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

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

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

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

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

221132 at Reading Station

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

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

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

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

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

387152 departs Theale Station

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

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

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

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

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

24th March – Grand Union Canal Walk

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

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

350104 departs Wolverton Station

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

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

Grand Union Canal in the Simpson area of Milton Keynes

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

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

A Pendo alongside the Grand Union Canal in the Soulbury area

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

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

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

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

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

15th March – Onwards to Crewe

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

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

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

350112 at London Euston

16th March – Walking the Cloud Trail

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

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

68003 at Crewe Station

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

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

Snibston Mineral Colliery Railway Depot, Coalville

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

221141 at Sheffield Station

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

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

222013 at Crewe Station

17th March – Exploring the Monsal Trail

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

390156 at Warrington Bank Quay Station

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

18th March – Back to London via North Yorkshire

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

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

Stagecoach Bus 10030 (PX12 DNU) in Lancaste

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

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

Leeds & Liverpool Canal between Gargrave & Skipton

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

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

221143 at Bradford Interchange

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

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

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

9th March – Ferry across the Thames & Exploring the Thames Estuary Path

 9th March – Ferry across the Thames & Thames Estuary Path

It was another day trip where I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do until later in the week.  In the end deciding on a trip to London to sample the Gravesend – Tilbury Ferry before it gets withdrawn at the end of March, fitting in a couple short walks on the Thames Estuary which had been on my list for a while as the weather was looking promising.

The day started with the 05:59 service from Grateley, formed of 159014 & 158888 for the trip to Basingstoke where I swapped to 221122 on the next Manchester train to take me to Reading, where a fast platform change saw me onto a quiet 800320 for the run into Paddington.  At Paddington I headed towards the Bakerloo line to take the first service (formed of 3237 & 3557) to Charing Cross where I changed to the National Rail station to jump onto the Gravesend via Sidcup service (rather than a Gravesend via Woolwich) formed of 465014 & 465181.

Along the way I decided to look at the connection between the station & the ferry terminal on the Town Pier, noticing that annoyingly I would hit Gravesend just as there is a gap in service due to, I presume a crew break so decided to alight from these 465s at Crayford as I wanted to get some better photos.  Crayford is one of those stations where the entrance to the London bound platform has barriers but there is a wide-open side entrance on the Dartford bound platform (which is better suited for anybody wanting to visit the town centre), an open invitation for those who think payment is strictly optional.

465181 departs Crayford Station

Anyhow, after watching many passengers entering via that side-gate to make their way across the footbridge I boarded 707003 & 707022 for the short hop to Bexley where a new footbridge/lift combo has been built (looking nearly ready to enter service, I presume the existing narrow subway will then get closed off).  A short wait at Bexley before the next Gravesend service rolled in with 707005 & 707002 to take me towards platform 0 at Gravesend where I exited the station via the entrance on the south side (noting that the barriers were wide open).  After swinging via Tesco for some lunch items I headed towards the town pier where the ferry to Tilbury was waiting.  Vessel Jacob Marley was on the route today as the waiting crowd boarded to buy tickets from the member of staff and I decided to sit outside as it was quite warm inside the main area.

Jetsteam Jacob Marley Boat on Gravesend - Tilbury ferry at Gravesend

The sailing took around 5 minutes as it crossed the river from the south bank to the north bank at Tilbury Riverside, where I began my walk heading towards the historic Tilbury Fort and then onto a cycle path running along top of the sea wall.  The decent tarmac path soon came to an end as the path went down some steps with warnings that “path floods at high tide” and along a footpath at the base of the wall, dodging via river related debris which had been washed up.  Quite a strange feeling walking along this path with a tall wall to my left-hand side and river to the right, but thankfully the solid path returned as the footpath continued in this industrial landscape with a couple of ships getting loaded (or unloaded) at the Tilbury 2 container port before the landscape changed to waste-land, with what I think was a landfill site (thankfully not smelly at all).  Very bleak before the landfill changed to grass before the path reached Coalhouse Fort which is another historic port.

