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.