 (which detours via the roads due to the stairs at the viaduct) re-joined the old railway line route.  This area the path wasn't the nicest to walk, but that was mainly due to puddles from the heavy downpour, thankfully though the rough surface soon improved into tarmac, as did the views as I headed towards Haltwhistle in the sunshine.  The old railway path ends on Plenmeller Road with a short section along the road, crossing over the A69 Haltwhistle bypass before picking up another footpath leading towards the Alston Arches viaduct over the South Tyne before the last section towards Haltwhistle station where my walk ended, had I had a bit more time I might walked back towards the viaduct for some photos from the ground, but that could be a job for another day.

River South Tyne from the Alston Arches Viaduct, Haltwhistle

I was glad I ignored the platform information display which was suggesting the next train was running 20-odd minutes late as 156469 rolled in near enough on time with the next train to Newcastle, although this is when I noticed it would arrive into Newcastle around a quarter of a hour after the kickball had finished so came up with a revised idea to avoid the city centre & potential overcrowding on the Metro, so jumped from the 156 at Metrocentre, heading to Blaydon with 158842 to cross over the roads into the shopping centre area (although most of the shops at this time were closed). After grabbing something for dinner from Morrisons I headed to the little bus station, randomly jumping onto a route 69 service up a steep hill towards Winlaton, switching to a route 49 service on a little tour of the area to head towards Gateshead Interchange, returning to Metrocentre on the X66 shuttle (with a modern electric bus).

My last bus of the day was a busy 10A service towards Newcastle city centre, which got caught up in traffic so I jumped off at a bus stop near Central Station, heading towards the station and onto 555005 to take me to Whitley Bay, to relax for the rest of the day.  A very enjoyable stroll in the countryside, a beautiful part of the country.

19th April – A little explore of Sunderland

With the WCML being closed, mixed with the end of Easter Holidays for some areas, I was expecting LNER services from Edinburgh to be very busy so decided to play it a bit safer and use Grand Central from Sunderland, on the 10:30 departure as I didn’t want a late finish due to going into early shifts at work, especially as there was replacement buses between Andover & Grateley today.  After checking out of the guest house, a place I will use again if I’m back in the North East, I headed to the station, using my POP PAYG smartcard (as using that is £2.50 for a single ticket, compared to £5.50-odd buying a paper single).  I said farewell to Whitley Bay with 555005 to West Jesmond where I was a little bit naughty and dashed to the nearby Sainsburys Local for breakfast items before returning to take 555017 for the journey towards St Peters where my little explore of Sunderland began.

I headed away from St Peters heading towards the stadium and an area undergoing redevelopment at the Riverside, which includes a modern wide crossing of the River Wear (Keel Crossing) designed to cope with the football traffic from the city centre.  I need to research the cycle path which runs along the north bank of the Wear towards North Hylton, but that's a job for another trip.  Anyhow after crossing the Wear, I headed towards the city centre area, detouring via the Minster before heading towards Mowbray Park.

River Wear from Keel Crossing Bridge, Sunderland

I entered Mowbray Park at the northern end near the winter gardens building, taking a little stroll within the park before picking up the route of an old railway line which used to link the line from South Hylton & the docks.  One of those random short old railway line paths which headed towards an industrial estate.  I followed the roads heading towards the Town Moor, before heading back towards the city centre, swinging via Tesco to grab lunch items for later on.  I left the sunshine to head underground to get one of the unreserved seats at the southern end of 180103 when the train was lightly loaded.  Departure was on time, and it was the first time I’ve called at Seaham on Grand Central, and I sat back looking out of the window with the journey towards the ECML.  As usual for these trains they got very busy at York and had a nice fast run towards London.

At London I headed towards Waterloo on foot, meeting up with my good friend Jules who was in the area on a London trip for a short stroll and catchup before I jumped onto 159108 & 159101 on the next Andover service to take me to Andover where it was time to wait for the replacement bus.  Previous times there has been 3 buses used at Andover, one for Gillingham only, one for Salisbury and a smaller bus for Grateley & Tisbury, however today there was a coach for Gillingham with a smaller coach (from an operator called Bugler, IIG 7705) which departed Andover leaving folk behind wanting Salisbury.  The bus took me to Grateley, where I had a gentle stroll home, to sort my rucksack out after a long weekend in the North East.

20th April – A stroll along the Thames in London

For my last day of my current time-off it was an early start to get my body into early starts again, with 159106 & 159009 towards London Waterloo.  I was hoping to make some progress into the latest 701s which have entered service since my last London day trip, but only 2 were out, so I came up with an idea for a little walk in the beautiful weather (originally it was going to be a path alongside the Duke of Northumberland’s River).

After grabbing some breakfast it was onto 458420 & 458425 for a time wasting spin to Barnes, followed with 701052 to Brentford, returning towards Clapham Junction on a busy 458419 & 458424 before winner 701008 rolled in on a Hounslow loop service which I took to Kew Bridge, going via Twickenham where my walk began, for today I had decided to walk along the Thames Path on the northern side of the river, I had previously walked on the Thames Path on the ‘south’ side a few years ago. After leaving the station, I swung via Sainsburys to grab some lunch items, before heading towards Kew Bridge, going underneath the bridge and heading east.  The first section was along roads before picking up the riverside path in the Strand-on-the-Green area, going underneath the Kew Railway Bridge before the path headed inland.

