Trips on 7 & 8th September (Kennet & Avon + London)

 7th September – Rural Wiltshire Countryside along the Kennet & Avon

I started walking the Kennet & Avon canal last year leaving the 12 and a bit mile gap between Devizes & Pewsey last summer time, an idea which has slipped over and over for the last few months, but with autumn arriving meaning rural canals will soon become off-limits (as towpaths turn into muddy quagmires) I decided to do the canal walk with another local area day rather than heading to the Midlands.

The day began with the 08:30 service from Grateley formed of 159103 on the Exeter service (which ran into an unknown unit at Salisbury).  After speaking with one of the guards (who wanted to know how I was getting on with my training), I left the station heading into the city centre swinging via Boots for a meal deal before making my way to the bus stop on Blue Bore Row for the 09:25 service for Swindon (advertised as “Pewsey for Swindon” as it was one of those routes which are split up for distance reasons.  At 09:30 when the bus was a no show, I was thinking about a plan B (involving catching the Bournemouth bus to Ringwood for the old railway line walk towards Wimborne) before bus 1140 (a Scania OmniCity) rolled in to depart around 10 minutes late.  

The service departed Salisbury, heading towards Amesbury before going via Durrington & Netheravon (along some narrow roads) before joining the A345 for the run towards Upavon before reaching Pewsey.  The delay on departure was easily made up and I remained on board after the centre of Pewsey to alight at the bus stop near Pewsey Wharf where my walk began.

Poppy Bus

This section of the canal is very rural and once away from the wharf area in Pewsey the towpath turned grassy, bit muddy in places due to all the recent rain.  A few times I had to duck underneath low laying trees (including some thorns) and a few places the towpath did get quite narrow but nothing as bad as the Grand Union in Northamptonshire.  It was very peaceful (with the occasional sound of train from the south) before passing the small settlement of Honeystreet (bringing back memories of the times I've visited the Barge Inn 20 or so years ago).  Countryside soon returned as the canal did some weaving round hills, skirting close to All Cannings & Horton, with some places the canal hiding from view due to weeds.

The rural peaceful countryside got replaced with Devizes suburbia, and soon I reached the A361 road bridge where my canal walk was complete.  Leaving just a small section around Crofton pumping station (where the towpath was closed) and the river Avon section from Bath towards Bristol to clear the entire Kennet & Avon, although I suspect both those walks will be done next year.  After swinging via Morrisons, I headed towards the town centre to relax before the next Salisbury bus rolled in, trying to avoid the rain which had finally caught up with me.

Kennet & Avon Canal

This was the recently introduced X2 service from Devizes to Salisbury with bus 2729 (a Park & Ride Spec Enviro200).  The bus departed with a handful of passengers on board (gaining more passengers as time went on), following the same route as the route 2 (via Potterne, Market Lavington, Tilshead, Orcheston & Shrewton) where instead of turning off to head towards Winterbourne Stoke, the bus went onto the main road towards the Stonehenge Visitors Centre (where it picked up 15 passengers, all avoiding the ~£20 Stonehenge Tour Bus [also ran by Salisbury Reds]) before a fast section along the A360 to reach Salisbury, terminating on the bus stop outside Tesco Express.  Certainly, a fast journey at the end, but why it's been introduced is a bit of a mystery considering it undercuts the tour bus (which until this week was the only way to reach Stonehenge by public transport).

Anyhow back in Salisbury, I made my slow way towards the station, and to platform 6 where I took a seat on 159005 on the next stopper to Basingstoke, which took me home to Grateley, followed by a gentle walk home before the rain returned once more.  An enjoyable walk in the Wiltshire countryside, bringing back some memories of my youth.



8th September – An unexpected trip to London & Hertford

A bit unexpected as originally my plan for Sunday was to walk the old railway line from Ringwood to Wimborne, but with the expected wet weather that got put back on the shelf, along with a couple other random plans.  It was only until I heard my good friend Jules was heading to London on another improv trip (think he only booked the coach tickets in the evening) I decided to do the slow “Tour De Staines” due to engineering works at Wimbledon.

