Change After Forty Years
My middle son, who is in his forties came round for supper last night.
For the first time ever, he had a cup of tea. Normally, he drinks coffee!
The High Speed Train Got Through
I’ve just found this clip of video on the BBC’s web site.
It just shows the sort of conditions that these trains of the 1970s can withstand. It also shows why they will never electrify this line between Exeter and Plymouth.
This other video shows the work going on to repair the line. Note the wall of shipping containers filled with ballast to give protection to the workings and properties by the railway line. But even these have been breached, as is reported here on ITV.
It’s all extreme engineering at its most way out. Hopefully the engineers will win, but it should lead to better techniques for the next set of problems.
Marylebone To N1
I went to Birmingham to do a few things including collecting all my brass-coloured IKEA knobs.
I used Chiltern Trains both ways as with all these winds about, they were unlikely to suffer electrical problems on a non-electrified railway.
I also bought my replacement phone in the Bull Ring by the station and sorted it out on the train home, using the free power and wi-fi. Not that I was able to connect with my replacement sim, as O2 had made a mistake entering it into their system.
To get home to N1 from Marylebone isn’t theeasiest journey, especially as it was the rush hour.
So I asked one of the experts on the gate and virtually gave the reply, that if you want to get there, you don’t start from here. He regularly went to Hackney Wick to see his sister, so he did have good personal knowledge.
In the end, I hopped one stop on the Bakerloo line and then took the Metropolitan to Whitechapel station before taking the Overground to Dalston Junction for a bus down the Balls Pond Road.
There must be a better way.
The Tfl Journey Planner recommends going to Highbury and Islington via Oxford Circus and then getting the Overground back to Dalston Junction. That was my other route, but it does show how badly Hackney is connected to the Underground and the useless routes of the Bakerloo and the Bank branch of the Northern line.
Thinking about it, perhaps a better way would be to get the Bakerloo line to Regents Park station and then get a 30 bus to close to my house. But you wouldn’t use that route in the rush hour!
Even the proposed Crossrail 2 wouldn’t help as it doesn’t link to the Bakerloo line!
Crossrail might though, as it would be one stop to Paddington on the Bakerloo and then on to Moorgate for a 141 bus.
Hackney Goes Back To The Future
I’ve posted about rebuilding the footbridge connection between Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations before.
TfL have decided to replace it after seventy years and Hackney Council has approved the proposal as reported here. It seems to be positively received.
Hackney Central ward cllr Vincent Stops welcomed the news. He said: “It is quite exciting that this proposal remakes an historic connection between Hackney Central and Hackney Downs stations that was lost in 1944. It will greatly benefit Hackney residents and those visiting Hackney Central town centre. Now permission has been obtained I am determined that Marcon and Aspland Estate benefits both in terms of the re-provision of play facilities and that the green wall and tree cover really improves the outlook of residents and reduces train noise, a long standing issue for the estate.”
I wonder how long it is before TfL decides that the two stations are one and renames them to either Hackney or Hackney Junction.
I suspect that the renaming will get more objections than the five who objected to the footbridge. One was objecting that it might mean to a loss of car parking spaces.
Beware Tesco Customer Surveys
I don’t shop at Tesco’s except to buy the odd EatNakd bar or a newspaper, so why should they ask me to fill out a customer satisfaction survey? Especially, as it was e-mailed from South Africa!
It’s nothing to do with Tesco and is probably a dangerous scam, so beware!
Thoughts On My Home Run From Marrakech
Once I got on the train towards London I felt safe, although even then, I could have suffered from overhead line problems or a breakdown in the tunnel.
But the whole holiday could have been so much worse!
Getting off the plane in Marrakech was a very protracted affair, as the guy in the row behind needed a wheel-chair and this held everybody up, whilst his conveyance arrived.
I was virtually last off the plane and it took me forever to get to the luggage carousel, where there was just one bag going round and round on the conveyor. It looked like mine, as it was a grey/blue Mandarina Duck pull-along. So I picked it up and got ready to pull it outside for my taxi.
