From Gdansk To Warsaw By Train
It should have been a five hour trip from Gdansk to Warsaw by train, with a change at Kutno.
It is not the most interesting of train rides, with this view being typical.
From Gdansk To Warsaw
But things didn’t quite work out as planned.
The train to Kutno was about half-an-hour late and I missed my connection to Warsaw, despite our train manager saying that they’d hold the Warsaw train.
So you’d think it would just be a matter of getting on the next train.
But it wasn’t, as I needed to get a new ticket issued.
So this delay nearly meant I missed the next train as well.
I should have done what logic said and waited in Gdansk for a few more hours to get the direct train.
As it was I think that I got that train on the last leg anyway.
I also ended up in the wrong statiuon in Warsaw and had to get a metro train for three stops to my hotel.
But still it was an enjoyable trip as I discussed Poland and the UK, using Google translate on my attractive companion’s laptop. Sadly, her battery ran out and there wasn’t a power point.
Next time, I’ll book the direct train.
A Good Day In Gdansk
One of the waitresses in Carluccio’s was right, when she said I should visit Gdansk. It is lovely, there is no language difficulties and I’ve eaten well without any trouble. Even if the waiters don’t know much English, they usually get something nutricious and safe for a coeliac.
Gdansk
The picture was taken yesterday, along the canal that runs through the city and gives a flavour of it. Note the weather.
On a train to Warsaw today.
The Gdansk Trams
I used the Gdansk trams to get about the city, buying a daily ticket for a few zlotis. The daily ticket incidentally cost me just £2.36 according to my credit card statement.
I did play a bit of musical trams, where yoiu get on one and then get off at a promising site, before repeating the process to get srpound the city.
Into Gdansk From Sodot
These pictures describe the journey into Gdansk from Sodot. There is a lot of information about this railway on the Wikipedia entry for Gdansk main station.
The fare was about a pound or so and the machines were easy to use and worked in English too!
After getting in, I searched out the Tourist Office in the underpass and got good information on how to use the trams that stop outside the station.
My Hotel In Gdansk
It wasn’t actually Gdansk, but the next town called Sodot.
I arrived at the Haffner Hotel in a taxi from the airport for a reasonable fare, just before midnight and the girl on the desk looked after me well.
The hotel looked after me well, with good gluten-free breakfasts, including bread.
But it did have one problem. It was outside of the city centre and it was half-an-hour to get there on the train.
But that wasn’t there fault! It was mine!
Liverpool to Gdansk
I’ve flown out of a lot of the UK’s bigger airports in my own aircraft like Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff, Bristol and Liverpool, several times. But compared to say Edinburgh, where I flew many times, my single visit to Liverpool doesn’t rate high up the number scale.
But it was a memorable trip for one big reason; the weather.
I’d been to collect my eldest son and fly him back to Suffolk. The terminal was then small and you can just see it in this picture I took as my flight left for Gdansk.
The Leaving Of Liverpool
Then it was a small red and grey steel prefabrication. Now the terminal is many times bigger.
The weather on this trip was good, as the picture shows.
But on that day, we had to wait two or three hours to get a gap in the weather so we could take off.
When we did leave, we had tremendous thunder and lightning and it was a fight to keep the plane straight and level.
But we eventually made it back to Ipswich Airport, which now has been lost to developers and their concrete. Mainly because Ipswich’s geriatric Labour council at the time seemed to believe that private flying was all about rich mens’ toys. Despite the fact that the airport housed one of the biggest parachute training schools in the south of England.
I sometimes think that my life would be very different if Ipswich Airport hadn’t been closed.
The flight to Gdansk from Liverpool was uneventful, even if the Wizzair A320 was rather hot. But I made it off the plane with no problem.
Burnley To Liverpool Airport On A Sunday
To get to Liverpool Airport from Burnley on a Sunday wasn’t easy.
I first got a train to Preston where I got a train to Ormskirk. There was this unusual end-to-end interchange between one of Northern Rail’s Class 153 scrapyard specials and one of Merseyrail’s smart Class 508s.
Changing Trains At Ormskirk
Merseyrail has been pushing to electrify all the way from Liverpool to Preston, which would remove this change of train. Wikipedia says this.
Electrification from Ormskirk to Preston has been considered in conjunction with the Burscough Curves reopening. It would re-establish the most direct Liverpool-Preston route and is one of Merseytravel’s long-term aspirations.
This whole corner of Lancashire seems either to be sprouting wires or growing third rails. Many of which lead to Liverpool or Manchester.
Once in Liverpool, I alighted at Moorfields station and walked a hundred yards or so to Carluccio’s, where I had a supper to prepare me for the journey.
I did search for a bus to Liverpool Airport, but even at the main bus station, there was no information or anybody to ask.
When will these people learn, that one of the way to get people to use buses is to provide information everywhere as London does.
So I reluctantly took a taxi!
Burnley’s Smart New Station
Burnley has a smart new station at Manchester Road, which should be opened later in the year.
As Burnley are now in the Premier League, wouldn’t it be a good idea for a shuttle bus to Turf Moor on match days.
I wonder when and where the last station was built in the UK in quality stone.
This new station will be linked to Manchester Victoria by an hourly service, when a new curve is completed at Todmorden. There is more here on the Network Rail site. This is the key paragraph.
The new rail service between (Manchester) Todmorden and Blackburn will be supported by a partnership that includes Lancashire County Council and Burnley Borough Council. Initial plans are for an hourly service operating 7 days a week.
So hopefully two smart stations will be connected by a good service.
I do wonder whether in time, the Caldervale line from Blackpool and Preston to Leeds and the Manchester to Burnley lines will get electrified.
My Itinerary For Gdansk
I’m putting my itinerary here, so I can get it at any time.
26/27 April – Gdansk
Arriving in Gdansk on Wizzair 1612 at 23:35.
Restaurants
28/29 – Warsaw
Trains to Warsaw from Gdansk
06:52 – 11:24
08:52 – 14:39
10:52 – 16:39
13:43 – 18:45
Restaurants
30 – Berlin
Trains to Berlin from Warsaw
09:55 – 15:16
Restaurants
1 – Cologne, Brussels, Amsterdam or The Hague
Essential Supplies For My Trip To Gdansk
Getting snacks en route in Germany is difficult, as everything is generally bread based. So I’m taking plenty of essential supplies.
Essential Supplies For My Trip To Gdansk
I’ve already booked the hotels and those in Gdansk, Warsaw and Berlin, should be OK for my gluten-free diet.
So the two EatNakd bars a day should suffice, if I can’t find anywhere for lunch.
The Anonymous Widower 