The day began with a drive to Andover (as I’m commuting to Basingstoke at the moment my car use has dropped so I’m trying to give the car a run every week until training has complete) with the 06:55 (or so) service to London, formed of 159101 & 159018.  Nothing unusual happened along the way other than RPIs boarding at Woking and going via Isleworth after Feltham, arriving into Clapham Junction a few minutes early due to a cancellation of a stopper which this service was due to follow.  At Waterloo I headed to the underground with the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus (set 3250-3559) transferring to the Victoria line, jumping onto 11088/11087 as it was on the platform, remaining on the platform for 5 minutes due to an issue with a train in front.

Eventually this service departed and it took me to Seven Sisters as I made my way up the stairs to the national rail platforms (Tottenham Hale was closed today so GA were diverting via Seven Sisters), much to my surprise a Stansted service was on the platform being delayed and I jumped on (745109) for the run to Broxbourne, transferring to 720551 on a Hertford East shuttle.  My original idea was to take this unit to Hertford East giving me 10 minutes to make my way across to the bus station for a bus for Welwyn to walk the disused railway line (the Cole Green Way), but that idea got shelved when the service lost 5 minutes around St Margarets due to a signalling issue as I bailed at Ware to begin a shorter walk.

A 720 departing Ware (rabbit)

Annoyingly the weather forecast was wrong as it suggested rain wasn’t due until later in the afternoon, but it started to drizzle a few minutes after leaving the station as I headed to the New River path.  I reached Ware back in July last year (time flies!) when I walked this path from Broxbourne ditching it at Ware due to the rain (why does it always rain on me when I explore the New River?).  The first section was alongside the A119 before the waterway moved away from the road towards the King's Mead nature reserve, the path coming to an end as previously it crossed the railway on a foot crossing, which Network Rail has closed, the path turning very overgrown so I decided against walking it to the railway fence.  I took a footpath via the nature reserve, going underneath the A10 viaduct having a small detour to find another crossing closed, before reaching the Hertford area, crossing over the railway on a foot crossing at Mead Land.

Once across the railway I headed back towards the New River, picking the path up and walking as far as I could towards the A10 viaduct (effectively now a cul-de-sac path) with the path suddenly ending in overgrowth, which is what I was sort of expecting.  I did a U-turn back to the point where I joined the waterway and followed the path to the New Gauge House where it joins the river Lea.  I joined the towpath the Lea Navigation heading towards Hertford, remaining on the towpath after Mill Road for the short section to Hertford Basin which somehow, I missed out when I previously walked this navigation.  I reached the limit of navigation, and headed back towards Mill Road via a path alongside another part of the River Lea.  Finally reaching Hertford East station, deciding against doing the railway line walk owing to timings and the changeable weather (for I was a bit wet).

The New River in Ware

Back to the trains and a late platform change from platform 2 to platform 1 with 720524 coming in on top of another 720 (which was stabled at the buffer stops), which I think is the first time I’ve departed from platform 1, only previously arrived on that side on a peak time extra.   This 720 took me to Broxbourne where after looking at RTT found nothing of interest heading south for the next hour, I jumped onto 720513 & 720103 for the short distance to Cheshunt transferring for the Overground with 710120 & 710122 on the stopper, solely to cover that part of the Overground network for 710.  I bailed at Rectory Road for a gentle stroll towards Hackney Downs going via the park (one of those short London area walks which had been on my list to do for a while), swinging via the Tesco Express outside the station for lunch before 710105 & 710257 rolled in to take me the 3 miles to Liverpool Street.

I exited the station at Liverpool Street for the short walk to Fenchurch Street where I met up with Jules on winner 720612, surprisingly out today on Leigh on Sea services.  Pretty much the same inside as the Greater Anglia examples, other than more areas of “3-1+2” seating creating wider aisles.  We took this 720 to Upminster, opening my book with the C2C examples, returning to West Ham on 357046, where we transferred to the underground doing a series of linear hops (and a walk from Chancery Lane to Farringdon) to reach London Marylebone for 165036 to West Ruislip, for a short fester before 165025 took us back to Marylebone (Jules was quite happy as this was his final Chiltern 165, which had been out of traffic for ages).