But something wasn’t right! I checked the pocket, which was where I put my book and I found a blue scarf that I didn’t remember as being mine.
Then I noted it had a red label with the company Rambler on it. Now that wasn’t the company I’d used, so I checked the label, which was in a name of Burnage!
It wasn’t my case and obviously Burnage, whoever he was, had taken mine!
But the place was deserted, so I evenbtually left the case and went outside.
A guy was holding up a board saying Ramblers, so I approached him and eventually I was reunited with my case.
But the Ramblers party, were on their way to God knows where and as I had no mobile phone how would they have reunited me with my case, which of course contsined my medical supplies!
A bad holiday could have been turned into an absolute disaster.
The morals of this trip are as follows.
- Don’t use travel agents, who book you economy, when judging by your record with them, you’ve always used Club.
- Make sure that the wi-fi and/or Internet in your hotel comes highly recommended.
- Don’t travel on the same plane, as idiots named Burnage.
- Don’t go to Chamartin station and above all avoid the hotel there.
- But above all don’t lose your mobile phone!
I reckon I spent about two grand on this holiday and the only pleasure I had in Marrakesh was an afternoon in the hamman. I could have spent the money on an exclusive massage with half-a-dozen blondes and got a lot more pleasure!
I do have one regret though. I had thought of doing a home run from Marrakech by train and ferry, but my son was apprehensive. When I decided to come home, I should have gone straight to the station and got a train to Tangier, followed by a ferry to Spain, from where I could have got a train to Madrid and onward to London.
To read all of my Home Run from Marrakech posts, click here.
T
Gluten Free Ready Meals On Eurostar
On the Eurostar from Paris, I was very hungry. I had thought that there was no gluten-free food was available, but late in the journey on reading their on-board magazine, I found that they had two Waitrose ready meals in the cafe-bar.
They were not labelled as gluten-free, but was this an omission?
Mushroom Risotto is here on the Waitrose web site, where it is labelled as suitable for those avoiding gluten. The Chicken tikka masala shown here is also labelled as such.
It strikes me, that Eurostar are making a mistake somewhere.
From Madrid To London
As the hotel at Chamartin didn’t have a restaurant and there wasn’t any tea or coffee making facilities in the room, I went for an explore at about four and found the station opened at 04:30.
So as I didn’t have any soap or shampoo with me and my luxurious four-star hotel didn’t provide any, I went back to the station as soon as it opened, after a breakfast of an EatNakd bar.
As I was hungry, in the most strange of hotels, I decided that the best thing to do, was take a train to Barcelona, then a TGV to Paris, followed by a Eurostar home.
At least the train companies seem to have systems that men you can get a keenly priced ticket from a machine without an ego or communication problem.
I found out by a roundabout way, that contrary to my informant from Spanish Railways at the airport, there were no trains to Barcelona from Chamartin, but one left at 05:50 from Atocha.
So it was a taxi to Atocha station at a cost of twenty euros, which I could have done the previous night for nothing on my ticket from the airport. Talk about the airport information guy, being a Spaniard in the Works.
To add insult to injury, there were several hotels in the area of Atocha, one of which was a brand I trust!
I bought the ticket to Barcelona with ease for €59 and after going through a full airline style security check, I just made the AVE high speed train to Barcelona. It was a Siemens train and like it seems all of their products had been designed without litter bins, although it did have an ash tray. The latter was unneeded as the train was non-smoking. I did get a reasonable drink in the buffet, but of course nothing to eat was gluten-free.
The change of train at VBarcelona was pretty quick, but I did need to buy another ticket from the ticket office, rather than an intelligent machine. I also had to go through security again to get back on the platform, where I arrived to get the TGV Duplex to Paris. Just 25 mins after arriving at 08:55, I was on my way to Paris. There are four trains a day for Paris and I paid a full fare of €170. Seat61.com has a full description of the journey.