After doing a little detour of the fort I carried on towards the Grassland Nature Reserve, the path along a wall moving away from the waterfront giving some excellent views of countryside & nature before returning towards the waterfront for the last section towards the end of the Estuary path as it moves in-land due to Mucking Marshes.  The first section of this footpath was reasonable, bit narrow in places before it turned into a horror show with flooding, I walked slowly through one section before stopping when I saw the next section was even worse, the path completely underwater (and looked like there was a fallen tree) so I did a little U-turn back via the first section before going a bit rogue following an unmarked path via the marshes (which seemed to get used based on the footprints).

A very flooded footpath in East Tilbury (link path from Thames Estuary Path)

I followed this path before it reached a muddy hill which needed to be climbed (not the easiest but I made it up), I was back on the path of the footpath, but the next section seemed to have disappeared as I headed in the general direction thankfully the footpath reappearing and being back to reasonable quality as I turned away from the England Coastal Path to head towards East Tilbury where I had a 25 minute wait for the next train, so time to sit down on a nice bench putting my phone on charge and had my lunch.  The next Fenchurch Street train was formed of 357028 & 357013 and was quite busy as I took it for a couple of stops to Grays, a station which featured some confused passengers due to engineering works (trains towards Upminster were starting from the bay platform and there is no subway access between platforms at the moment.

Exiting the station at Grays, I headed towards the waterside following a path towards the ‘Grays Beach riverside park’ before doing a U-turn back towards the wharf area before continuing along the path in the residential area of the town.  Accommodation gave way to heavy industrial units as the footpath continued being between the river Thames & a high security fence (changing in places to a flood protection wall).  This was quite a strange footpath for the location, but I continued along going underneath the Queen Elizabeth 2 bridge (part of the Dartford Crossing) where I had a bit of a tumble, my foot caught a large stone, and I wasn’t paying full attention so went down quite hard on my left knee causing a bit of pain (ouch!)

Queen Elizabeth 2 Bridge over River Thames in Purfleet

I picked myself up from the ground, tried to wash some of the blood from my hand which had introduced itself to some thorns, had a quick break before continuing the walk at a much-reduced rate.  This section of the walk wasn’t as enjoyable as the first section as I was now behind the flood wall with only a few occasions of seeing the river Thames.  It was interesting to see the various industrial places, along with some old railway tracks.  Soon the industrial units changed to some wasteland between the footpath & the railway as I was nearing Purfleet.  Not the easiest to exit this path as it hasn’t got the best signs and a steep climb to reach the road.  Certainly, it was an experience of walking somewhere which felt like you weren’t meant to be there, the path was reasonable quality with several bumps and stairs (including a very wobbly bridge).

Had I not had my little tumble I was planning to carry on towards Rainham to make a small start with the London loop long distance path but decided to call it a day and head to the station, to board 357015 & 357025 (I think) on the next Fenchurch Street service to take me to Barking where I left the train, thinking about hunting for my last 710/2 which had recently entered service.  Just as I was thinking about the plan to where to fester, it rolled in on a Barking Riverside service.  That was a lot easier than I had hoped but before boarding it I headed out of the station to visit a couple of shops before boarding 710270 for the long trip to Gospel Oak (making use of the USB sockets to give my phone a nice boost of electricity along the way).

710270 at Barking Station

At Gospel Oak I headed onto a very busy Stratford bound 378231 originally planning to take to Stratford for a spot of 720 hunting, but after searching on RTT highlighted nothing of interest I changed focus to the West Anglia line which was diverting via Seven Sisters today and had some required 720s floating around on Cambridge trains.  I changed plans and alighted from this 378 at Hackney Central for a walk to Hackney Downs to board 710117 to Liverpool Street to board 720550 & winner 720123 on the Cambridge train to take me (slowly) towards Broxbourne (fitting GA services around a 4tph Overground stopping service on the line via Seven Sisters will always be a slow journey).  A short visit at Broxbourne before I took 720111 & winner 720127 back towards Seven Sisters where I had a short break (watching a large crowd trying to squeeze onto a single Enfield bound 710) before taking 745106 back to Broxbourne (solely for the slight novelty of a 745 via Seven Sisters).