720612 departing Upminster

With time looking on, we headed to the underground to Waterloo (changing at Baker Street from the Bakerloo & Jubilee lines), popping out of the station to grab dinner supplies before taking a busy 159022, 159106 & 159002 (which didn’t help that it was advertised as boarding before the train even arrived onto platform 11 so there was heavy congestion on the platform, but when the train only has a 10-minute turnaround there is only so much control can do).  I said farewell to Jules at Clapham Junction (where a lot more passengers alighted) and settled down for the trip via Richmond & Staines to reach Woking where the train had a booked 15-minute dwell to put it onto the path of the 18:20 Waterloo – Exeter train.

I remained on board to Andover, heading to my car to drive home.  An enjoyable day with a walk in the morning (even if I did end up getting wet), but at least the New River path at the Hertford end is complete, leaving the section from Broxbourne to Palmers Green which I suspect will be done next year due to the oncoming of autumn.  A good catchup in the afternoon as well.  More photos can be found on my Flickr Here, thanks for reading :)

31st August & 1st September. New Forest & Cornwall

 31st August – Disused Railways in the New Forest

After the last few weeks where I’ve been heading further afield, I decided this week I would do something more local, walking the former Southampton & Dorchester Railway route from Ringwood towards Brockenhurst, something which had been on my list for a while.  It also gave me an excuse to walk another short disused railway line path (the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway) around the former Breamore station.

The day began with the 07:54 service from Grateley to Salisbury with 159010, a short delay at Salisbury where it ran into the back of a 158 unit before, I exited the station having a look at the car park works before heading towards the city centre via Sainsburys for something to eat before heading to Blue Bore Row to board the Morebus X3 service for Bournemouth.  A large crowd was waiting for said bus (and at one stage I was toying with ditching that idea and instead heading towards Devizes) but I managed to board bus 1790, one of the newer 24 plate Enviro 400 buses (which did have much better seating compared to the older buses used on this route).  A bit slow heading out of Salisbury but soon I was exiting the bus near the tidy settlement of South Charford, the northern edge of the Breamore Railway Path.

The first section of this path was reasonable but soon it turned evil, barely (and I mean barely) passable at times due to the overgrowth, I carried on (as I knew the only way out was back the same way) with the path opening out at times before returning to awful.  Certainly, an old railway line path best done during the winter months (with the risk of mud) or spring before the thorns & nettles grow.  The only highlight of the 2 mile walk towards Burgate Cross was the former station at Breamore itself, the station building now a holiday let.

Breamore Station

Anyhow I reached the ending point near Burgate Cross, a couple of miles north of Fordingbridge alongside the A338 with a handy bus stop located alongside a lay-by.  Google Maps was suggesting a 10-minute wait before the next Bournemouth bus, but when I fired up Bus Times, I found that bus caught up in issues within Salisbury city centre, where it took over an hour to get out of the city centre (I suspect an accident closing the road with the bus unable to escape via a side street).  Standing alongside the busy A338 wasn’t much fun before bus 1784 rolled in on the following service (which looked like it diverted via the Ring Road) with the original bus being close behind.  It was very busy but I got a seat for the trip to Ringwood via Fordingbridge, where a large crowd was waiting (I can only presume the original bus which overtook this one bypassed both Fordingbridge & Ringwood town centre).

The second of today’s walks began in Ringwood, after swinging via the town centre Sainsburys for lunch items, I soon reached the Castleman Trailway path along the route of the former Southampton & Dorchester Railway route which closed in the 1960s.  I crossed over the Bicklerley Millstream and onto a short section where the route of the railway has been lost for a modern road.  The route of the railway was joined near an industrial park and I took this path towards its end at Barrack Lane to the south of the town.  The railway continues but isn't accessible so I swapped over to a couple of footpaths (and one muddy byway) leading towards Sandford where I was a bit worried considering the OS Map suggested a Ford on one of the paths.  Thankfully there was a bridge for walkers to bypass the water crossing as I headed into the Kingston Great Common National Nature Reserve in the New Forest.