An Overground service crossing Kew Railway Bridge 

After walking along roads for a short distance, I returned to the riverfront near Chiswick Bridge, crossing over a yacht marina and a boat club, before going underneath Chiswick Bridge, heading towards Dukes Meadows.  This path took me towards Barnes (Railway) Bridge, where I made use of a modern bridge which goes underneath the railway bridge but above the river.  I was now into Dukes Meadows walking along the Promenade, the views of the river being more limited due to trees, but soon the river view returned as the Thames Path headed towards Chiswick Eyot on the Chiswick Mall path.

The next section was more walking along minor roads in Chiswick before heading back on a riverside path towards Hammersmith Bridge, where I crossed over the Thames on the closed to traffic bridge, returning to the north bank on the opposite side before continuing on a busier section of path, passing various cafes & other buildings, even going underneath one of the stands of Craven Cottage (home of Fulham FC).  This led towards Bishops Park where I continued towards Putney Bridge, where I could have kept going towards Imperial Wharf but decided to call it a day as I needed to visit the bathroom.

North Side Approach to Hammersmith Bridge

I followed the main Putney High Street, crossing over Putney Bridge to reach Putney station, where I had timed it just right to board winner 701023 on a Windsor bound service which I took to Staines.  I switched platforms fast to board 458408 & 458413 from Reading which due to late running was running nonstop to London from Feltham, although it wasn't that fast as it caught up with a stopper in the Wandsworth Town area.  At Waterloo I headed towards 159012 on the next service bound for Salisbury to take it to Andover where I met up with mum as we had some food from the local Spoons before visiting Tesco for some shopping for the week ahead before driving home.  Once home I got myself ready for work, which involved being in bed by 7pm for a 3am alarm for the Tuesday (and this is the time of year where those early starts are bit more painful due to trying to sleep when it's still light outside).

Anyhow thanks for reading, a lot more photos can be found on my Flickr *here*.  Keep safe

7th & 8th April Day Trips

 7th & 8th April Day Trips

After a run of 7 early shifts at work, I had a couple of rest days, deciding on a couple of day trips, although like with most day trips the hardest part was trying to make my mind up at where I wanted to head (taking into account engineering works).  The weather was looking beautiful so I was happy with that.

7th April – A stroll in the countryside along the Oxford Canal

For the first day, I decided to visit the Oxford Canal to walk one of the rural sections with the theory that the towpath would have dried out and would be clear from overgrown hedges or long grass which can happen on rural canals in the summer months.  The day began with the 08:27 service from Grateley to take me into Basingstoke on 159012 & 159008 where I popped to the shops to grab some supplies before jumping onto 165111 on the Reading stopping service to take me to Reading (as I had noticed the following Voyager was only 4 coaches).  At Reading I connected into 800007 on a Cheltenham Spa bound service to take me to Didcot Parkway where I had a short break on a busy platform for 165105 to roll in on the stopping service to Banbury.

The Turbo departed Didcot, losing a couple minutes sitting near the junction (for I presume for the Malvern bound 5 coach IET), calling at Culham & Radley before heading into Oxford where the platform was very busy as the Manchester bound voyager was running late.  The 165 departed Oxford before coming to a stop near the Castle Mill Stream bridge, held on a red for the voyager to pass 15 minutes later (I guess the signaller was expecting the voyager to have a short dwell at Oxford where in fact it was at the platform for a good 5 minutes, probably due to overcrowding).  Anyhow eventually the 165 got moving and I alighted at Heyford where my walk would begin, the canal at Heyford being alongside the railway.

165105 departing Heyford Station

On leaving the station, I headed left to follow the canal heading towards Banbury, with the towpath skirting round the edge of Lower Heyford before the first section of countryside.  The towpath passed Upper Heyford with some expensive looking houses near Allen's Lock before returning to countryside once more, the only sound being the odd helicopter, birds & occasional train.  I crossed underneath the railway with the countryside opening up to be beautiful fields with the Cherwell River running close by.  Certainly, this is a towpath you couldn't easily ride a bike along due to the number of gates.

There was one section in this area where the original towpath has been lost to erosion, with the path heading a bit inland up a bank with the canal hidden from view, but soon the towpath returned to the canal edge as it neared the small village of Somerton.  After Somerton the towpath continued turning more woodland than open countryside in places, still very beautiful and peaceful.  Although the peace didn't last as the canal neared the M40 and Souldern Viaduct (carrying the Chiltern lines, where annoyingly I was 30 seconds too late to grab a photo of a passing train.  I soon reached Aynho Wharf near the site of the long closed Aynho station.

A voyager alongside the Oxford Canal between Upper Heyford & Somerton

I continued the walk, enjoying the countryside even if the towpath was a bit dodgy in places due to erosion, a case of avoiding the holes. It doesn't help when you get hire boats ignoring the speed limit on the canal and creating waves behind, which eat away at the banks.  The towpath switched sides (so the canal was now on my left-hand side, rather than right hand side) near a lock, with a handy bench which I used for a lunch stop.  The noise from the M40 increased as the canal passed underneath the motorway, heading towards the King's Sutton area.  This area was probably the worse for towpath condition, nothing unpassable but some areas where I had to slow down my pace to avoid having an unexpected bath.