This is where I made a bit of a mistake with boarding 720540 & 720560 as for some reason, I had 560 down as being wanted on my list, but I had it 18 months ago on a Broxbourne starter, but whatever reason didn’t remove it from my list.  I took it to Hackney Downs before taking 710120 back to Seven Sisters.  I turned down a required 720 (as my body felt like it had, had enough and also the slowness of the running where it was taking 15+ minutes to reach Liverpool Street from Seven Sisters) for 745001 (sitting in declassified first class) with the slow run towards Liverpool Street where it felt like it crossed over to the ‘fast’ lines after Hackney Downs to cross over to the tracks via Bethnal Green station before crossing right across to terminate at platform 17 (for a set swap).

720518 at Broxbourne Station

I headed towards the Central line to jump on the first westbound service (formed of 91313 leading 92058, 92428 & 91309 with 91313 also being needed for a mile as an unexpected bonus).  I took this service to Tottenham Court Road changing to the Northern line with 51539 & 51707 to Waterloo, exiting the underground and swinging via the little Sainsburys in the old Eurostar area to grab some dinner before heading to board 159002 on the 20:50 service to Salisbury.  Heading home earlier than planned but that early start twinned with a bad night sleep had tired me out somewhat.  No surprise that a 3 coach 159 departed Waterloo very busy (I was in the front coach and barely saw any empty seats) before a lot more passengers boarded at Clapham.  In my eyes the Salisbury stoppers should simply skip Woking as the train emptied out a bit there (those passengers for Woking will simply need to use a 450 on a semi-fast).

Nothing else unusual happened along the way, arriving at Grateley near enough on time for a gentle walk home to relax for the remainder of the evening.  An enjoyable day trip with 2 unusual walks (other than the tumble), a bonus of my last 710/2 popping up without having to hunt it down along with 2 more 720s into my book.  Greater Anglia being on RTT does make things a bit easier when it comes to hunting for 720s.  Anyhow thanks for reading, more photos are on my Flickr.  I shall leave you with a photo from the seawall near East Tilbury.

View from Thames Estuary Path in East Tilbury

(Post script – thankfully after a restful Sunday where the only railway activity I did was visiting a local pub which has an old railway carriage in the garden my knee hurts no longer, shame the same can’t be said for my hand/arm which has a few scars which will probably take longer to heal).

Trips on 2nd & 3rd March (Chard & Thame)

Trips on 2nd & 3rd March.

2nd March – Exploring Chard & Somerset

My original plan for today was to catch the 07:05-odd train from Salisbury to Bath for a short fester for an IET to Weston Super Mere (cheap £5 advance), catching the bus towards Cheddar to walk the old railway line (branded as “The Strawberry line” towards Yatton (then probably picking up a ticket back to Salisbury when I was closer to Yatton as GWR seems to sell advances on the day for Yatton – Salisbury).  A nice gentle start to March, as I went to bed on the Friday the weather forecast showing a bit of rain overnight but light showers ending around 10:00 & overcast for the remainder of the day.

When I woke up on Saturday morning around 06:00, I checked the weather forecast once more, seeing that it had changed to being 90% chance of heavy rain until 2pm.  A couple minutes of thinking before I decided to ditch the £5 advance to Weston and instead researched a couple other places, highlighting that the forecast for south Somerset was showing as dry with a couple light showers forecasted for the late afternoon, so I dusted off a plan to walk the short disused railway path from Ilminster towards Chard, fitting in a couple random bus routes.

With my new plan in my head, I drove to Salisbury station, parking in my usual area (saves £5-odd for parking at the station) and because I had some time to kill, headed towards Sainsburys in the city centre to grab some supplies before heading to the station to board a lightly loaded 159104 & 159009 on the 07:47 service for Exeter.  I was surprised when in the Gillingham area to see snow on the ground, only a light dusting but still quite surprising.

Snow around Gillingham (Dorset)

Nothing unusual happened along the way to Axminster, the couple of minutes the train lost at Salisbury due to a late running GWR service was made up by Yeovil due to planned dwells, so I easily made the tight +7 connection to the 09:10 route 30 service to Taunton (with bus 33554 painted bright green).  This was an interesting route once outside Axminster following the A358 (with some nice views) before heading towards South Chard before reaching the town of Chard itself where the bus got quite busy.  After leaving Chard it headed via a couple of housing estates (passing the former Chard station) and onto the main road towards Peasmarsh where it turned to head towards Sea and Ilminster, where I alighted at the bus stop on Orchard Vale near the town centre to begin my walk.