A ford on a footpath

Some beautiful views (and very peaceful) as I followed a path, eventually the path ending at Pound Lane near the Burbush Forestry Car Park where the former railway line route began once more.  The path quality was decent for this section and it was reasonably busy with other users and soon I reached the former Holmsley station where the mixed used path came suddenly to an end for a section of walking along a road.  I had previously assumed it would be a little country road with hardly any traffic.  I was wrong, it was a busy road with no pavement (and a very soft verge).  I was glad when I reached the point where the road headed north and the former railway line path resumed.

The next section was along the mixed used path, going near some camping sites with the final section of line lost forcing a detour via an access road going underneath the main railway to join the B3055 going underneath the branch line for Lymington and going onto Sway Road.  The first section didn't have any pavements and was a bit narrow in places, especially the section crossing over the railway.  I was glad again when the pavement popped up as I headed towards the railway station in Brockenhurst arriving just as 444043 & 444027 rolled in on a London train from Weymouth, which I took to Winchester, stepping back to the service from Portsmouth (450036 & 450046) for the section to Basingstoke where I popped out of the station to grab some supplies from the shop before boarding 158882 & 159010 on the next Salisbury stopper to take me to Grateley

View from the former railway path

Once at home, I relaxed for the remainder of the Saturday evening.  Overall, a decent walk with the negative sections being the road walks with no pavements, I’m hoping to finish the last section of the railway line walk (branded as the Castleman Trailway) between Ringwood & Wimborne Minster at some-point (I was hoping to do it this coming Sunday but the weather looks quite wet), one of those walks I wouldn’t mind trying to do before the £2 bus scheme ends, talking of which leads me onto…

1st September – Buses in Devon & Cornwall

This is an idea which had been on my list to do since May-time, but either was ruled out with engineering works or having something else planned, a random trip to the South West for a couple of interesting looking bus routes.  The day began with an early morning drive to Salisbury where I ended up having to park in the station car park due to my usual parking places close to the station either being full or not available due to road works.  If I was on my own, I might have headed further afield to avoid the £5 parking fee but I was with mum so it wasn’t fair for her to walk too far.

Anyhow it was onto the 06:54 service for Exeter St Davids formed of 159010, 159107 & 159016 (with 016 being locked out of use and getting dropped off at Yeovil Junction).  A quiet service throughout and soon we had arrived at Exeter Central, where we exited the station via the side gate for the walk to the bus station, via Sainsburys for both breakfast & supplies for lunch (just to save the hassle of trying to find something in Bude).   The first bus of the day was the Stagecoach route 6A service to Okehampton (with the bus driver selling me a ticket all the way to Bude) with bus 15893 in heritage Devon General colours.

Devon Bus

I did this route back in May when heading to Okehampton for the old railway line walk towards Lydford so it was nice to come back to a scenic run over the hills via the settlements of Tedbuurn St Mary, Cheriton Cross, Whiddon Down & Sticklepath to terminate outside Okehampton station.  Some weeks it seems this service continues to Bude, other week it requires a bus swap, this week it involved swapping to the route 6 service (with bus 15885).  This headed back down the hill into Okehampton town centre where it picked up a good number of passengers before heading out into the hills getting caught behind some cyclists on a riding event (and considering how steep some of those hills were, fair play to those ladies for giving it a go).

This service was another scenic route, quite rural in terms of settlements the first big settlement being Holsworthy (with a lovely old railway viaduct) before crossing into Cornwall with the run to Bude via Stratton, where we had around 30 minutes on a connection which only works on a Sunday.  After visiting the toilets, we returned to the bus stop to catch the "Transport for Cornwall" route 95 service for Wadebridge with bus 2216 (An Enviro 200) on this long route. Heading out of Bude via the scenic Widemouth Bay & Crackington Haven which did see a few passengers leaving the bus as it made its way via some narrow country lanes to reach Boscastle & Tintagel before heading to Camelford for a timekeeping pause (as it was running early).

