Portsmouth to Three Bridges ..and home

As the train leaves Barnham it is well with putting the book down and staring out of the window for a while. You could be rewarded with flocks of egret and small ducks, sheep, cows, stables, rolling hills and a river (or canal, I need to look that one up). The Arundel stretch is worth the fare on it's own. Today the sun is bright and still quite low. There is a lot of floodwater which will be inconvenient to the local residents but adds to the beauty.

I would hate to live in the countryside but am glad someone does. Nature has an inherent beauty but it is greatly enhanced by the odd bit of architecture: a barn; a pretty cottage; a waterway; even a well crafted garden. If we could add to the beauty without damaging the existing natural environment this would be a perfect world.

At Three Bridges I got the bus towards Copthorne. Another passenger asked for the hotel and the driver let him know when we got there. I followed him off the bus and walked with him to the hotel. Unfortunately it was the wrong hotel and we had to walk about two miles to get to the right one!

It was a good event with a good lunch and Richard and I travelled back together to Victoria, getting the bus from the nearest stop this time.

Rush hour and the platform for the late Rochester train was as least four deep. At least I did manage to get a seat.

Portsmouth to stay with Ben

The train from Maidstone to Tonbridge followed the river for some of the way and although the Tonbridge to Redhill train was unremarkable the journey from Redhill to Havant took us past Arundel Castle, green fields, rivers and trees.

My book is really compelling and I have to keep remembering to look out of the train window so I don't miss anything. I just saw a hawk of some sort swoop down on some prey in a field!

Despite the problems of the last couple of days with fallen trees and storm damage, every train has been on time. The man sitting behind me said that workers clearing the lines found someone's shed blown onto the track! The last leg between Havant and Portsmouth Southsea takes less than twenty minutes. The sun has shone for the whole journey and from Hilsea you can see the Spinnaker.

Ben was in a lecture when I arrived and I was lucky enough to find a useful book in the public library which he borrowed for me.  Ben made me a cup of tea at his house and then took me on a walking tour of Portsmouth dockyard and Gunwharf Quays.  We stopped for coffee on the way home at the Garage Lounge, which serves lovely home-made fruit drinks and nice coffee. The food looked good but Ben was cooking me a meal. We shopped for ingredients at Lidl and Ben cooked a delicious fish lasagne. He was generous enough to let me use his bed while he slept on the sofa and he  saw me off at Fratton station after his tennis training session in the morning.

Brussels

Rochester to Brussels

We met at St Pancras station at 5.20 for 6.40pm train.  For dinner we bought some scallops, prawns, focaccia, olives, dips, tortillas and a bottle of wine to eat and drink on the train.  The food and drink lasted us for most of the journey.

Brussels Midi station was reasonable nice and we came out of the best exit for where we wanted to get to.  It was a reasonable distance to the hotel on foot, allowing for getting lost, which we did.  The hotel was easy to spot when we reached it, lots of colour.

Our room at The Pantone was nice, white with splashes of colour, bright pink and yellow toilet rolls and a balcony, with bright coloured seats, overlooking a square of sorts.  The wall above the bed was a light, pale violet colours.  In the morning it was a completely different colour, vivid blues, that was completely different from the lit version.

We spent ages getting ready in the morning and then went downstairs to check out and get a cup of tea.  Everything was quite quirky: brightly coloured sugar, tea bags made out of what looks like net curtain, everything white with splashes of bright colour.

We put our biggest bag in a locker at the Gare du Midi where we would catch the train later, had a calzone pizza slice each and a bottle of juice, then headed for the Atomium.  This had a very fast list to the top ball (atom) then stairs and escalators to the other balls.  After the Atomium we walked to the Chinese Pavillion, which was being renovated/refurbished and where we hoped to find a cafe.  There was a coffee machine and some tables in the shop area and we had a drink and played Chinese chequers (there was a selection of far Eastern games for people to play).

We walked out to find the metro station, which was quite a way away.  We were walking around the edge of the Royal Palace.  On our left were some strange structures in the ground, covered with netting.  We could hear running water and, on closer inspection, found that they were watercress beds.  Behind these was a tram stop and we took the tram to Montgomery and then a metro train to Merode.  From here we walked through the arches, past the museums and on to the European Parliament buildings.   Our last stop was at the Grand Place, the cathedral and the city centre, with all its chocolate shops and lace shops.