First (Buses of Somerset) bus 33554 (SN58 CGE) in Ilminster on a route 30 (to Taunton)

The first section was following a footpath alongside the Shrudrick Stream before picking up cycle route 33 on a path running behind some houses which joined up with the route of the old Taunton - Chard railway line.  The first section of this path was in a cutting with some puddles to navigate before reaching the rebuilt platform at Donyatt Halt.  My walk continued as it reached an section where the old railway route has been built over forcing a detour via a couple of country lanes towards Peasmarsh, passing a waste water processing plant and onto the route of the old railway line once more.

The next section was quite scenic and was quiet, some nice history with the old railway fence still being in place to guard against a drop with some nice woodland.  The path passes Chard reservoir and the route of the long disused Chard canal with some nice old bridges.  The railway path comes to an end on the northern edge of Chard, the route of the railway beyond lost under modern developments with the cycle path taking a less direct route towards the town centre.  I had a little detour to photograph the former Chard station (now used as offices & a shop) before heading towards Tesco and wasted some time swinging via St Mary's Church before heading into the town centre to wait for the next bus (after doing some shopping).

Donyatt Halt on former Taunton - Chard railway line

The next route 99 service (operated by First) with bus 44534 (featuring some dodgy looking seats), the less frequent service compared to the route 30.  Departed with around a dozen passengers on board, half of which had alighted by the time the bus left Chard with the remaining half dozen staying on board all the way to Taunton.  No takers as the bus made its way across the countryside (with some nice views from high ground) towards Combe St Nicholas, Buckland St Mary & Staple Fitzpaine, picking up some more passengers within Taunton itself.  An enjoyable scenic route which gave me 25 minutes to waste in Taunton (time used to visit a branch of CEX to have a nosey) before boarding the next route 30 service to Axminster with bus 34469.  Quite busy on departure but lost around half the passengers by the time the bus reached the M5 and outskirts of Taunton.

This bus went direct along the A358 from Taunton towards Ilminster (not the comfiest bus as it was a bit bouncy at speed).  After Ilminster the bus carried on back towards Chard and Tatworth and I alighted at the first stop within Axminster at Millwey Court as I had another short walk planned to waste some time (otherwise I would be sitting at Axminster station for 30 minutes).  This walk took me along a permissive path alongside the A358 to pick up the cycle route path across a field passing the football club.  A short section of walking along the road on North Street before a footpath between the railway line & a waterway near Tesco took me to Axminster station arriving with 10 minutes to spare before the next train towards Waterloo.

159007 departs Axminster for Exeter

The next Exeter train arrived & departed before 159018 & 159021 rolled in on a London service.  I located a decent seat in coach 4 of 6, settled down and relaxed for the journey back to Salisbury.  Nothing unusual happened along the way as I did research into options for the Sunday, trying to decide which of the 3 options I should do.  Anyhow back at Salisbury, and a short walk to my car before driving home as the temperature dropped quite fast.  An enjoyable day, I got lucky as other than a couple of short showers the rain kept away, the old railway line was quite nice in places.

3rd March – Phoenix Trail (Princes Risborough to Thame)

Late on Saturday evening, I made my decision to put back the old railway line in Okehampton & also a couple on the south coast back until the temperatures improved (as de-icing my car at 06:00 or 07:30 in the morning on this cold foggy morning wouldn’t have been much fun), instead I decided to head towards Oxfordshire to walk the Phoenix Trail, a path running along the former Wycombe railway line which linked Princes Risborough & Oxford, running towards the town of Thame (beyond Thame the railway has been mostly lost to modern developments).

The day started with a walk to Grateley station in the cold to catch 159011 & 159012 on a London train to Andover, stepping back for 158880 & 159009 on the first SWR to Reading, which unusually went into platform 10(b) at Reading.  I had some time to kill before the next train so headed outside the station for a gentle stroll towards Tesco Express to pick up something to eat for later.  I always have a strange feeling walking in Reading town centre when most of the shops are closed and the streets are quiet, bit of a ghost town.