Beach at Crackington Haven

After Camelford the bus double backed on the route to serve the pretty village of Port Isaac, where sadly we didn't bump into Doctor Martin during another extended dwell stop of around 7 minutes (gave the chance for some fresh air and for a gentle walk around the bus).  The bus continued on the journey towards Wadebridge via the seaside at Polzeath before a final extended dwell at St Minver (I guess the timetable has a lot of recovery time built in to cope with delays caused by heavy traffic).  After St Minver the bus continued into Wadebridge bus station, 2 and three quarters hours after departing Bude.  With 20 minutes to play with until the next Bodmin bus we headed to the nearby Co-Op (passing the old railway station, one of these days I will walk the old railway from Bodmin towards Padstow) before boarding the bus 2417 on the next route 11 for Bodmin Parkway.

This service (having started from Padstow) headed towards Bodmin itself before the long road to Bodmin Parkway station where it terminated.  During the week & on Saturdays some services run all the way to Plymouth which is something on my list to do at some-point, as well as the route 12 from Plymouth to Bude.  So many Cornish bus routes which looks interesting.  Anyhow for us the day on the buses was over and it was to the station where the first Exeter train was cancelled giving us 45 minutes to waste (being interrupted with the arrival of a steam train from Bodmin).

Steamy McSteam running round at Bodmin Parkway

Eventually 800316 rolled in from Penzance on a London train where surprisingly we managed to grab a couple of decent seats (as I was worried that it might have been busy due to being the end of the summer holidays).  The train lost around 15 minutes in the Plymouth area due to signalling issues which meant the connection at Exeter St Davids to a Waterloo train went up in smoke (the sprinters were pulling out just as we rolled in)

We remained on the platform at Exeter St Davids for the 55 minutes, relaxing before 159104 & 159105 returned from the sidings to take us the long route to Salisbury, losing time in the Tisbury area due to a late running Exeter train (at least ensuring the delay was pushed over the hour mark rather than being 59 minutes and 30 seconds).  At Salisbury we headed back to the car to drive home, the early start catching up with both of us and soon after getting home we headed to bed.  An enjoyable day trip to Cornwall (and Devon), some beautiful views from the buses, shame about the extra hour in Exeter but I guess these things can't be helped.  Anyhow thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr as I move into September, a month where the only overnight stay is near the end of the month for the 323 farewell tour in Birmingham, the other weekends are going to be day trips.

Trips on 23rd August – 26th August

 Trips on 23d August – 26th August

I had originally booked my usual place in Crewe to be a Friday – Monday stay, however as I wasn’t quite 100% about the bank holiday with my training, I changed it to be a standard Friday & Saturday stay to return south on the Sunday rather than on the bank holiday Monday.  I guess in hindsight once I had it confirmed I was off on the Monday I should have changed it back to include the Sunday in Cheshire but overlooked it until it was too late.

23rd August – Onwards to Crewe

The trip began with the 16:59 service from Grateley, with 159021 returning from Salisbury with 158881 running around 10 minutes late due to the 158 being late attaching to the 159 (would normally come from Gillingham but for whatever reason the service was starting at Salisbury).  The 159 was quite busy but the 158 was pretty much empty, so I sat in the 158 for the trip to London with the train losing a few more minutes here & there due to being out of path.

At Waterloo as I had over an hour before the 19:46 service for Crewe I headed out on foot towards Euston (saves paying for the Underground), bumping into my good friend Jan who had arrived from Wolverhampton heading on his latest European adventure before I headed to platform 5 (I think) to board 350375 & 350370 on the 19:46 which departed quite busy with passengers standing in the front coach vestibule.   Nothing really unusual happened heading north tonight and it arrived into Crewe around 10pm and I made my way to the shared house, this time having the single room on the top floor, getting my bag sorted out ready for the Saturday and relaxing

153376 passing Basingstoke

24th August – A Day on Merseyside

My original idea for the Saturday was to walk part of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, either from Maghull towards Burscough (and maybe on towards Parbold) or the Rufford branch starting from Hesketh Bank towards Burscough (and maybe on towards Parbold).  However, when I checked the Canal & River Trust website on the Thursday both options were ruled out due to towpath closures being listed.  In the end I decided on a back up option being the route of the former Cheshire Lines route towards Southport starting in the Old Roan area (the TransPennine Trail)

The day began with the 06:59 service from Crewe towards Holyhead to take me to Chester (158818 & 158822), where after popping out of the station to buy a Saveaway (now issued on ‘bog-roll’ ticket stock) I headed to platform 2 to board 158828 for the run to Wrexham General for a short wait before winner 197121 rolled in from Cardiff to take me back to Chester on a Holyhead service where I changed to Merseyrail with 777012 taken to Hooton where I made a swift connection to winner 777033 which I saw earlier at Chester.  This 777 took me back to Chester, where I remained on board back to Hooton, keeping my eyes out for the other units.