This railway line up the Spanish and French coasts to the Rhone valley, is one of the best train rides in Europe. I didn’t chose to be on the top deck of the train, but that is where I was allocated a seat.
The Pyrenees
This picture shows the snow-capped mountains just before Perpignan and this shows the Etang de Thau before Sete.
Etang de Thau
They don’t show in the picture, but there were lots of greater flamingoes in the lakes. I never realised that these birds were so common in France, until a holiday in the area in about 1975.
Once in Paris at 15:53, I didn’t hang about but just jumped on the RER at Gare de Lyon for Paris Nord and the Eurostar. An hour and twenty minutes after arriving in Paris, I was leaving.
I finally arrived in London at 18:30 or just thirteen hours forty minutes after leaving Madrid.
This journey will get quicker, as for quite a way along the south coast of France, the trains don’t run on high speed lines. I can’t find any references to the distances on the journey, although Madrid to Barcelona and Paris to London are given as 621 and 495 kilometres respectively. Map Crow gives the Barcelona to Paris distance at 831 kilometres. I know this isn’t accurate and is probably a bit short, but that gives a total of 1947 kilometres, so my journey was at an average speed of 142 kmh. This compares with an average speed of 200 and 220 kmh on the first and last legs from Madrid to Barcelona and Paris to London respectively.
If the centre section was capable of an end-to-end average of 200 kmh, then a time from Madrid to London of under ten hours should be possible, especially if it was one train all the way.
A Strange Hotel
According to the guy at the airport, Chamartin station was the place to go to get a hotel and onward travel.
I had three options.
- I could travel on to Barcelona, as I knew it was only three hours away by high speed train.
- I could stay in a hotel and go round the Prado, before getting a flight home on the 13th.
- I could stay in a hotel and get trains home the next day, via Barcelona and Paris.
I queued up for information and as ever in Spanish rail information offices, you got no help whatsover. The ticket machines didn’t help either, so that eliminated option one.
So I had to find a hotel. There was actually a four star hotel by the station.
It was the strangest hotel, where I’ve stayed in recent years.
I walked straight in past a security guard and approached the desk and asked if they had a room. They did and said it was sixty euros.
I asked about wi-fi, so I could plan my escape to London, but the receptionist said it wasn’t working.
The bed was comfortable, but as to the soap, shampoo and other things you expect in a four star hotel, there was none.
I did get a snack in the bar of Iberian ham, but I was still very hungry as I not eaten since a runny omelette in the morning, except for a couple of EatNakd bars.
Some of the reviews in Trip Advisor are not very complimentary. Under a heading of Never Again, there is this one.
I booked a surprise weekend away for me and my girlfriend and I came across the so called 4 star Husa Charmartin Hotel and I was very astonished, not just by the poor service and the presentation of the hotel but also at the lack of good facilities. There were no tea or coffee making facility, no extra pillows and NO DUVET (yes Duvet). The Bathroom had mould and cracks.
But at least my room was clean, had a duvet and it didn’t have little furry friends running about!
If you read the Wikipedia entry for the station, you’ll see that it was built for the 1982 World Cup and it is now suffering from a rebuilt Atocha station. This probably explains why the hotel was at it was. It’s a bit like having a four-star hotel at Willesden Junction. Would anybody stay there?
Would I Go Back To Marrakech?
I certainly wouldn’t go back to Marrakech by myself.
The place was not what it was, when I went with C about ten years ago and although everybody at the riad tried, it’s not the sort of place you expect, when you pay the money I did.
Normally, I don’t need the wi-fi, as I have a mobile phone with me, but without any method of communication, I feel lost and somewhat trapped. When you are widowed, I suspect mild paranoia is something you live with!
My alternative holiday, would have been to fly to Bari. But I discarded that trip, as it would have meant flying on Ryanair. But even Ryanair at its most crowded and annoying, is something I can put up with, after this flying visit to Marrakech!
The Anonymous Widower 