158880 at Reading Station, sadly not heading to Paddington

Anyhow back to Reading station and a late notice platform alternation for the 09:15 to Oxford (formed of 220008), I was late boarding, but I managed to grab a seat which was reserved from Oxford.  Departure was on time as the voyager zoomed towards Oxford where I alighted, noticing that the barriers for the side entrance next to the bays were wide open whilst the barriers in the main ticket office area were closed, seriously what is the point?  I exited the station for a gentle walk towards the city centre and the bus stop on Magdalen Street where the S4 service for Banbury starts from.  This bus route had been on my list to do for a while so decided to get it covered when I waited for arrival of a good friend from Hereford.

The bus to form the 10:00 departure rolled in (an Enviro 200, fleet 27712) as I cleaned a couple of the windows as they were wet inside.  Reasonably busy this bus as it departed Oxford heading north towards Summertown & Kidlington before picking up some speed along the A4260 before turning away from the main road to serve the villages of Tackley & Steeple Aston.  I noticed there was some quite bad flooding of the fields as the bus headed back onto the main road to head towards Deddington, doing a little loop to serve West Adderbury before carrying on into Banbury itself, terminating at the empty bus station.  An enjoyable little run, bringing back some memories of when I was younger, and my parents had a boat near Southam and would sometimes use the A4260 between Oxford & Banbury rather than the motorway (as there was a couple of nice pubs along the way).

Stagecoach Bus 27712 (PO11 BBZ) at Banbury Bus Station on a S4 for Oxford

Anyhow trip down memory lane over, as I headed towards the railway station (swinging via Morrisons to waste time) hoping that I would be able to board the Bournemouth XC service.  220032 rolled in and I even got lucky to get a seat for the run back towards Oxford, where I headed towards the next Chiltern service, getting myself comfortable as my good friend Jules arrived on an IET from Great Malvern. 165017 & 165039 took us towards Princes Risborough, first time I’ve been on this line for a few years as we had a little catch-up.  Alighting at Princes Risborough we headed south along a muddy footpath leading to a road bridge over the railway (passing the remains of a former EMR HST power car on the land used by the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway.  The next section was along a lane towards Horsenden to pick up a mixed used path (featuring a lot of puddles to navigate around), crossing over the railway track of the Chinnor line and onto the route of the former railway line.  The weather had certainly warmed up after the cold fog, a beautiful spring day in the sunshine, mixed with some cold winds.

Anyhow it was now onto the route of the old railway line, surface was reasonable being hard-core although some areas of mud & water due to recent rain but nothing that serious.  A line which soon ran into countryside where the only sound other than birds was light aircraft in the air.  We continued along the path, detouring at the site of the former Bledlow station (now a private house) before carrying on towards Thame.  No evidence of the former Towersey Halt as the path changed to smooth tarmac for the final few miles into Thame itself.  The former platforms at Thame remained along with what looked like to be a goods area as the path went into a cutting before turning a bit more urban as it went behind some housing.

Remains of platforms at Thame Station (Phoenix Trail)

Near the end of the path, the tarmac section turned north to head towards a leisure centre, but we decided to carry on along a very muddy path to come out next to the A329 road, marking the end of the railway path.  To waste a bit of time we headed along the road towards the leisure centre to do both sides of a triangle of walking routes to finish the walk at a bus stop near to Sycamore Drive.  An explore of the town centre will probably be done at some-point but we had one eye on the time as the next bus to Oxford was an Arriva operated X7 (featuring an Enviro 400 decker 5468, which was lucky as all the other X7 services we saw heading towards Aylesbury were Citaros).  This was an interesting bus route in places as it followed the main A418 towards the M40 (serving the motorway services) before heading via Wheatley and then a fast run along the A40 toward Oxford, approaching the city centre from the Headington direction.  After a slow crawl in the city centre, the bus reached the railway station where it terminated, I said my farewell to Jules as he had a longer wait.  I had a walk to the platforms watching a very busy 2 coach 165 depart on a Didcot service before a late running 802113 rolled in from Hereford.  I did my usual and headed to the northern end of the platform away from the masses whom there is only one door available, easily getting a decent seat as I settled down for the run to Reading.  Better than playing voyager roulette with the following Bournemouth train

165006 at Oxford Station

At Reading I popped out of the station, heading to one of the Sainsburys (which doesn’t close until 6pm on Sundays) to grab some dinner before heading back to Grateley on the 18:12 service formed of 158884 & 159020 which got quite busy at Basingstoke.  An enjoyable little day trip, one more bus route ticked off my list as well as a disused railway line walk.  In theory there are footpaths available to link Thame town centre with Haddenham & Thame Parkway station, but I suspect this time of year they will be muddy (as they cut across fields).  Sadly, the road between the town & station has no pavements so would be quite unsafe to walk along the road.   Anyhow back at home, I walked home and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  More photos can be found on my Flickr here, thanks for reading :).