I saw a winner 777 heading towards Ellesmere Port as I took 777020 to Bebington pinging back south to Eastham Rake on 777002 to intercept winner 777045 from Ellesmere Port to take me to Hamilton Square, going via the city centre loop to get it cleared for ten miles (due to my slightly silly rule that I need at least 10 miles from a unit for it to count).  At Hamilton Square I crossed over to the city bound line with dud 777009 to Liverpool Central where after a visit to the toilet & shop I jumped on winner 777144 to Headbolt Lane, solely to scratch the platform 1 track.  After a short walkabout (I suspect I will do platform 3 when on a Lancs Ranger to avoid a fester at Rainford) I returned towards Kildale with 777144, crossing over to the opposite platform for an Ormskirk service getting a surprise when winners 777025 & 777016 rolled in to become my first pair of 777s, taking them all the way to Ormskirk (complete with 5-minute wait outside the station for the next southbound to clear the single line).  Surprised as I wasn’t expecting to see any pairs out today.

After a visit to the toilet at Ormskirk station I boarded 777016/777025 to push them over ten miles to alight at Old Roan where my walk finally begun!  The first section was via Copy Lane towards Netherton crossing over the Northern Perimeter Road onto an old road leading towards the A5758, crossing this busy road via some slow traffic lights and onto the cycle path heading pass a field of sunflowers into the countryside (crossing the River Alt) and picking up the route of the old railway line in the outskirts of Maghull.  A short section of road walking followed before picking up the old railway route beyond Sefton Lane, leaving behind urban landscape and into countryside.

The path was quite variable in quality, ranging from wide tarmac to quite narrow dirt paths.  Not a lot of evidence of being an old railway line other than a couple of old bridges as the route continued in the countryside (beautiful and peaceful) with a detour at the northern end due to the original route of the railway being lost.  The path ended on Plex Moss Lane, requiring a walk along this narrow country road towards Woodvale, crossing over the A565 and onto the "Coastal Road" (which I believe was built on the old railway route).  I crossed over the railway line before dropping down having the option of heading towards Ainsdale or towards Freshfield via the woods.

Route of the former CLC route to Southport

I went for the option via Ainsdale Woods with a path running close to the railway in times before heading on a trip into the woods to come out near a golf course and crossing the railway at the Fisherman's Path level crossing.  The next section was alongside the railway line towards Freshfield where my walk ended, a variable walk with some lovely countryside.  Anyhow back to the trains with winner 777032 to Sandhills, changing to winner 777043 on an Ormskirk service which I took to Aintree (so another entry onto the sub-10-mile 777 list).  The next Liverpool bound service was 777036 which I took to Liverpool Central, having a gentle stroll to Lime Street via a shop for some cold drink (as it was quite hot in the sunshine).  Sub-10-mile unit 777022 popped up first on a West Kirby service which I took to Hamilton Square (giving it an extra couple of miles).  At Hamilton Square it was onto winner 777039 on the next Chester service to take me back to Chester where I still think Merseyrail drops down to 2tph far too early considering there was a large crowd waiting for this service only to be told it was out of service as they run them back as empty coaching stock to Birkenhead North depot.  In my eyes it should be 4tph until at least 9pm, especially on weekends.

Anyhow my day on Merseyrail had ended as I made my way across to platform 1 to board a very busy 197043 on the Crewe shuttle to take me back to Crewe where I returned to the shared house swinging via a takeaway for a burger box.  After said takeaway I headed towards Morrisons to grab supplies for the morning (to make a change from the big Tesco) before relaxing for the remainer of the evening.  A good day for my little red pen, and my feet as I can clear that walk from my big list of things to do.

