Trips in August, Part 3
19th August – Walking the Cranleigh Line
The idea for today was to avoid central London due to the underground strike, but also to have a nice long walk. The weather looked nice to walk and my aim was on the “Downslink” path between Christ’s Hospital & Shalford, along the route of the old Cranleigh Line. The 09:59 service from Grateley took me to Clapham Junction, followed by a pair of 444s for Clapham, which unlike previous trips were lightly loaded. I grabbed supplies from Sainsburys outside the station and waited for the delayed Portsmouth train to take me towards Christ’s Hospital.
This service was around 14 minutes late from Clapham, until it reached Gatwick where a last-minute platform swap from P3 to P2 delayed it by another 5 minutes due to waiting for passengers to cross over, time it never got back. At least I got a bit of money back as delay repay. I alighted from Christ’s Hospital, found the signs for the Downs Link path, passing the restored former branch line platforms and onto the path.
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| Disused Platforms at Christ's Hospital Station |
An enjoyable walk, mostly on the old trackbed, but parts where the path went away from the old track, the worst parts was crossing the A281 on the outskirts of Rudgwick (busy main road) and an unexpected climb on the other side of Rudgwick where the railway went into a tunnel and the path goes over the hill, crossing over from Sussex into Surrey. Other than those 2 parts the path was mostly traffic free (a couple minor roads but not that busy).
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| Two Tier Bridge for the disused Cranleigh line in Rudgwick |
I swung via the Sainsburys in Cranleigh for some supplies (mainly more water) before continuing with my walk in the rural wilderness. The former station at Bramley had platforms still in existence with a little history board which was a nice touch, as the path got busier on the approach towards Shalford, before I walked towards the station along the road, with 15 minutes to spare before the next Reading train
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| Remains of Bramley & Wonersh Station on disused Cranleigh line |
This 165 took me to Guildford, followed by a 444+450 combo for the 6-mile trip to Woking, for a 50-minute wait for the next Exeter train. I was going to linear hop on a pair of 444s to Basingstoke, but I noticed a 701 rolling in on test, so had to get a photo, before boarding a busy 159+158 combo for the run back to Grateley, followed by a walk home, where I got attacked by the dog who was happy to see me.
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| 701048 on test at Woking |
21st August – Walking the Thames Path (Shepperton to Windsor)
Today
I returned to the Thames Path to carry on walking, this time the section was
from Shepperton towards Windsor, making use of some extra trains towards
Shepperton due to engineering works at Twickenham. Unusually they ran nonstop from Teddington to
Shepperton for a bit of a novelty of skipping those branch-line stations (Ok, this might have been the main reason why I was doing this route today!)
A pair of 159s took me to Clapham Junction, followed by a pair of 455s for the run to Shepperton, where I started my walk along the “Alternative” route of the Thames Path (basically an alternative for those not wanting to use the ferry between Weybridge & Shepperton). Signposts were a bit rubbish in places, but I soon joined the Thames, walking along the towpath towards Chertsey, then towards Staines.
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| 455720 at Shepperton |
Swapping over to the opposite bank, my walk continued passing a posh looking hotel at Runnymede, following a temporary path due to construction work near Old Windsor, before coming onto the roads at Datchet due to the original towpath being lost to the Windsor Castle grounds (with lots of threatening signs for anybody daring to trespass). The other side of Datchet and the riverside path resumed, taking me towards the centre of Windsor, the end of my 17-mile walk.
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| River Thames around Staines |
I headed to Windsor & Eden Riverside for a pair of 458s back towards Clapham Junction, skipping Sunnymeads & Wraysbury but calling at all the other stations on the Hounslow loop, but I was in the former 1st class area with my phone on charge, so the slow running didn’t bother me. At Clapham Junction, I popped out to the Sainsburys for dinner before a triply 159 took me back to Grateley, where I spent the remainder of the evening relaxing ready to return to work the next day.
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| 458521 arriving at Windsor & Eden Riverside |
27th August – Walking the Flitch Way
The
Flitch Way is the name given to the mixed used path which uses most of the
trackbed of the former Bishop Stortford – Braintree line, something which had
been on my list for a few trips (and the distance I had been working up
towards). The weather forecast looked good so I decided today was the day I would attempt the walk.