The canal passes the King's Sutton area, even seeing the railway station but there is no access from the canal towpath towards the village, the next road crossing being at Twyford Wharf.  I continued the walk as the canal passed underneath the M40 again, heading towards the southern reaches of Banbury and a modern looking housing estate.  This area was another part of the towpath which was rough which I found a bit surprising for the area.  Anyhow soon the path did get better for the last section towards the Tramway Road bridge, where I made a little detour towards the Morrisons for some food before returning to the canal towpath for a time-wasting stroll passed the station towards the town centre area, a section I did walk a couple of years ago when on a railtour which had a break at Banbury.

Remains of the Lock Keepers Cottage at Lock 30 on the Oxford Canal between Twyford Wharf & Banbury

The walk finished at Banbury station, where I had a short wait before a busy 221134 rolled in from Manchester, passing the vestibule dwellers to get a decent seat in coach B for the speedy run towards Basingstoke, where the day ended with 159014 & 159013 back to Grateley, spending the evening relaxing and sorting out my photos.  A very enjoyable rural canal walk, lots of countryside fresh air.

8th April – Wherryman’s Way alongside the Yare

My original idea for the Wednesday was to head towards Norwich to finish the Marriot’s Way path from Lenwade into Norwich, however on Tuesday night I had a crazy idea to instead have another countryside walk before the grass & hedges grow.  The walk from Great Yarmouth towards Reedham via Berney Arms has been on my list to do for a while so with the weather looking good, I decided it would be nice to explore that area.

The day started with the 06:57 service towards Waterloo, being Easter Holidays the loading wasn’t as heavy as usual on 158888, 159012 & 159003, and as I had some time to kill before the 09:30 service from Liverpool Street I had a little stroll towards Liverpool Street, picking up supplies along the way (whilst dodging cyclists whom think red traffic lights don’t apply to them and smartphone zombies whom walk around eyes glued to their phone, even saw someone watching a video when walking, no attention being played to where they are walking). I made it to Liverpool Street in good time to grab a seat on 745001 for the speedy trip to Norwich.

745001 at London Liverpool Street

At Norwich, I transferred to 755422 working a Great Yarmouth service, one of those oddity services which head towards Great Yarmouth via Berney Arms rather than the route via Acle, which did make my life a bit easier as I alighted at Reedham where my walk began (deciding the previous night the riverside path from Cantley towards Reedham can be done on another day).  The first section is along the road (only because I didn’t notice the footpath option until it was too late), passing some expensive looking houses.  I soon reached the River Yare for a short distance passing a couple of cafés & some public toilets before going underneath the railway near the railway swing bridge to join Holly Farm Road following the signposts for the Wherryman's Way.  Soon the farm access track gave way to a grassy embankment alongside the River Yare (with what seemed to be another unofficial path at the bottom of the embankment which I guess would be useful if the wind was strong).  I spotted an ECS of the Eastern Rail Mk2 coaches heading somewhere but other than that it was very peaceful.

The walk continued alongside the river bank, although mostly the river was hidden from view due to reeds & other waterways, the first sign of life I saw was near Cadge's Mill before the wilderness resumed as I snaked my way towards Berney Arms enjoying the sunshine and countryside views.  The windmill at Berney Arms came into sight and 20 or so minutes later I reached the area known as Berney Arms with a couple of isolated houses.  I detoured away from the river bank following the Weaver's Way path towards the isolated station, although I did get caught out with an unexpected waterlogged path, hidden somewhat by the grass, the first I noticed is when my foot got wet.  I reached the station, for a couple of photos and a lunch break sitting on a handy bench before I made my way back towards the river, attempting to avoid the waterlogged patch didn't work as my other foot got wet.  Doh!

Berney Arms Windmill alongside the River Yare

After passing the former pub at Berney Arms (looked to be a private house) the path split with a hard surface track at a lower level with the grassy embankment, with a couple of areas where someone had cut the grass back.  Still very peaceful and beautiful, the first person I saw was someone working on a sluice gate near where the hard surface track crossed the railway.  I also saw a cyclist making their way towards Berney Arms (also saw them later making their way back towards Yarmouth so I have no idea if he was a local or just someone exploring the area).  The path at the bottom of the embankment was more farm track like so passable on a mountain bike, but I was at the top with the views of the countryside & river.

The path continued along the north bank of the Yare, heading closer to Great Yarmouth with road traffic on the Acle New Road being nonstop, as I reached the railway near the junction.  I continued along the path, alongside the railway line passing the carriage sidings now used to store various coaches owned by Eastern Rail, a mix of coaches from various operators plus a seemingly random 321434, which was quite unexpected.  After pausing for some photographs, with the path circling the edge of the wide river to go underneath Breydon Bridge (which carries the A47).  I detoured into the Asda store for some supplies before I made my way towards the busy station, the end of the delightful walk.

321434 stored in the Yarmouth Carriage Sidings (Eastern Rail Services)

I was considering taking the fast bus towards Norwich, but it didn’t save me any time, so waited for 755422 to roll in from Norwich, grabbing a seat at the front (where it was quieter) and relaxing with the run towards Norwich going via Acle, for I hadn’t been along this way since late 2020.  At Norwich I made the connection onto 745002 on the 17:00 service to London (spotting a refurbished purple 158 on the EMR towards Nottingham, very purple).  I relaxed for the speedy journey towards Stratford, where I transferred to the Jubilee line with 96112 & 96111 for the trip to Waterloo, to finish the trip with a busy 19:20 service bound for Exeter with 159004, 159108 & 158880.  Made busier due to the part cancellation of the 18:50 service due to signalling issues (and a good thing I made this train as the 19:50 was starting from Basingstoke with no connection from London).  Soon I arrived back at Grateley, to have a gentle stroll home to relax for the rest of the evening, getting ready for 6 late shifts.

