10th & 11th March Trips

 10th & 11th March Trips

10th March – A bit more of the Capital Ring Exploring

My car was booked into the garage for its annual service & MOT giving me a few hours to waste, I was toying with either heading towards Poole or even Hamble for a disused railway walk (followed by a coastal stroll), but in the end decided to head towards London as both active 701s I needed were out on all day services.  After dropping my car into the garage in Winchester I strolled to the station for a short wait before taking 444013 & 444026 towards Clapham Junction for some high speed 444 action.  I enjoy the scenery between Winchester & Basingstoke as it’s quite pretty in places.

At Clapham Junction it was a short wait before boarding winner 701011 which I took to Fulwell to get it over ten miles, making the connection onto 701048 to take me back towards Kingston and Wimbledon where I swapped platforms.  I dislike Wimbledon station as the narrow staircases are not fit for purpose.  Anyhow it was another short wait before winner 701006 rolled in to take me to Hampton Court, where after a photo I remained on board to take me to Earlsfield where I almost headed towards Wandsworth along the Wandle Trail but decided to do another section of the Capital Ring, a long-distance London area path which I want to try and finish this year.

701006 departs Earlsfield Station

With my OS Maps app open, I set off following the path which was mostly along suburban roads (I dread to think how much some of those houses in Earlsfield are worth!), the first bit of interest was heading into Wandsworth Common, heading alongside the lakes before joining the roads again the other side of Wandsworth Common station near Balham.  After some more suburban London (interesting in a way to see the various styles of housing) I reached Tooting Bec Common which was quite scenic, certainly a place I wouldn't mind returning to for another little explore.

After leaving Tooting Bec Common behind, I crossed over the Brighton Main Line, following another suburban road, passing the beautiful building of the Streatham Common Pumping Station, before going underneath a couple more railway lines near Streatham station for the last section to Streatham Common station itself.  Not the longest of sections but with the next section towards Crystal Palace being another 3 miles (at least according to the signposts) I decided that could wait as I had a deadline to be back at the garage by half four.

Tooting Bec Common (Capital Ring)

At Streatham Common station, it was a short wait before 377418 & 377461 rolled in on a Victoria service from Epsom Downs to take me towards Clapham Junction for a 10 minute wait before 444024 & 444009 rolled in on the next Weymouth service for the fast run towards Winchester, where I had a stroll back to the garage to pick up my little car which thankfully passed it’s assessment with only a couple remarks regarding the suspension rubbers needing replacing at some point (it’s getting to that age).  Not the longest of days out today, but certainly a bit more productive with 2 more 701s into my book.

11th March – “Neston, 3 Miles”

For my second rest day before heading back to work, I decided to head to North Wales (well just over the border) to walk a path which I was considering doing on my Merseyside trip last month, as the weather looked reasonable.  The day didn’t start off that well with the 06:57 from Grateley cancelled due to signalling issues at Tisbury, the same issues which had the 07:27 formed of only 6 coaches instead of the booked 9.  159007 & 159022 got rather busy after Andover, but thankfully arrived near enough on time to allow me a gentle stroll to Euston arriving with some time to grab a sausage bap from the Sainsburys Local before taking a seat on a very busy (as the first off-peak trains all are from Euston due to the cliff-edge pricing between peak & off-peak) 390042 on a Manchester service to Crewe.

At Crewe it was a short wait on platform 10 for 197119 to arrive on the shuttle to Chester, getting lucky with the posh seats being at the Chester end for a little bit of extra comfort, before swapping over to 197102 on a Llandudno service from Manchester to take me across the border to Shotton where my walk began.  I followed the path alongside the railway towards the River Dee & Hawarden Bridge station, signposted as the Chester Millennium Greenway (as it leads towards Chester along an old railway line), at a triangle I turned left to follow the tracks towards the former north curve (now part of cycle route 568) and towards the Deeside Industrial Complex.  The next part of the walk wasn't the most scenic as it was between two high fences with hedges on the right and wasteland on the left.  The fences gave way to the road and a gentle stroll passing various industrial units to pick up a path close to the A548 road, going underneath this dual carriageway next to the railway line, before dropping down to go underneath the main railway.  After leaving a minor road, I headed underneath a bridge carrying a disused siding) on an access road to the MOD Sealand ranges.

Waterway on Cycle Route 568 near the Deeside Industrial Estate

The cycle path parted way from the access road to head closer to the railway line as I crossed the border into England, marked with some large rocks with the path becoming very scenic with the Dee Estuary Marshes on the left-hand side and countryside on the right.  Had the wind not been so strong it would have been a glorious day.  The path was quite busy with other walkers & cyclists as I had a short section of walking on a minor road near Burton, passing a little café.  After the roads the countryside returned as I reached Little Neston and the quayside.

Sadly, the section of footpath (as the cycle path moves inland at this point) was closed near the site of the former Neston Colliery) so my little stroll came to an end earlier than expected as I headed on the roads in suburban Little Neston.  Good thing I checked timings of trains at Neston as one service was cancelled and the following Bidston service seemingly not departing Wrexham, so I cut my walk short near a handy bus stop near West Vale Shops for an Arriva run route 487 service to Liverpool. Oh, and the name of the report relates to various signs along the way which said Neston was 3 miles away.

Dee Estuary Nature Reserve in Little Neston

This was an interesting bus route for the views of a part of Cheshire & the Wirral I've never previously visited, as it headed towards Neston town centre picking up a few passengers from the bus stop outside the railway station before heading towards Thornton Hough.  Passing Clatterbridge Hospital crossing the M53 as it headed via the suburbs of Bebington & Tranmere to reach Birkenhead before taking the tunnel to terminate near Hood Street.  A short walk took me to Liverpool Lime Street where annoyingly I hit a gap in the 2 trains an hour London timetable so I took 350108 to Crewe for a tight connection (unofficial at Crewe, official at Stafford) to a quiet 805004 from Chester for the run to London Euston.

I decided to take the underground to Waterloo, rather than walking back, although this almost went wrong as the entrance escalators were roped off for some unknown reason, eventually they were opened up allowing the built up crowd to head down below and I jumped onto 51578/51577 to Waterloo, swinging via Sainsburys for some warm chicken nuggets for dinner and onto the 18:23 service formed of 159016, 159015 & 159108 to take me to Grateley, to end the little day trip to Cheshire/North Wales.  Annoyingly part of the route was closed but at least I managed to do the bulk of the walk with some nice weather.  Certainly, put me in a better mood ready for 7 early shifts at work.

A TfW 230 alongside Cycle Route 568 between Deeside Industrial Park & Denhall

As always, thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr *Here*, have a good day.