The day began with the 06:59 service from Grateley to Waterloo, followed by the Jubilee to Stratford (which skipped Bermondsey, I assume due to the station being closed due to lack of staff), followed by a 720 to Braintree. After swinging via Tesco for lunch items before joining up with the old railway line.
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| 720526 at Braintree |
Along the railway line I passed the restored former station at Rayne (the building is now a busy café with an old railway coach at the station), next up was the remains of the small Bannister Green Halt, as the route became more rural and treelined. There was one small detour due to an unsafe road bridge, before the railway route came to an end around the former Felsted with a short section along the road. The former station building (I presume) is in a sorry state of disrepair and the path is a bit rough (in terms of surface quality) before it joined the old railway route once more.
The path continued before it came to another end (well the railway route continued to a dead-end) due to the route being built over by the A120 dual carriageway, so I came down from the railway route to follow a couple byways to reach the outskirts of Great Dunmow. I followed the roads, using the pavements and a footpath to reach the start of the Dunmow cutting, the B1256 bypass being built where the track & Dunmow station used to be).
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| Remains of Bannister Green Halt on Flitch Way Path |
Dunmow Cutting was probably the worse part for surface quality, as it was muddy in places, I dread to think how bad it would get during winter months or after heavy rain. A handy bench allowed me time to sit down to have my lunch in the sunshine before continuing for another detour caused by the A120 dual carriageway removing a bridge. After returning to the former railway line route towards the area around the former Easton Lodge station, where the mixed used path has another small division due to the station building & I presume old platforms being in private ownership.
I continued along the path of the old line, with one more small detour due to an infilled road bridge, before reaching the platform at the old Takeley station, the station building having work done to it. The route was a lot woodier due to Hatfield Forest being close by, as I passed the remains of Stane Street Halt, and the noise of aircraft became more of a background noise (due to Stansted Airport). The railway route came to an end at Start Hill, looking at Open Street Map it suggests the path continued (maybe as a permissive path) but was very overgrown.
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| Remains of Stane Street Station on Flitch Way Path |
With the old railway line complete, the easiest route would be to head towards Bishops Stortford, either along the roads or by some footpaths, but I decided to head towards Stansted Mountfitchet, following a bike route going over & under the motorway (and the slip roads) to reach the village of Birchanger, following some footpaths (including one across a field) to Forest Hall, before a couple final paths to reach the area of Stansted Mountfitchet station, where I popped via the Co-Op to grab some extra drink & some food.
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| Flitch Way Entrance at Start Hill |
An enjoyable walk, just over 20 miles in total according to my Strava app, so close to beating my record for longest walk, although I was glad to take a seat on a 720 to take me towards Whittlesford Parkway for a short wait before my last required 755 rolled in from Norwich (755406). I took this to Stansted, followed by a 745 to Bishops Stortford followed by winner 720506 for the run towards Cheshunt, stepping back to another 720 for the run to Liverpool Street.
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| 755406 at Stansted Airport, class complete :) |
At Liverpool Street, I headed towards the Elizabeth Line platforms for a 345 to Tottenham Court Road, followed by a Northern line to Waterloo and the 21:20 service to take me home to Grateley.
28th August – Dartmoor ‘Round Robin’
A trip to sunny Devon with mum, doing something we had hoped to do earlier in the month but got bowled out with cancellations, thankfully today the services hadn’t been cancelled on the Gunnislake branch. A walk to Grateley station followed by a pair of 159s all the way to Exeter, delayed due to the speed restriction between Tisbury & Gillingham but thankfully only by around 12 minutes (not as bad as some delays, as trains get held at Honiton to allow London services to pass there instead of Pinhoe). At Exeter St Davids it was a short wait for a busy 9 coach 800 to roll in from London where we got decent seats for the run via Dawlish to reach Plymouth.
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| 150266 & 150247 at Plymouth |
At Plymouth we popped out to visit Sainsburys (I noticed the little Spar shop has been removed to create a wider gate line), before returning to board a 150 for the run to Gunnislake, been a few years since I was last in this area, and I had forgotten how steep the climb is! We changed over to the waiting bus working a route 118 service to Okehampton via Tavistock (extends to Gunnislake on Sundays only), a lightly loaded Dartline Optare).