24th & 25th February Trips (Disused Railway Walks & Buses)

24th & 25th February Trips

After the last few weeks being away on weekend trips, it was back to day trips for the next couple of weeks.  Although my original plan for the Saturday went into the bin due to a landslip between Bristol & Wales.

24th February – Frome to Midsomer Norton Disused railway walk.

My original idea for today was to head towards Newport then walk the canal towards Cross Keys before switching to a disused railway route towards Hengoed, then spend a few hours doing some odds & sods within South Wales (new platforms & track on the Ebbw Vale line etc).  I woke up around 06:20 and decided to check RTT to see what I was due to have on the 07:30 service from Salisbury to Cardiff (Sprinter or Turbo) where I noticed it was showing as terminating at Bristol Temple Meads.  A quick look at the GWR Journey Check website highlighted that there had been a landslip between Patchway & the tunnel resulting in single line working and a reduced timetable (with the trains to/from Portsmouth getting terminated at Bristol).  I decided as it would be a 30-minute fester at Bristol Temple Meads both in the morning & in the evening on likely busy trains from the Taunton direction to park the idea into the sidings for the time being (waiting for TfW to get back to me to refund my unused advances for Warminster – Newport, as I was going to buy the Salisbury – Warminster ticket on the day).

With Cardiff out, I had to come up with an alternative plan, in the end picking a disused railway line walk I had on my list to make use of the £2 bus fare scheme whilst it lasts.  After de-icing my car, it was a drive to Salisbury parking in my usual area (which has gotten a lot more popular since SWR hiked the parking charges up at the station), heading to the station to buy a ticket to Trowbridge and boarding the 07:30 service formed of 158798 to Trowbridge.  I guess in hindsight I could have probably saved some money by booking to Warminster to use a Frome Bus service to Frome for around £3.50 (that operator isn’t taking part in the £2 fares).  Leaving the train at Trowbridge I headed towards Sainsburys in the town centre to grab some supplies for lunch and waited for the next Faresaver operated route X34 rolled in from Chippenham to take me to Frome Market Place (a busy Enviro 200 bus MK13 KUB which emptied out in the town centre area).

158798 departs Trowbridge Station

At Frome, I soon headed away from the marketplace towards the station to pick up a path back towards the town centre which went via the Rodden Meadows, before carrying on with a path following the river Frome via the suburbs of Frome towards the Spring Gardens area of the town, the tarmac path coming to an end all of a sudden (part of it is being upgraded as part of the Frome Missing Link project, to provide an easier route to link up with the Collier’s Way path which makes use of the route of the old railway line which branches off the Whatley Quarry branch near Great Elm a few miles outside Frome.  I reached Spring Gardens, crossing over the branch line on a foot crossing and had a short section of walking along the road to reach a footpath which eventually picked up the Mells River coming out near Hapsford.  This wasn’t my original idea to how to reach Great Elm as I was originally going to follow the East Mendip Way out of Frome but missed the junction in a maze of paths.

After the riverside footpath it was back onto the road, thankfully a lot quieter than the road earlier on and I headed towards the railway near Hapsford to pick up an work in progress extension to the Colliers Way path (bit of a rough path suitable only for walkers at the moment) which followed the Whatley branch line to the junction where the old GWR Bristol and North Somerset Railway route came away and the extension path went along the old alignment on what felt like railway ballast.  This section was very quiet with some beautiful views of the countryside as it continued to meet the tarmac path of the older cycle path which unusually runs alongside the old railway track, with the track still in situ (but heavily overgrown in places).