25th August – Another failed attempt at Atherstone!

A couple of weeks ago I was going to walk the Coventry canal from Tamworth towards Atherstone only changing my mind on the train towards Tamworth to instead walk towards Fradley, so today for the lack of a better idea I decided to head towards Atherstone to walk towards Tamworth.  After an average sleep (things on my mind) I checked out of the shared house heading towards the station via Tesco to grab supplies and to platform 12 for the first southbound LNR service of the day with 350377 leading 350246 & 350408.  Due to the short platform at Atherstone I had no option but to sit in the /3 (where coach 2 was lightly loaded compared to the other coaches closest to the platform entrance), settling down to eat my breakfast as the train headed towards Stafford, unusually on the slow lines.

At Stafford there was a sudden announcement that the train had been cancelled with no reason given (RTT was suggesting it would run ECS to Northampton before resuming in service which did suggest a staffing issue) so for the lack of a better idea (and to avoid hanging around Stafford station which the Avanti staff in full megaphone mode about “LNR tickets are not valid” on the Avanti services) I headed out of the station.  Annoyingly it looked like the service got uncancelled and ran 25 minutes late (skipping out Northampton), but there was no information from the staff.

Anyhow in a way I was lucky to have a backup walk for the Stafford area which I was saving for another day.  I started the walk by following the river Sow via the cycle path heading passed a large Asda reaching the Fairway road where the tarmac path swapped sides and turned more rural as I headed via what I suspect is the floodplain, passing a random footbridge to nowhere (maybe something related to the old Sow Navigation) before reaching the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal for a brief section on the towpath before taking the "Two Waters" way path (a long viaduct over both the Sow & Penk) before some lovely woodland (with some not so lovely mud) in the Kingston Pool Covert.

Kingston Pool Covert, Stafford

This section soon ended as I reached the A513 road, walking along the pavement for around a mile passing the army barracks and reaching the start of the Isobel Trail, a path running along the trackbed of the old Stafford - Uttoxeter railway route.  I passed the overgrown remains of the platforms at Stafford Common station on this busy (dog walkers, cyclists, dogs riding bikes, runners) path and a couple of miles later the path came to an end at Doxey Road.  One of these trips I will explore the Doxey Marshes as they look interesting.  The last section was a short walk via some roads to reach the station where I was toying with rough ideas of what to do next (considering this was just after midday) as I boarded the next London LNR service (350376 & 350103) which was very busy.

I was toying with the idea of jumping off at Rugby to walk one of the old Grand Central paths, either to the south of the town (towards the Rainsbrook Valley Railway) or to the north (towards Newton) but I decided against both options (as I was sitting comfortably and I knew boarding a southbound LNR at Rugby on a Sunday could be hit or miss for how busy it would be.  Both walks could be done on another day (those old railway line paths are not going anywhere soon) so I remained on board to Euston, where I had a gentle walk towards Waterloo to pass the time, aiming for the 15:35 service for Weymouth [to change at Basingstoke] but I made good time to catch the 15:20 Axminster service [line was closed beyond Axminster due to landslip at a tunnel] which was formed of a busy 159014 (cosy!)

Old bridge for the former Stafford - Uttoxeter Railway Line in Stafford (near Doxey Lane)

I guess in hindsight I should have switched to the Weymouth train for a more comfortable ride, but I had a seat for the trip to Andover where it was a same platform change compared to Basingstoke, and Andover is a nicer station to sit on a bench walking the world go by.  Half an hour later 159001 rocked up on the service from Reading to take me up the hill to Grateley where I had a gentle stroll home to relax for the rest of the evening, having an early night ready for an early start on the bank holiday Monday.

26th August – South Downs Rambler, Liss & Wey Navigation

Today was one of those trips where I was linking a couple of walking ideas together which had been on my list of things to do for a while, as well as sampling the South Downs Rambler bus service being run on summer Sundays (and bank holiday) which I was hoping to do last year but never got round to it.  The day began with the 06:59 service from Grateley formed of 159008 to take me to Basingstoke where after grabbing breakfast from Sainsburys I jumped onto 450036 & 450098 to Eastleigh working a Portsmouth service, remaining on the same platform for a busy 450126 back to Winchester, solely to waste some time.