Anyhow as always, thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr *Here*, next week sees a return to Whitley Bay, just a case of deciding which walks to do.

March Trips - 23rd – 30th March

 March Trips - 23rd – 30th March

The first few days of this week I was with mum taking her for a little holiday (and a day trip), the second part of the week was an overnight stay in the West Midlands.

23rd March – Onwards to Newcastle

The day began with the 05:55 service from Grateley formed of 159108 & 158888 which we took to Clapham Junction, changing over to board 378234 to Willesden Junction & 710376 into Euston.  Mum doesn’t like the underground and my theory of going via the Overground was it being less busy than the Thameslink option.  With time to kill we headed across to Kings Cross, going via the Spoons at St Pancras for breakfast (which was quite busy).  After breakfast we headed to Kings Cross to board 801206 on the Newcastle semi-fast service at 09:33 (when I was booking tickets for mum, this service was a lot cheaper than the 09:30 to Edinburgh, to a degree that it would have been cheaper to buy a 70 minute ‘flex’ ticket for the 09:33 and use it on the Edinburgh.  Needless to say, this train was quite busy even in coach G, with no spare seats after Stevenage, although it did slowly empty out along the way.

At Newcastle after grabbing lunch, we headed to the Metro buying a TNE Day Saver and putting some money on my new POP PAYG card (as I was experimenting with it), first up was 555011 for the trip to Sunderland.  Not my mum’s first experience with the Metro as she rode it a couple years ago when we broke in Newcastle coming back from Inverness, but that was on the older stock.  My original idea was to do the ferry across the Tyne but that was out of action due to storm damage so I had to come up with a new wing-it plan, which involved a modern Stagecoach electric bus (73058) on the route E6 to South Shields.

This was an interesting route (for there are quite a few bus routes in this area I wouldn't mind riding for the different scenery you get from a bus compared to the train).  Leaving Sunderland city centre, crossing over the Wear, heading towards Monkwearmouth (and the opposite side to that big Tesco near the Stadium of Light), it headed towards the sea front at Seaburn (reminding me that I need to research the walking idea I had for Sunderland towards South Shields via the Coast).  At Whitburn the bus headed away from the A183 onto the narrow Lizard Lane giving some nice views of countryside before urban returned with the bus heading towards South Shields interchange via a shopping street which featured at least 10 barber shops.

Seaburn Beach (from bus)

At South Shields, we jumped onto the next Metro service formed of 555038 for the long run towards Whitley Bay (which for me clears the Metro network for coverage on a 555), where we had a little stroll towards the seafront before heading towards the town centre bus stops to board a Gateshead Central Buses run route 351 (branded with the Nexus B symbol) to take us towards Haymarket Bus Station.  Another interesting route as this was a lot slower than the more direct Arriva or Go North East services from Blyth as it went via the houses, going via Earsdon, Shiremoor, Holystone before taking the A1058 towards the city centre (with its 10,000 car parking spaces!).

We headed underground once more, taking 555027 towards South Gosforth, the idea was to take this to the Regent Centre for another bus but when I saw it would be a 30 minute wait for the next Q3 so I ditched that plan and instead headed to Gateshead on 555013 where we connected onto the Go North East circular route 54 “Volta” service with electric bus 8804 taken for the short distance back over the Tyne alighting at the bus stop on the Quayside.  We headed to our accommodation, the Easy Hotel which was surprisingly reasonably good value for money for a proper twin room.  After checking in, we headed towards the nearby Spoons for dinner, before relaxing for the rest of the evening.  At one point I was considering heading out on my own for a spot of Metro hunting but the last few days of walking had caught up with me and I was a bit tired.

24th March – Onwards to Whitby 

I managed to bag a couple of bargain (£3) advance fares for Newcastle to Whitby in that rail sale earlier in the year, but before a trip to Whitby I headed out of the hotel early morning to walk up the rather steep hill towards the station, boarding 156479 for the short run to Metrocentre.  Where I transferred across to a route X73 bus from the bus interchange, for this was the time of day where a handful of buses use the “Centrelink” busway.  So, after a trip via Dunston & Teams, the double decker turned onto the busway for a speedy trip alongside the Tyne, crossing over the river on the Swing Bridge.  I left the bus at the Close, near the Spoons, happy that I've covered that underused busway (I guess designed to allow buses to bypass traffic on the Redheugh Bridge in the mornings).

After swinging via the hotel to pick up mum, we headed out heading towards the station via the stairs, where after breakfast (we couldn’t help notice how many people use the Sainsburys as a cut-through to get to the station carpark), we headed across to board 158848 on the next Middlesbrough semi-fast service, which was a bit busier due to an incident at Durham.  An on-time arrival at Middlesbrough gave us time for some fresh air before boarding 156449 on the Whitby train for the scenic run towards Whitby, arriving in the light drizzle.