"Time to pretend I'm a train"  Former junction of the Radstock line from the Whately Quarry branch

It was now onto the tarmac path which ran alongside the old track in a section I can only describe as being very quiet (both in terms of other path users & noise, when I stopped walking the only sound was bird song and the soft sound of running water).  The view was quite nice as well of Somerset countryside.  I saw no evidence of the former Mells Road station as the path continued heading into a woodland cutting towards Kilmersdon, a few puddles along the way due to recent rain but nothing major.  The railway route headed north as I decided to try and get a photo standing on the old railway track itself, only to end up on my rear end as I slipped on the wooden sleeper (ouch!).

Colliers Way path (former Bristol and North Somerset Railway route) between Great Elm & Kilmersdon)

The path came to an end in the town of Radstock, with modern developments built over the route of the old track as I reached the town centre, heading east along cycle route 24 which now was running along the route of the old Somerset & Dorset railway.  I took this section towards Foxcote where the off-road mixed used path came to an end, the old railway route lost between this section & Wellow (where the path returns for the section leading towards Bath).  Maybe one day I will get round to walking the section between Wellow & Midford, making use of that Westlink DRT bus scheme (which seems to include Freshford station & Wellow).

At the end of the path at Foxcote, I did a U-turn to head back towards Radstock, making use of a bench to have my lunch as a short shower arrived lasting around 5 minutes.  After lunch I carried on back towards Radstock and then onto the “Radstock – Norton Greenway” path, running along the route of the old GWR route (with the Somerset & Dorset route higher up an embankment and being a muddy path before that crossed over the greenway path on a lovely bridge, I only wish I climbed up the steps to have a look from the top.

Norton-Radstock Greenway (former GWR Bristol and North Somerset Railway route) in Radstock

Radstock gave way to Midsomer Norton with a short section of narrow path where the railway had been lost before the path terminated in the Thicket Mead area of the town. I switched to the Wellow Brook Walk (which parallels the railway line) towards the town centre, cutting across the shopping area and up a steep hill to reach Midsomer Norton South station, home of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust which during the spring/summertime they run trains along a short section of preserved railway.  On reaching the old station, I climbed up to a path running along the route of the old Somerset & Dorset railway line back towards Radstock (labelled as “Five Arches Greenway”).  I reached the end of this path before switching to the road to head along Welton Road, passing a pub called “Railway Hotel” onto the A367 where I finished the walk at the bus stop outside Bath College.

The first bus towards Bath was a First bus (I will get my coat!) route 172 (with double decker 33660 branded as “Mendip Xplorer” on a Bristol – Midsomer Norton – Bath service (something I will be adding to my list to do).  This bus headed towards Bath via Peasedown St John and some steep hills.  At Bath bus station, I had around 45 minutes to kill before the next Warminster bus so I headed towards the city centre with a random ex-Swansea bus passing (I couldn’t go to Wales, so Wales came to me).  I noticed since my last visit there is a new Morrisons Local close to the station, and I do like Morrisons doughnuts (mmm Doughnut).

Not the 34 to Neath

Back at the bus station and into a big queue for the next D1 service for Warminster via Trowbridge (brings back memories of doing this bus route last May) with an Enviro 200, Bath City branded, 67096 on this busy service.  This was quite a posh interior featuring seat back tables and armrests, along with some decent legroom.  It departed rather busy heading away from Bath going towards the outskirts of Bathhampton and Bradford on Avon, the bus emptying out as the journey continued.  I alighted at the bus stop nearest to Trowbridge railway station getting lucky with a delay to a Portsmouth bound service formed of 158950, grabbing a table seat putting my phone on charge and relaxing for the journey in the dark towards Salisbury.

At Salisbury, after a visit to the toilets to wash my glasses, it was back to my car to drive home after an enjoyable long walk (18 miles) along some old railway routes.  The only thing holding me back from recommending the section from Great Elm to Radstock is the connection between Great Elm & Frome (although there is an infrequent Frome Bus operated service between Frome & Great Elm [and Great Elm & Radstock] which looks like it would be a good route to do at some point.  My feet were glad to get home and out into the fresh air, the only issue I’ve got with my current walking boots is my feet sweat a lot more.

