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)