After a little walk around the town centre area, we headed towards the bus stop to board the Leeds bound 840 Coastliner service to take it to York via the scenic (even if a bit misty) trip across the Moors.  We alighted from the bus in York at the Stonebow bus stops (where it waits 5 or so minutes) giving us around 90 minutes to get to the station for our booked TPE service to Newcastle (another Rail Sale bargain at £5 each).  After a visit towards the historic city centre, we headed towards the Monk Bar gate on the city walls, as when I visited York back in January 2025, this section of the city wall path was closed for maintenance.  Thankfully it was open, as we climbed up to the wall to walk the path towards Bootham Bar, near the York Art Gallery.  This gave some nice views of the Minster.  We headed towards the station going via the Museum Gardens and the railway bridge carrying the Scarborough line.  I need to research into the various paths heading towards Skelton, so much to do, so little time!

We arrived at the station in good time, as a few minutes after arriving the rain started, bouncing from the roof of a Northern 195.  802206 rolled in from Liverpool to take us towards Newcastle, complete with some idiotic youths boarding at Durham who didn’t have tickets and were having a chat with the police at Newcastle as they attempted to push through the barriers.  Arriving at Newcastle we had a gentle stroll to a bus stop to board the circular Go North East route 53 Volta service with electric bus 8802 taken down the hill to quayside.  The 53 operates clockwise with the 54 operating anti-clockwise.  After dropping some bits into the hotel, we headed to Spoons (again!) for dinner.  An enjoyable day, even if the weather didn’t play ball at times.

25th March – Farewell Newcastle

A later start this morning, as we had breakfast in Spoons before taking the route 53 Volta service towards Newcastle city centre, the long way round.   Crossing the Tyne on the Swing bridge it headed towards Gateshead centre then towards Bensham, skirting round the edge of Saltwell Park (which gains an entry onto my "list to explore") before heading towards Newcastle.  An interesting little route, the premier inn on the Teams business park looked massive!

I had a short notice change of plan and instead of heading towards the station for a train to Ashington (where I was planning to catch a bus back towards Newcastle), we headed towards the city centre to board a route 21 service (with a modern electric decker 6803) to take us to the famous Angel of the North, where on the map I noticed a potential walking idea labelled as the “Angel Cycleway”.  Anyhow tourist hat on, as we visited the Angel, still very impressive but I think mum was blown away by the scale.

Angel of the North

We headed back towards a different bus stop (as the Angel is located midway between two bus stops) to take another route 21 service back towards Newcastle city centre & Eldon Square bus station (going via the Tyne Bridge).  A gentle walk towards the station and it was onto 158853 for the round trip to Ashington, remaining on board back to Newcastle station, where after grabbing lunch, it was onto 801207 with the semi-fast London train starting from Newcastle.  An uneventful journey south, where we had a couple of options to reach Waterloo, walking towards Euston for a bus was ruled out due to the rain, so it was to St Pancras to jump on 700024 to Blackfriars (solely to look at the Thames) followed by a busy 700135 to London Bridge.  A quick change saw us onto 376029 & 376006 for a very slow trip towards Waterloo East (as something had happened on South Eastern with a lot of delays).   Another quick change saw us onto the 19:20 service from Waterloo with 159107, 159005 & 158881 getting lucky with a decent seat in the 158.

The sprinters took us to Grateley, where we had a gentle stroll home, the end of a little getaway to the North East.

26th March – An Unexpected Trip to Weymouth

The original idea for today was to do the random once a week route 86 bus route from Tisbury to Shaftesbury with a bus day on Go Ahead (heading to Poole via Blandford), with the day starting with the 07:51 service from Grateley, the school kids special with a very busy 159017 to Salisbury.  This was originally meant to run to Gillingham but it was cancelled at Salisbury due to late running on the single track.  After grabbing food from Tesco, we boarded the next Exeter bound service formed of 159014 & 159015 as I was trying to decide what we could do, either staying on to Exeter to do a Stagecoach route 2 towards Newton Abbot, then maybe towards Paignton.

However, I decided we should alight at Axminster to take the First Bus X51 service towards Weymouth, the bus working hard on the hilly section between Brigport & Dorchester.  After a little walk around Weymouth, it was onto the X54 service for Wareham which went via Lulworth Cove for some more countryside views, I decided it would be better to bail at Wool station, than to continue to Wareham.  I must return to Axminster at some point to sample the modern electric decker now being used on the bus towards Taunton.  We used the level crossing (which comes down quite early) at Wool to board 444007 on a London service, running into the rear of 444005 at Bournemouth.

444010 at Wool Station

These 444s took us to Basingstoke, where we had a tight but easy cross platform connection onto 158887 & 159017 to take us back to Grateley, where we had dinner at home.  I spent the rest of the evening playing catch up with my admin work and getting my rucksack packed ready for my 3-night stay in the Midlands.

27th March – Preston Guild wheel & making a start with the Lancaster Canal

I was staying overnight in Walsall for a couple of nights for a railtour, which gave me a few options at what I could do on the Friday, some options were ruled out due to forecast poor weather.  Eventually I decided to head to Preston to make a start with both the Preston Guild Wheel and also with the Lancaster Canal. The Preston Guild Wheel path is a 21-mile cycle route which encircles Preston and the Lancaster Canal is a canal which runs from Preston towards Kendal.