25th February – Buses in Berkshire

My original idea for this Sunday was to drive towards Romsey, taking the train towards Southampton & on towards Chichester for an old railway line walk (the old line towards Midhurst) but due to the weather forecast not being the greatest I decided that could wait for another day and instead dust of a rough plan to have a bus day based in the Slough area to do some buses which had been on my list for a while.  Due to engineering works it was a later start than usual with the 08:56 service taking mum & myself to Reading with 158886 & 158882 (featuring a shifty looking character heading towards Swindon without a ticket and not having funds on his card when the guard pounced on him, gave the impression of a County Line drug runner (no doubt the sort who would board the first train towards Swindon and jump the barriers at Swindon station).

Anyhow at Reading it was a short walk over to 345060 on the next Elizabeth line service to Slough, where we exited the station and headed to the nearby Tesco for some lunch supplies before making our way to the bus stop on Brunel way, next to the fire damaged bus station for the Sundays only route 12 operated by Thames Valley Buses (Monday – Saturday this route is operated by First bus) with Enviro 200 bus 669 on this service.  The bus headed via the Slough suburbs (all the speed bumps) slowly emptying out in the Manor Park & Britwell area before heading towards Burnham (which seemed a pretty place) with the last passenger (other than mum & myself) alighted before doing the Sundays only extension to Heathrow Terminal 5, joining the M4 at Junction 7 for some speed towards the M25 at junction 4 before taking the terminal 5 Spur to arrive at the airport terminal bus station (which is a horrible place to wait as it's dark & gloomy).

Thames Valley Bus 669 (YX67 UYL, Ram Rai) at Heathrow Terminal 5 on a route 12

After a short break, the next bus was another Thames Valley operated service, a route 5 with bus 677 on this service back towards Slough going via Poyle & Datchet (some expensive looking houses) before carrying on after Slough town centre towards Cippenham (a suburb of the town) doing a loop of this housing area where we alighted at the stop at Braemar Gardens for a gentle walk via a waterside path and a couple of roads towards Moreton Way, the starting point of our next bus route, changing to a First bus operated route A4 for Heathrow Central bus station (getting lucky with a double decker 34387 as the next service was a Streetlite).

This was a faster route back towards Slough, going via the Trading Estate before following the A4 to bypass Langley and heading straight towards the airport on the Colnbrook bypass.  An enjoyable route which got up to speed in places.  Sadly, the Piccadilly line wasn't running so it was the long walk towards Heathrow central railway station picking up the free terminal transfer tickets and boarding the first available train towards Terminal 5, a Heathrow Express formed of 387137 & 387135 for the 1.75-mile journey to Terminal 5

387135 at Heathrow Terminal 5 rail station

I was in two minds with what to do next, as part of me was tempted with the Carlone Buses operated 442 towards Staines, but I decided that could be done on another day when I explore some of the bus routes in Staines, so it was onto another First bus double decker with 34386 on the next route 7 for Britwell.  This followed a similar route (once away from Heathrow onto the A4) but went via Langley itself.  Although the promised rain had arrived so it was a bit damp as the bus took us back to Slough, the section towards Britwell can wait for another day as we were getting hungry and had one eye on the time.

First Bus 34386 (SK19 EMJ) near Slough bus station on a route 7

Back to the trains at Slough station, and onto 387169 & 387171 on a Didcot service which was fine until after Maidenhead where it lost 10 minutes waiting for fast trains to cross over in front of it before calling at Twyford (due to a fallen down tree in Sonning cutting).  This cut down the time we had in Reading, so we went for a takeaway option at Wendys to eat it when sitting on the next SWR service (which was starting at Reading instead of Waterloo due to the Wimbledon block) with 158882 & 158886 on the 18:12 service to Salisbury.  Nothing unusual happened along the way and thankfully it wasn’t raining when we walked home.

The end of a nice little day looking out of the window, some more Heathrow bus services ticked off my list, I think from a glance at the Bus Times website the only ones left is that 442/X442 Carlone Bus minibus service and a weekdays only Woking – Hatton Cross via Terminal 4 service run by White Bus.  Excluding the various TfL buses & buses which only run in the early mornings.  Some more photos can be found on my Flickr, February for me has been kind with the weather allowing a bit of walking.  Roll on March and longer days.