Nottingham to Newmarket
This is one of those journeys that works, but because od the limited services in East Anglia, it takes a lot longer than it should. I got a direct train to Ely, but then it was another train to Cambridge and then another to Newmarket. But everything was on time and I met the booked taxi, which got me home about four hours after I left Nottingham.
At least though the train wasn’t very crowded after Grantham and I just sat there reading.
I did have to wait for perhaps twenty minutes at Ely and forty at Cambridge but it wasn’t cold and I had an excellent cappuccino from AMT at Cambridge.
So how could this jouney have been better?
East Anglia to the Midlands and the North needs more and bigger trains. At present we have Stansted/Cambridge-Birmingham (hourly) and Liverpool/Manchester-Norwich (3-hourly) , all of which pass through Ely and Peterborough. In addition, there is an hourly service from Ipswich to Peterborough. But even so, it is just not enough!
The trains that connect to these long distance services are not big enough either. At least today, I got a two-coach, Class 156, to and from Cambridge, but sometimes it is just a decrepit single coach, Class 153.
I ope this all gets sorted out in the next few years. But whatever happens, we need some bigger and better trains. But then as long as I can remember, East Anglia has always had evrybody else’s hand-me-downs.
Not a Good Match
Ipswich lost two-nil and they really didn’t deserve more than that! They got a few good chances, but somehow they squandered them and they seemed to have the stuffing knocked out of them by Forest’s second goal on the stroke of half-time.
One of the biggest pieces of excitement in the second half, was some idiot who wanted to get on the pitch. He was duly arrested and quite rightly got slung out of the ground.
I have been watching Ipswich away for many years and this season they seem to be attracting a few mindless fans. I don’t know whether this is happening with other clubs, who used to have good records, but I don’t like it!
Every Town Should Have One!
Nottingham is one of the best places to visit as a casual visiting supporter, as the station, town centre and the football ground are all within about twenty minutes walk. I have eaten in the centre before a couple of times and have never had a problem. I walked up the town to a restaurant I know, called French Living, where I had a simple lunch of an ommelette with all the trimmings and a glass of house wine for just £9.85.
They are a bit more than a restaurant and bistro, as you’ll see from their web site. They sell cheeses and other products andare also in quite a few respected guides.
It would be nice if this concept of shop/restaurant/bistro was to be repeated all over the country. After all judging by the full restaurant on a wet Saturday in October, it is a concept that works.
Especially with a one course lunch with wine for just £9.85!
Dullingham to Nottingham
I actually left fromy my local station at Dullingham, rather than my return destination of Newmarket as it was easier to get to at 9:15 in the morning. The cost of the return ticket is the same at £27.65 from both stations, so ticketing was not a problem.
To get to Nottingham was a double change at both Cambridge and Leicester. This is one of the problems about getting trains from East Anglia to the rest of the country. Nothing is ever straightforward unless you drive to either Ely or Peterborough first and I can’t drive at present.
The second problem is that the East Anglia to Midlands and North trains are just too small. The train was very crowded all the way to Leicester from Cambridge, but luckily I had a seat by the window. After Leicester I was in one of the larger Meridean expresses to Nottingham.
Everything otherwise was fine and I arrived in Nottingham just a few minutes over three hours after I’d started my journey, which was as should have been expected.
The only problem I had, was that the station information at Leicester wasn’t up to the standard I usually find and I could have missed my connection, if I hadn’t guessed right. It probably wouldn’t have been serious, as there are quite a few trains between Leicester and Nottingham. But what if I’d been going the other way, where missing the connection would mean a sizeable wait.
I’d never been to Leicester on a train before today, which is surprising, as in the past I’ve used trains to quite a few cities in the Midlands. I sometimes wonder if I’ve got a thing about the city, as it was one of the last trips C did by train for her business. She had just finished the radiotherapy for her breast cancer and had gone there by train and she then took a train to London to see a friend sworn in as a judge. Except for the odd trip to London, I don’t think she ever went on a train again. I also remember that I’d been to see Ipswich lose at Leicester. the day before she told me, that she had breast cancer. So perhaps it is a town for me to avoid! Although they do have a Carluccio’s there now, so at least the food will be good.
Off to Nottingham Today
Ipswich are at Forest today and I’m going.
It will be a train from Dullingham to Cambridge and then I change at Leicester for Nottingham getting there just after three hours on the train.
Coming back is again about three hours with changes at Ely and Cambridge from where I’ll get a taxi if I’m tired. Or I might go to Carluccio’s for supper and then get a taxi home.
It all depends on how I feel after the match!
The Anonymous Widower 