The trip began with 159004 & 158890 for the journey into Waterloo, followed by a gentle walk to Euston for 390129 on a Glasgow Central bound service for the speedy run towards Preston, with changing weather along the way, thankfully when it reached Preston the rain had cleared with the sun making an appearance.  My walk began from the station heading towards via the suburbs (passing a hotel I once stayed at many years ago), cutting via a woodland area to arrive on the banks of the Ribble.  Part of the path here is closed for flood protection works, but the main reason for visiting is to cross over the old Penwortham Bridge to walk a short cycle route which runs close to the former West Lancashire Railway route towards the A582.  I did a short loop back towards the bridge over the Ribble to start with the well sign posted Guild Wheel walk.

Old Railway Bridge Piers in the River Ribble, Preston

The first section was a path towards the modern day Penwortham Bridge, crossing over the road before following the route of the Preston Dock branch (on the right hand side) with the Ribble on my left.  Quite scenic at times before I reached the marina, crossing a dock channel on a railway swing bridge, the path heading along the road for a short distance before returning to the banks of the Ribble.  A short section later I moved away from the Ribble to head towards an industrial estate area the cycle path running alongside the busy A583 "Riversway" road linking up with the older A road towards Blackpool.

Thankfully the section alongside this busy road didn't last for long as the Guild Wheel path crossed over with a farm access track, following a slightly muddy farm access path towards the Ribble Link, a modern day canal making use of the Savick Brook to create a link between the otherwise isolated Lancaster Canal with the River Ribble (where a boat can reach the Leeds & Liverpool canal on the Rufford Branch if they are brave enough).  I detoured away from the Guild Wheel path to head towards a lock, the limit of walking, before making my way back towards the mostly tarmac path, pausing for lunch at a bench near a bridge carrying the A582.

Savick Brook (Ribble Link), Lea

After lunch I resumed my walk, following the Ribble Link/Savick Brook as it passed through some countryside (and a golf club) on the northern edge of Lea & Ashton on Ribble.  The Guild Wheel path leaves the canal towpath on the Savick Way Road bridge, as I continued making my way underneath the railway line (Blackpool branch line), crossing over the B6241 with the canal making a sharp turn and a steep staircase lock flight to reach the top basin where it joined up with the Lancaster Canal.  At the junction I turned right to follow the slightly muddy (lots of rain had fallen recently) towpath as it headed towards the current end of navigation near the Fylde Road, the canal being cut back from its original terminus closer to Preston city centre years ago.

I followed Fylde Road via the campus of the university, crossing over the route of the long-closed Longridge branch line and making my way to the station for it was time to go play with some trains.  An enjoyable walk with various scenery and mostly a decent surface.  At the station it was a short wait before boarding a busy 331107 on a Liverpool bound service where I had a short wait at Liverpool before boarding winner 197023 to take me to Runcorn where I had another short break, watching a Pendo roll in for London carrying mostly fresh air followed by a busy 350118 on the Birmingham bound service, which emptied out at Crewe (if only that Pendo called at Crewe it would actually be useful, rather than crawling towards Tamworth to follow a LNR service).

197023 at Liverpool Lime Street

At Crewe it was another short break before I boarded winner 197025 on the Shrewsbury stopper to take me to Whitchurch for a 30-minute break (good time to have dinner when sitting on the bench) before 197011 & 197104 rolled in to take me back to Crewe, where I made a tight connection onto 390141 to take me to Stafford followed with 220026 for the trip to Birmingham New Street.  I was toying with a trip towards Stourbridge behind winner 68024 but decided against it owing to the timings being a bit rubbish (especially as it would have put me onto a stopper to Walsall).  So, I decided to call it a night and jump onto 730034 on a Rugeley service to take me to Walsall where it was a short walk to the Premier Inn near the canal basin.  A rare event that the Premier Inn was cheaper than most of the other options in the West Midlands.  After checking in with the self-service kiosks (no staff members in sight) I headed to my room and relaxed.

28th March - The Cracoe-Jack 

When this tour first got announced, I was interested as it was doing the long freight line from Skipton towards Rylstone Quarry, as well as the short connection onto the Worth Valley line at Keighley.  Although I will admit when the finalised timings came back near enough 2 hours later than first advertised, I wasn’t happy as it gave a +10 into the last train to Walsall at Tame Bridge (or potentially a change at Crewe to put me onto that last train at Birmingham New Street, which was something best avoided due the likelihood of it being full of drunks).  Anyhow the day started with a gentle stroll to Walsall station to board 730020 on what was meant to be the first semi-fast service, but had additional stops inserted to cover for the cancellation of the last stopper.

At Birmingham New Street, I exited the station, heading to Tesco for some supplies for the day ahead before returning to take my seat on the Mk2 coaches being hauled with winner 69006 (first time I’ve had one of the rebuilt 56s), although my cheerfulness died a death when I said “morning” to the 3 others on my table to get a complete blank look, for joy of joys I was on a table with 3 people whom spoke very little (I think until the Freightliner depot in Leeds, they spoke 10 words between them).  Doesn’t help that I find the low-down seats on a Mk2 coach with little legroom under the table as worse than the seats found on a Chiltern Mk5 coach, I was suffering to the point I looked up a post tour escape plan to ditch the tour at Keighley for a voyager move.



