The Anonymous Widower

92 Clubs – Day 11 – Coventry, Crawley, Crewe

This was three trips out of London and it was quite a long day.

I left Euston in late morning for Coventry and it was then a twenty minute walk to the bus station at the least customer-friendly interchange I’ve found in the UK.  The town has form here, as on January the first, they didn’t provide any transport to the match except taxis.

It was then a twenty five minute wait for the bus, which wasn’t good, as I missed one, as they don’t announce the bus at the stop and you can’t see the numbers from the gate.  Is this why in Cambridge, the buses always come nose in to the stand, so you can read where they are going?

The ground was deserted as this picture shows.

The Ricoh Arena, Coventry

It was then a walk round a retail park to find the bus home.  Guess what, there were no signs to the bus station.  Eventually, a bus inspector told me to walk out the back and get a bus from the main road.  It was a 48 and it got me reasonably quickly back to the centre.  It was still quite a walk to the train station, but not as much as from the bus station.

From Euston, i took the Victoria line to Victoria and tried to get a ticket to Crawley.  Everything was rather busy and as I had plenty of time, I decided to use my freedom Pass to get me East Croydon, where I could get a return to Crawley. It should have been easy, but no-one seemed to know, which was the next platform for an East Croydon train. I was sent to platform 4, then 18, then 14 and finally back to 16. Organisation? No! Headless-chickenism of the worst kind.

Eventually, I got to Crawley stadium and the taxi driver took the picture.

Outside Crawley Town Stadium

I had been unsure, as to whether I would do Crewe, when I returned to London, but as Virgin have no rush-hour restrictions, I took the 18:10 to the famous railway junction.

It was raining when I got there and just walked the hundred metres or so to the deserted ground.

A Wet and Dark Alexandra Stadium

Thirty minutes after arriving in Crewe, I was back on the train south.

October 12, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | Sport, Transport/Travel | 92CCBB, Buses, Coventry, Football, Trains