10 – 12th September – North Wales & Stratford Greenway
Back in May time I called off a trip towards the Conwy Valley due to it being closed due to flooding on the Friday and it was going to be a bit of a risk if it reopened on the Saturday (in the end I booked a trip to Manchester on the Saturday), so this would be a bit of a recovery from that trip. I changed the plan around a bit with a trip to Holyhead replaced with a walk from Llandudno (to Llandudno Junction), which allowed me to save money on tickets.
Friday
The trip began with the 17:59 service from Grateley, with a reasonably loaded single 159 taking me to Basingstoke, where I changed to platform 5 to board the 165 on the Reading stopper (taking up a seat in the declassified first class section for that bit of extra comfort). The heavily delayed Reading Green Park station seems to be coming along well with the foot/overbridge being built. At Reading I had a short walk to board a pair of busy voyagers on the Manchester service for the run to Oxford where a good number of the passengers alighted from the train, some exited the station but a fair few remained on the platform to await the GWR Hereford service (which skips Reading), a 9 coach 802.
I took a seat in the front coach (no engine, making it a bit like standard premium!) and it was very quiet (5 others in the coach after it departed Oxford). I spent the time on my tablet as darkness had fallen, as I was weighing up the options for how to get to Birmingham, NRE was being helpful in saying that both the Snow Hills Line stopper & Hereford – Birmingham trains were cancelled (whereas the stopper was running, but terminating short at Birmingham Snow Hill, and the train from Hereford was starting from Worcester Shrub Hill). However the XC connection would have been onto a 2 coach 170 from Cardiff, where the previous Cardiff – Nottingham had been cancelled so I would dread to think how busy that would have been.
In the end I alighted from the 802 at Worcester Foregate Street and walked back towards Worcester Shrub Hill, being a bit foolish going via the canal, although I suspect the railway viaduct over the canal might make for some half decent photos in the daylight. Eventually I reached Worcester Shrub Hill and waited for the train to roll in from the middle siding, for it was a hired in Chiltern 172/1 on the fast Birmingham service.
Hired in Chiltern 172102 at Worcester Shrub Hill
The reason for wanting to do this particular service is that it’s one of those late evening oddities which go via Kidderminster to use the chord at Smethwick to approach Birmingham New Street from the Smethwick direction (not like I needed the track, more of a novelty of a 172 at Smethwick Rolfe Street). As it started at Shrub Hill loadings in my coach could be counted on one hand so a relaxing last train of the day, other than some delays before it joined the WCML at Smethwick caused by other trains being delayed.
At Birmingham New Street, it was a short walk to get checked into the Easy Hotel, sadly not getting a good room this time round. The AC wasn’t working and felt like I was right above the pub so was a bit noisy (although thankfully the pub closed after midnight). When I was in bed researching my moves for the Saturday I noticed the first train from Birmingham gave a connection to a Shrewsbury – Holyhead train, as previously that train departed Shrewsbury 2 minutes after the train from Birmingham would arrive, an unofficial connection. This allowed me to make a last minute change of plan.
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Saturday – North Wales
After getting some early morning supplies from the Tesco Metro in Birmingham city centre, my day began with the 06:24 service towards Aberystwyth, which was unusually formed of a 150 (at Shrewsbury it swapped over with a Aberystwyth – Birmingham 158 so that the 158 could return towards the coast). I took this 150 to Shrewsbury, having a bit of nice engine noise on the fast section after Wolverhampton, and at Shrewsbury I swapped over to the 175 working the retimed 07:26 Holyhead train which was a 2 coach 175.
The train got quite busy along the way to Chester (where Chester Races were happening), and had a large passenger turnover at Chester, before it headed towards the North Wales Coast, a line which is pretty in parts (where it runs alongside the sea). I alighted from the 175 at Llandudno Junction where it used platform 4, after swinging via the ticket office to buy my 2 zone North Wales Rover, I jumped onto another 2 coach 175 for the run to Llandudno (where I couldn’t help thinking a 2 coach 175 for the shuttles is slightly overkill for a short journey).
I exited the station at Llandudno and headed for a gentle walk towards the sea front, doing a short loop before heading back to the station to board the same unit to take me back to Llandudno Junction, where I couldn’t help noticing how busy platform 3 was getting, with announcements saying they expected the train to be extremely busy and for it to be full & standing after Rhyl. At least Transport for Wales ran it as a 3 coach service, but for me I was waiting for the 150 to roll in from Llandudno to take me towards the Conwy Valley.
Llandudno Bay at Llandudno
The 150 rolled in from Llandudno and was lightly loaded, as I took a seat for the scenic run towards Betws-y-Coed, a place I wanted to revisit as the last time I visited it was a dark October morning. The village was very busy with tourists, but I located a little footpath which follows the river Conwy circling the outside of a golf course. A pleasant little path with areas with good views of the river, however before it reached the railway bridge the path was closed so I had to take another footpath to come back towards the station area, before heading towards a little bridge in the village centre to waste a bit of time.