Anyhow, back to the tour, as it headed towards Tame Bridge via Aston, before heading towards Stafford for another pick up (and a fresh air stop).  After Stafford it headed towards Crewe via Stoke on Trent for the final pick up, before heading towards Stockport, branching onto the Denton line to head towards Stalybridge (I forgot they had wired up Guide Bridge to Stalybridge, although I would imagine at the moment hardly anything uses it due to the 802s mostly heading towards Victoria).  An enjoyable trip across to the building site of Huddersfield, first time I’ve headed that way for a while, lots of works going on with the TransPennine upgrade project.  The tour headed towards Wakefield Kirkgate and Leeds, pausing for a while in the Midland Road area (where the large Freightliner depot is located) where the 3 others on the table suddenly burst into life taking the numbers of the various 66s & 70s.  The tour bypassed Leeds via the Whitehall curve and headed towards Shipley complete with a 30-minute pathing stop in a loop.  The tour passed Keighley coming to a stop the opposite side of the station with winner 57305 dragging the coaches onto platform 4 at Keighley where we would have a 90-minute break.

Time for a little explore of the town centre area, to get some supplies for dinner and other stuff before I returned to the station to take up my seat.  During the break the locos had run round with 57305 hauling the train from platform 4 at Keighley towards Skipton, pausing on the opposite side of the station for 69006 to haul the train passed the disused platforms at Skipton and onto the Yorkshire Dales Railway route (which used to run to Grassington), the scenery changing to be beautiful once away from the town, with the industrial shunter “Cracoe” hauling the train inside Swinden Quarry.  After the trip to the quarry, 57305 took the train back towards Skipton and 69006 to Keighley where I bailed, the idea of sitting in silence for a further 5 hours as darkness fell wasn’t a good plan and it was onto 333015 on a stopper to Leeds.

Track of the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway near the former Embsay Junction

At Leeds it was a short wait before 220029 & 220011 rolled in from York, as I managed to get a decent seat in the rear unit, relaxing with my phone on charge and watching some videos as the voyager headed towards Birmingham.  I have no idea why I randomly looked up what a 730/2 was working, but when I saw it as a potential option which didn’t cost me much time (and the bonus of avoiding Birmingham city centre on a Saturday night), I bailed from the voyagers at Tamworth, making my way to the low level platforms for a short wait for winner 730203 leading dud 730213 to take me to Rugeley Trent Valley, where I transferred onto 730002 (which looked like it had been in a war zone with the volume of rubbish) to take me to Walsall via the Chase line.  At Walsall it was a gentle stroll towards the hotel to relax.  Today’s tour reminded me why I cut back on the number of tours I do, especially if it involves those Mk2 coaches.

29th March – A random West Midlands Bus Day & Willenhall Exploring

My original idea for today was to head towards Kidderminster to walk the Staffs & Worcs canal towards Stourton before heading towards Stourbridge via the Stourbridge canal, but the weather forecast didn’t look promising for the afternoon so I came up with a new idea to do a little walk in Willenhall I was planning to do when I got round to visiting the new stations.  After checking out of the Premier Inn I headed towards Walsall bus station to board the frequent route 529 service bound for Wolverhampton with a modern electric decker (complete with rather comfortable seats).  A busy route as it stopped at most of the bus stops along the way towards Willenhall, as I alighted at the bus stop outside the Bentley Cemetery meeting up with a good friend.

The first section of this walk doesn’t show on Google Maps, but I spotted it when looking up Open Street Maps and did some research with Street View.  It was a modern tarmac path along the route of the long-closed Bentley canal (although not the best in terms of litter).  After this short canal section, it was onto the roads for a short section before we picked up a path along the route of the former Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway route.  Passing the site of Willenhall Stafford Street railway station, although no evidence remain.  The path continued on the northern edge of the Willenhall Memorial Park before going into the Fibbersley Nature Reserve.  We reached the end of the railway route on an industrial estate near Wednesfield before doubling back and having a random unplanned trip into the Nature Reserve (a "where does this path go, I have no idea").



After leaving the Nature Reserve it was onto another path with a strong smell of oil from a nearby garage which headed towards Neachells Lane, near Portobello Junction on the railway (where the line heads towards Wolverhampton or avoiding Wolverhampton), originally I was going to end the walk on Willenhall Road but we decided to continue along Deans Road to pick up another random footpath crossing over the railway and onto another path which ran alongside the railway towards the canal at Heath Town (a path which was quite varied in surface, starting as tarmac ending up in mud).  The walk ended outside Farmfoods on Wolverhampton Road for a route 59 service to take us into Wolverhampton Bus Station.

This is when I decided seeing as I had already hit the daily cap for National Express West Midlands to jump on another modern electric decker on a route 16 towards Stourbridge which was an interesting route as it headed into South Staffordshire towards Wombourne & Swindon before following the A491 from Wall Heath into Stourbridge Bus Station.  I said farewell to my West Midlands friend as he headed back towards Wolverhampton after having a little explore of Stourbridge and I jumped onto 139002 to take me to Stourbridge Junction followed by 172338 & 172344 on an unusual 6 coach 172 formation to Cradley Heath where I met up with another good friend.