This bus route gave us around 50 minutes at Tavistock, so we headed towards the old viaduct, a job for another trip for me is to walk the old railway route on top of the viaduct. We returned to the bus station for the next section of the bus, however due to an accident on the A386, the bus lost time doing a detour via some country roads (came off near Wilminstone to re-join at Mary Tavy), some nice views from the bus window. The bus continued towards Okehampton, but the extra time taken for the detour meant the connection was missed for the train.
With 50 minutes to waste before the next train I had a short walk from Okehampton station towards a viaduct (sadly no decent views due to the trees of “Tramlines woods”). I returned via a bridleway on the opposite side of the main road, returning before the next 150 rolled in. The line speed has certainly increased since my last visit to this line, a lot faster, although the train got delayed around Crediton due to a late running train from Barnstaple.
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| East Okement River at Ball Hill Viaduct, Okehampton |
We transferred to a pair of 150s on an Exmouth service to take us up the hill to Exeter Central (the train from Okehampton terminated into the bay at St Davids), where I made a quick dash to the Co-Op to grab dinner items before the next Waterloo train took us back to Grateley. Went via Chard loop to a late running Exeter service which I think is the first time I’ve done that loop heading east.
An enjoyable day in Devon, the scenery from the bus is quite good, and is only £3 for a single (or a return) at the moment.
29th August – Walking the Thames Path from Culham to Cholsey
The weather forecast looked good for the bank holiday Monday, so a good time to do another section of the Thames Path, this time from Culham towards Cholsey in rural Oxfordshire. I headed towards Culham via a pair of 159s to Basingstoke (dashing out to Sainsburys for lunch items. Next was a pair of voyagers to Reading, a pair of 387s to Didcot Parkway on a stopper before finally a 2 coach 165 on a busy Oxford service. I was the only passenger to alight at Culham (looked like there was one passenger waiting for the Didcot train with a handful at Appleford). Originally, I was going to turn left from the station, heading along the road to Clifton Hampden to join the river, but decided to have a last-minute change to head towards Culham village to join the river (the idea being to reduce the distance on the next leg towards Oxford).
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| 165125 departs Culham station |
I walked along the main road with a pavement, and I reached Culham village, doing a little loop of an island formed by the river being split by a lock, before joining the towpath for a gentle walk along the path (one not to do during winter as it will probably be muddy). Although the views of the river itself were hit & miss due to bushes & trees separating the path from the river but it was very peaceful in rural Oxfordshire. I went underneath the Appleford railway viaduct and continued reaching Clifton Hampden where the path changed banks for a very rural section, featuring some cows (moo) to Day’s Lock near the town of Dorchester on Thames.
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| Cows on the Thames Path |
The path swapped sides at the lock, where I paused for a lunch break in the shade, before continuing towards Shillingford where the Thames Path went away from the river due to a missing historic ferry, along the road (with a pavement) and along some footpaths towards Shillingford bridge where I decided to head out to do a loop along part of the towpath I missed as there was a loop available involving a permissive footpath.
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| Clifton Hampden Bridge over River Thames |
After this loop, I re-joined the Thames Path itself for the next section towards the town of Benson, where I popped to a nearby Co-Op to buy some more drink, before returning once more to the path which swaps banks at Benson lock. This section of the path had a hard stone surface (compared to the dirt/grass) and was a lot busier. Sadly, it was also a bit rubbish for views of the river due to bushes & trees. This path took me past the remains of Wallingford castle and onto the streets for a short section, before returning to the river bank, returning to a more rural setting before going underneath the A4130 bridge (getting a soundtrack of an old WW2 plane flying overhead).
My walk continued through a rural area, with the occasional garden (dread to think how much those houses are worth!), before reaching Cholsey Marshes and finally Ferry Lane meeting up where I was in early June. I headed along Ferry Lane and finally Papist Way to reach Cholsey station, arriving with a couple minutes before the next London train, finishing my 21.5-mile walk, breaking my record for longest walk (and by accident due to those two extra bits I did!).
The same pair of 387s I had earlier in the day took me to Reading, as I collapsed into the seat, and throwing my phone on charge. At Reading I popped out of the station to visit Wendys for dinner before returning to the station with a pair of voyagers to Basingstoke (with the Network Rail ‘950’ train on platform 8 at Reading). Finally, it was the same pair of 159s I had in the morning to take me back to Grateley for a slow walk back home as my legs had started to ache a bit.
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| 387163 arriving at Cholsey Station |
More photos from August can be viewed here: Flickr Album
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