Finally, we headed for the station to buy food for the train, pick up the locked bag and go through passport control for the train.  As we had on the outward journey, we spent most of the journey eating.  I managed this time to watch as we sped over the Medway Bridge and when the train made an unexpected stop at Ebbsfleet we quickly gathered our stuff and hopped off, meaning that we got an earlier train home.

Travel Inventory

Modes of transport in last 2 weeks:

Train (Spain, France and Southern England)

Motorbike (Barcelona and Weymouth)

Metro (Barcelona, Paris and London)

Coach (Dover to Lille, Lille to Barcelona)

Bus (Barcelona)

Taxi (St Malo and Weymouth)

Bicycle (Barcelona)

Car (Home to Dover, Meopham to home)

Ferry (St Malo to Jersey, Jersey to Weymouth)

Walk (everywhere)

Funicular railway (Monserrat)

Le Shuttle (Folkestone to Calais)

Weymouth - home

The ferry arrived about half an hour late but we all disembarked quickly and I got a taxi to Weymouth Bunkhouse Plus. The information they had given us with codes, etc made it really easy. The room was small and we filled it with all our stuff. We were on the  second floor and I'm sure we must have made loads of noise at one in the morning getting all our heavy bags up the stairs. The people in the attic room, however, managed more noise and later into the night. The bed was comfortable enough but we were woken at 7 by the bin lorry.

Having a self-catering kitchen meant that we could make as many cups of tea as we wanted and to make our own breakfast but that would have meant going shopping so we walked into town and found a cafe for a fry up and a mug of tea. Lovely!

We had a walk around the old harbour and shops then got into our motorbike gear and drove to West Bay to see my cousin Bev who was at their family caravan. It was good to catch up. As the A35 had been very busy on the way there we drove back along the coast road seeing Chesil Beach as we went past. A much more scenic route and it took less time.

At the bunkhouse we collected our stuff and Brian set off on the bike to visit friends Fiona and Colin before heading home.  I had an hour and a half to kill so walked along the seafront and got a smoked haddock and spring onion fishcake and chips, from King Edward's fish and chip shop, for my tea, which I ate on the seafront by the clock tower.

Weymouth station is the end of the line so the South West train was there early and I could get on and settled. I managed to get some work done but that was the bumpiest train I've been on so far so it was very difficult. The girl in front of me was also typing up her dissertation but was having difficulties not being distracted by Facebook.

At Waterloo I got the train to Clapham Junction. So far London wins the competition for most people willing to help with a heavy bag!

Next train Waterloo to Victoria and final train Victoria to Meopham. The last train was packed and there was nowhere to put my luggage. I started off taking up three seats but this didn't seem fair when there were so many people standing so I stood for the rest of the journey.

Brian was there in the car to meet me from Meopham station.  We have an overnight stay at his parents’ house before going home as the Barcelona family we have swapped houses with don’t leave until tomorrow morning.  My dissertation is not quite finished but it will be on time and this has been a great journey both on my own and with Brian.  A good achievement for him as well as allowing him great views through the Pyrenees.

StMalo - Weymouth

Brian and I arrived in St Malo around the same time. He headed for the vehicle check-in and me to the foot passenger. We didn't meet up until we were on the ferry but managed to find seats together.  The first stop was Jersey St Hellier, where we had to change boats. I had been assured that the bag I checked in at St Malo would turn up at Weymouth but that was soon to be the least of our worries. We decided we wanted to find a fish and chip shop but we had to get off separately as Brian had to get the bike off. He made it off first and drove into the town. By the time I had got on shore and realised that town was more than walking distance away, Brian rang me to say that he hadn't found a fish and chip shop but he had run out of petrol! The ferry was leaving in 40 minutes! Luckily the woman in the car behind him, when he ran out at traffic lights, had a can of fuel in the car, enough to get him back to the ferry. She wouldn't accept any money for it. Thank you to her and to all the people who helped me haul a very heavy bag up and down station stairs on my journey.

We had some reasonably nice cooked food on the second ferry followed by a beer.

Paris - StMalo

The train ride from Paris Montparnasse to Rennes was really pleasant. The train was full as they have all been but it was airy and smooth.  I tried to do some writing but kept falling asleep. On arrival in Rennes my next train was there waiting on the other side of the same platform, a relief not to have to do any stairs.