The
platform got quite busy before the train returned, but I got a seat on the
return as I requested the stop of Dolgarrog, a station rebuilt in the last
couple years due to the previous station getting damaged in some floods. However due to an old railway bridge across
the river being closed by the water company for being unsafe has cut the
station off from the village it is meant to serve. There is an upmarket 5 star hotel nearby Dolgarrog
station, plus a handful of houses, but other than that nothing. The road near the station was pretty much
constant with traffic (60mph with no pavement so not somewhere you want to walk
along). [There was 2 people who boarded the train at Dolgarrog, the same pair I'm pretty sure alighted at Dolgarrog heading south, no idea who they might have been]
150 departing Dolgarrog
After a little walk to the closed bridge, I returned to a nice bench on Dolgarrog station, and relaxed for the hour fester, before the 150 returned. This time I remained on the 150 all the way to the end of the line at Blaenau Ffestiniog, the landscape changing massively after the long tunnel, as well as the weather as it started to rain. This change in the weather meant I cut down my little walk around the village, but I still managed to get to a bridge to photograph the overgrown line towards the disused power station (which I would imagine saved this line from getting axed in the 60s & 80s).
A 150 at Blaenau Ffestiniog
I returned to the 150, sheltering from the rain waiting for departure time (as unlike other services, the 14:35 arrival sits at the station for 20-odd minutes allowing time for a little explore, other services tend to depart straight away). I remained on this 150 all the way to Llandudno, picking up quite a few passengers along the way, but emptying out at Llandudno Junction, this time the train went into platform 1 at Llandudno which allowed me to tick off all 3 platforms at the station, as I set off on foot for another walk.
This
time I headed away from Llandudno station, heading towards the Great Orme,
passing the base station of the Great Orme tramway (a job for another day), and
onto a footpath which gave wonderful views of the town & West Shore, before
I came back down to sea level for a walk on a path alongside the West Shore
beach, going onto the beach a couple times.
I think I made a wrong turning at some point as the path went sandy and
at the bottom of a sandbank, but it gave good views of the water. I continued heading along the path as it
reached Deganwy. [Another thing, when I was walking towards the tramway, I walked along a street with many B&Bs, all were showing "No vacancies" to show how popular this area is for Domestic Holidaymakers)]
Worth the climb
.
I continued along the path, although this time it went between the Deganwy Marina & the railway line before the waterfront was regained, with the railway to one side and the River Conwy to the other side. The railway was lost as the path went round the headland and over the Conwy Tunnel (for the North Wales Expressway), before reaching the main railway line, which was crossed via a footbridge as I continued walking alongside the River Conwy to reach the car park of the RSPB Conwy nature reserve, the end of my river walking.
175003 departs Deganwy Station
Onto the road, as I headed towards a nearby McDonalds for something to eat, and via Iceland for a bottle of drink, before reaching Llandudno Junction station, using a shortcut not shown on Google Maps. An enjoyable little walk along the water, but it was time to put my mask back on and wait for a late running Shrewsbury service, formed of a 158 & a 153. The 153 is one of those which have been refurnished inside (former GA unit) but hasn’t had the large toilet unit fitted (the original toilet remains in place, but locked out of use).
Llandudno Junction from road bridge
I sat in the 153 as it was quieter (in terms of passenger loadings) for the run towards Chester, where once more there was a good turnover of passengers as the train departed towards Wrexham rather full of race goers in various states of drunk. I alighted from the train at Wrexham General to have another short walk, this time heading towards Wrexham Central for a photograph of the stations (which is currently only served by a handful of trains a day as most of the Bidston services turn round at Wrexham General). After grabbing the photographs I returned to Wrexham General and relaxed for a 3 coach 175 to roll in from Chester.
This is a service which starts at Chester and sits at Wrexham for nearly 5 minutes, shame they couldn’t push back the departure from Chester to allow it an official connection with a train from Holyhead (rather than an unofficial & very tight +2). The front couple coaches were busy with race goers but the rear coach was strangely lightly loaded as I took a seat and relaxed again, catching up with some internet browsing until I reached Shrewsbury for my final train of the day, a reasonably busy 158 from the Cambrian for the run to Birmingham New Street (it was quiet in the front coach on departure, rear coach looked to be busy as it was the closest to the buffers).
The 158 took me to Birmingham New Street with no real issues, other than being held up outside Wolverhampton for a late running XC Voyager to go in front. At New Street it was a short walk from the platforms to reach the hotel where after a shower I relaxed for the remainder of the evening.