I headed out of the station towards the bus stops located on the forecourt with the 09:15 service, which only appeared at 09:22 (Bluestar’s 270) departing 10 minutes with a handful of passengers on board.  A lot more boarded in the city centre and the bus headed out of the city centre towards No Man's Land joining the A272 for a fast run towards Hinton Ampner & Bramdean.  Near West Meon the bus headed along the A32 towards West Meon & Meonstoke doing an U-turn back to Warnford to take the narrow Winchester Hill road where the views became excellent with the bus climbing high into the South Downs heading towards Clanfield before a fast running section along the A3 towards Petersfield, going via the town centre before terminating at the railway station.

The South Downs Rambler in Petersfield

Petersfield is one of those places which as far as I could tell doesn’t have any buses on bank holidays (or Sundays) other than this summer only service, so my option was to remain on the bus back to Winchester or head out to the railway station for the next stopping service towards London (the previous fast service being cancelled at Fratton due to a train fault with the stopper being around 10 minutes late with 450059 & 450102 taking me one stop up the line to Liss where my first walk began with the former military railway leading towards the MOD Longmoor training area via a beautiful woodland path, although the path was a bit muddy in places following the recent rain.  At the end of the path (which continues into the MOD land which requires some future research as I was unsure if it was a bit like Salisbury Plain in being managed access) I headed back to Liss via the roads, swinging via a Tesco Express to grab lunch to save a job.  Thankfully the next London stopper was also running late so I didn't need to rush before boarding 450050 & 450030 to Haslemere where I transferred to 444037 on the next semi-fast service to Godalming where my second walk began.

I exited the station at Godalming, heading to a path running alongside the River Wey towards the town bridge where the Wey Navigation began.  A rural towpath which was reasonably busy with other people out for a walk (or a ride), with the water busy with canoes & paddleboarders as I headed away from the town centre towards Catteshall Lock skirting round the edge of Farncombe with a gentle stroll in the woodlands heading towards Peasmarsh & Shalford (pausing to take a photo of the junction with the remains of the former Wey & Arun Canal (a canal I believe which is getting restored).  My walk along the Wey Navigation came to an end at Broadford Road bridge where I had previously walked a couple of years ago (time does fly).

River Wey Navigation in Peasmarsh

Switching from the river navigation to a cycle path heading north over the North Downs line and towards Guildford via some nice woodland and Shalford Park.  Soon I reached Guildford where I headed back towards the river navigation at Millmead lock, walking towards a weir where the towpath has been closed due to being washed away.  I did a U-turn and followed the river towards the town centre which clears the Wey Navigation for walking (other than that tiny section on the weir if it ever gets repaired).  On heading to Guildford station, I caught the sound of a mysterious steam train passing (nothing showing on RTT) and it was back to the trains.

As the next London train was a stopper which gave a nice connection at Worplesdon I decided on a random station revisit for some better photos, jumping onto 450046 & 450126 for the short journey from Guildford to this very quiet station.  5 minutes later 450084 & 450065 rolled in to take me back to Guildford where I transferred to platform 1 as I had noticed a bit of a novelty, a pair of 450s working a service via Bookham.  There seems to be a booked pair of 450s on the Wimbledon suburban lines since the 458/5s started losing weight, and it had been a while since I last went via Bookham (at least in daylight) so I decided on a little spin on 450029 & 450023 on the slow run to Clapham Junction

450023 in the bay at Guildford on a service via Epsom

I arrived at Clapham Junction with around 10 minutes to spare before the next Salisbury stopper, enough time to pop out of the station to the Sainsburys to grab some dinner items before taking a seat on 158888 & 159007 on a Salisbury service, the leading coach of the 158 was very quiet (and from the announcement the guard made the rear coaches sounded busy as he was suggesting for those customers standing to move forward as there was a lot more seats in the front coaches.  Anyhow these sprinters took me back home to Grateley where I had a gentle stroll home, and relaxed ready for another busy week of training.

As ever more photos can be found on my Flickr, thanks for reading :)