The final train was a regional train. Really comfortable and spacious even in second class.

Limoges - Paris

We had a lovely evening in Limoges. We stayed at the Ibis Budget hotel which had everything we needed. We ate at La Baliele Bleu (The Blue Whale) just down the road. Seafood salad to share as a starter then Brian had a pork mixed grill and I had vegetable taglietelle. Creme brulee for Brian and espresso for me, wine, beer and water, a nice meal, reasonably priced.

After breakfast I walked the five minutes to the train station to get the intercity to Paris Austerlitz. My reserved seat was at the back of the train but behind was a large area where I left my bag. It needed a label with my name and destination so I set about trying to make one. The train was comfortable and cool.

I worked a bit and slept a bit on the train, which arrived at Paris Austerlitz a few minutes early, giving me the confidence to take the metro. The journey was a bit hairy just because I couldn't remember which lines to take. I very quickly realised I needed to ask and got a much better route than I had planned. After many stairs, escalators and moving walkways I arrived at platform 4 for the TGV to Rennes with about 6 minutes to spare!

Toulouse - Limoges

I left Brian at Toulouse station getting ready to head off. The next train was for Brive La Gaillarde and was a three hour journey stopping at stations like Cahors in the Lot valley. More beautiful scenery, much of which I missed while working on my dissertation.

Brive is a pretty town with a nice, cool, open station where I waited for an intercity train to Paris, first stop Limoges where, hopefully, Brian would have already arrived and would be at the station to meet me and take me to the hotel. I really needed a shower! It had been as hot, if not hotter than Spain!

The train was fine but, again I didn't see much as I was working. It was more difficult on this train to deal with luggage as racks were in the middle of the carriage.

Narbonne - Toulouse

Very different journey, second class this time, I was travelling backwards in a non-air-conditioned carriage. Unfortunately, I didn't have a window seat but could see out of the windows on both sides. The train was full and we had left the sea. The mountains were still in the distance but otherwise the land was flat and green.

I fell asleep just before Carcassonne so I don't know if there was a good view of the medieval town. We've been there before so there was no real need to see it.

When I arrived in Toulouse Brian was still over an hour away. To pass the time I went for a walk around the town (nothing much to see). I started to worry that I wasn't sure how to get back to the station so made my way back quite early.

Fortunately he arrived soon after I found the station. Proximity of bike parking meant that we had lunch at the station burger bar with only 35 minutes to train departure.

Second Leg

The train from Barcelona made one stop at Girona and made a maximum speed (that I noticed) of 290 km/h.  At Figueres there was a French train waiting so I just needed to cross the platform and go through a ticket check. On this train, a double decker, I was seatedvupstairs. The toilets on the last train were immaculately clean. On this one the 1st class train seats are wider, with electric adjustment, and there is a large table top that slides out of the seat in front. No music this time but I have a socket next to the seat.

Figueres is surrounded by beautiful countryside: mountains on one side and many hills covered in trees. Through a tunnel and we were in France, which immediately looked different in architecture and land use. The train had one stop before Narbonne, at Perpignan.

From Perpignan the train followed the sea, sometimes running right along the shore. Many wading birds were visible on a shoreline similar to the Camargue. The train went on to Montpellier before continuing to Paris. I would have loved to stay on that one.

From Barcelona to home overland

Brian and I are leaving Barcelona for home, he on his motorbike, me on the train.  We will be meeting up at Toulouse, Limoges and St Malo and getting the ferry together before an overnight at Weymouth and the final leg home, again by train and bike.

Journey 1

I managed the metro, from Llacuna to Sants Estacio changing at Verdaguer from L4 to L5. A very heavy bag and oppressive heat reduced mobility but I managed by taking lifts and escalators where possible and dragging the bag up and downstairs where necessary. On arrival at the train station I found I had to go through a baggage security check as well as two ticket checks. I shouldn't have been surprised as it was an international train but it was fortunate I got there early as there was quite a queue for the second ticket check. The train arrived and I found my coach (3) and seat (10a) which was a solo seat by the window. Classical music playing in the background, air conditioning and a display showing temperature and speed as well as time and journey information - shame the journey is only 53 minutes to Figueres! Good so far....