Wrexham Central "Station"
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Sunday – Stratford Greenway Walk
I started the day by trying out breakfast from the Tim Horton’s near New Street, before heading to Birmingham Snow Hill to board the first Stratford on Avon train, the one which runs non-stop to Stratford Parkway (and is quite good fun to speed along the Whitlock’s End line). Today this was a 5 coach service, and I think I had the rear 3 coach unit pretty much all to myself for the run to Stratford Parkway, where I exited the train and started my walk by heading towards the canal.
I joined the canal and headed along the towpath, the service quality started off a bit rough before it went tarmac on the outskirts of the town, I carried on underneath the railway bridges (one in use, the other I assume used to be for the goods area). My canal walk ended near the Premier Inn near the station, where I headed onto the road heading towards the station, joining a narrow footpath leading towards a mixed used path section on the old track bed which took me towards a roundabout and a busy road (which I believe got built on the old railway line).
Stratford Canal in Stratford Upon Avon
A short section of walking on a pavement before the walking route went away from the main-road to a residential street before re-joining the main-road near another roundabout, where the sign posted Stratford Greenway began, a mixed use path on the old track-bed towards Long Marston. The path was busy in places (especially at the racecourse end) but soon it went a bit quiet with only the odd cyclist passing. Some nice views along the way of the countryside and platform at an old station (Milcote I believe), certainly a nice little walk along a disused railway line.
Soon I had reached the end of the greenway at Long Marston, where there was some old tracks still within the road surface, but I was still a few miles away from my final destination of Honeybourne, and when I was looking at the map I marked out a route along various footpaths which would take me towards Honeybourne, so I headed along the road for a short section before locating the start of the footpath.
Old tracks in the road near Long Marston
Straight away the path wasn’t the best, slightly overgrown hedges and long grass, but it only got worse as I carried on. I came across broken stiles, navigate hidden wooden planks across ditches, and trying to find the right direction as the path went across fields with no real evidence on the ground where the path actually went (OS Map open on my phone as I walked along to make sure I was heading in the right direction). Eventually the first section was complete as I reached the village of Broad Marston, for a short break before carrying on.
The second section from Broad Marston started off better, for it was marked out and had stiles which weren’t broken; although the hedges were a bit overgrown in places as I reached the bottom of the railway embankment and some woods. I continued along the path as it climbed a small hill before a downhill section as I reached the road on the outskirts of Honeybourne. I went underneath both the Long Marston branch & mainline, ignoring a footpath on the left to carry on with the road (looked overgrown and I was getting hungry), before going via a housing estate to reach a Co-Op for some lunch.
After my shopping trip I headed towards the station, crossing over to the London bound platform to have my lunch on a nice bench, and resting my legs. There was an idiotic youth who couldn’t be bothered crossing the railway via the footbridge and crossed it by jumping from the platforms onto the tracks (his girlfriend sounded like she wasn’t impressed), but soon a 9 coach 802 arrived from Hereford to take me towards Oxford, where I jumped off the train for another short walk.
800004 departs Honeybourne
Due to engineering works there was buses north of Oxford towards Leamington today, also from Andover towards Gillingham so I worked with the timetable to board the next XC service from Oxford to Basingstoke as it would make no difference to the timings. I exited Oxford station and headed towards the Oxford Canal for a gentle walk north towards a place called Port Meadow. I carried on with a footpath at the southern end to meet up with the River Thames to walk back towards the station.
Although I did mess up and come off the Thames Path earlier than I was meant to (original plan was to come off to go underneath the railway to come up near the site of the old swing bridge on the Sheepwash Channel, but instead I came up on the Roger Dudham Way road, behind the back of Oxford station (near the peak time exit), doing a short loop underneath the railway at the southern end of the station to re-enter, the end of a little loop. Oxford is a place on my list to revisit again, for the history of the area.
Two Arriva operated TOCs side by Side at Oxford
Anyhow the voyagers were already on the platform, idling away as I headed towards a coach near the rear (as they were a lot quieter than the ones near the entrance), grabbing a table seat in a coach with 2 other passengers for the run towards Reading, reversing and heading towards Basingstoke. At Basingstoke I hung around on the platform waiting for the 159 to arrive from London. The train arrived around 5 minutes ahead of schedule, and as expected it was very busy. I ended up sitting on a fold down seat in one of the wheelchair areas for the run to Andover.
I exited the station at Andover and headed towards the replacement buses, but unusually there was only one bus (in previous times there had been 2 or more, with one running non-stop to Gillingham), a service bus from “South West Coaches” which departed pretty much full. A bus with no legroom and the driver following the Sat Nav instructions on how to reach Grateley station, going via the A303 (I guess it is the fastest route due to a higher speed limit, but most bus drivers tend to go on the A343 out of Andover). Nobody boarded the bus and 1 other passenger alighted with me in the empty car park, as I walked slowly home to relax the remainder of the evening, the end of another weekend trip away.
South West Coaches Replacement Bus
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