172344 departs Cradley Heath

As the wind had picked up somewhat, we decided to take the next X10 service towards Birmingham city centre (Colmore Row outside Snow Hill), going via Haden Hill, Halesowen & Bearwood.  In Birmingham the rain had arrived as we headed towards the bus stop near Dale House (which is close to Albert Street Metro Stop, we even saw a tram on driving training pass us).  It was onto a X1 service bound for Coventry, something which had been on our list of random things to do, even though the top deck was a bit steamy with the weather.  This route headed out of the city centre towards Small Heath following the A45 road, detouring into Birmingham Airport using a bus only road near the runway (Jules was quite happy to see a plane taking off).

After the Airport this bus route followed the A45 before serving Meriden, joining the main road again before serving Allesley Green (with notes being taken for future walking ideas), finishing at the large Pool Meadows Bus station in Coventry, where we had a little break, finding a large Sainsburys which hadn't closed due to being a Sunday (it was around 16:50) allowing a little supply raid before the final bus of the day with a route 11 bound for Leamington Spa. This route headed out of Coventry city centre, passing the railway station before heading towards Canley and the University of Warwick campus (which was massive!).  Afterwards it headed towards Kenilworth, crossing over the route of HS2 to the north of the town before heading towards Leamington Spa on a road which had a few Stagecoach buses operating along.  We left the bus at the terminus near the station and headed towards the Spoons for dinner, going via the rather beautiful Jephson Gardens.

Jephson Memorial, Leamington Spa

After dinner we headed towards the station parting ways as Jules was staying in Leamington Spa and I was staying in Birmingham City Centre, and it was onto a lightly loaded 168219 for the slow trip to Moor Street, where I was reminded at how bad the local railway network is on Sunday evenings with no West Midlands services showing on the departure screen for the next 3 hours (I think there is an hourly service from Snow Hill towards Kidderminster but nothing south of Snow Hill).  I headed out of Moor Street heading to the Travelodge on Newhall Street, a hotel I've used a few times as it's reasonable in terms of outside noise, relaxing for the rest of the evening.

30th March – Bourn Brook Walkway, Dudley Canal & Old Stourbridge Canal

The day began with a gentle stroll towards Moor Street to board winner 68024 on a busy London Marylebone service where I will admit to messing up as for some reason, I had Birmingham Moor Street to Dorridge as over 10 miles, but it is just under 10 miles.  Ah well, mistakes happen as 68024 becomes my first entry on my “stuff needed for mileage” spreadsheet for a couple of years.  Anyhow I met up with Jules at Solihull as he was busy playing with unusual track coverage with 172s (and I never knew there was a West Midlands operated Leamington Spa – Stratford Upon Avon service in the morning).  We headed towards Moor Street on 172340 & 172008 heading into the city centre for some breakfast before heading towards New Street, jumping onto 170619 for the short journey to University where our walk began.

68024 at Dorridge Station

The Bourn Brook Walkway is a path which follows the Bourn Brook (surprising that), heading west from near Selly Oak (the starting point is pretty much half-way between both stations).  A decent path as we followed it towards California and the very nice Woodgate Valley Country Park, the first section of walk ending near Lapal.  The next section was along a little country lane which started off well with a pavement and hardly any traffic as we crossed the M5 before the pavement ended and traffic increased as we reached the A456 dual carriageway, darting across towards a housing estate area.

The third section of todays first walk began as we joined the route of the former Dudley Canal (No 2 Line) on the outskirts of Halesowen, discovering Leasowes Park as we followed the towpath of the disused canal (with water appearing along the way) before joining the pavement on Mucklow Hill.  A small detour via the road (passing an old storage area featuring some old double decker buses), we dropped down onto the canal once more near Hawne Basin, although this section the public path was behind trees as the original towpath is private property for the marina.  We crossed over the canal on a lovely old bridge, following the towpath towards Gosty Hill Tunnel, which is a steep climb for walkers to go up and over the hill.  This soon led us towards the canal near Old Hill station, going underneath the railway bridge and meeting up with the point I started a walk at the start of March, so another canal can be ticked off.

A West Midlands 172 crossing the Dudley Canal (No 2 Line) near Old Hill Station

We had a fast walk along Station Road to a bus stop to board a X10 service to the massive Merry Hill shopping centre where we popped to the toilets and Asda for lunch, before starting the second walk of the day.  We headed away from the shopping centre, picking up the Dudley Canal near Delph Locks, carrying along the canal a short distance before branching off onto cycle route 54 which I think makes use of the route of a closed section of the Stourbridge Canal.  As it headed towards the Stourbridge area with some hills, crossing over the Round Oak Steel Terminal freight line on a very narrow footbridge, the walk ending near the canal basin in Stourbridge.  Just one of those walks which I noticed when researching the Stourbridge canal which looked interesting.  We headed towards Stourbridge Town station via the town centre, jumping onto 139002 to Junction before 172341 & 172214 to Birmingham Snow Hill.

We headed towards New Street, saying farewell to Jules as he headed towards a Hereford bound service and I headed towards a XC for Bournemouth, turning down a 9 coach Pendo on a London service owing to the cancellation of the previous service due to an incident between Wolverhampton & Stafford (which did mean 221126 was starting from Birmingham instead of Manchester with the unit rolling in from Bournemouth and getting turned back.  I managed to grab a decent seat for the trip towards Basingstoke, the trip ending with 159021 & 159106 to take me to Grateley.  As always thanks for reading (even if this was a longer than usual post), more photos can be found on my Flickr *here*.