Liverpool Comes Third!
But it is third in the list of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2014, according to the Rough Guide.
It was beaten by Rio De Janeiro and Sarajevo.
This news has been ignored very much by the media, except for the Liverpool Echo.
I shall be going in June to see the Mondrian exhibition at the Tate Liverpool.
Long Live The Settle And Carlisle
Or as I rode the Settle and Carlisle line yesterday from North to South, should I call it, the Carlisle and Settle?
I’ve never ridden it before and I can’t understand why, as it is a spectacular line running through magnificent scenery.
The weather yesterday wasn’t good as the pictures show. But that didn’t stop the 15:05 from Carlisle being about two-thirds full. Most seemed to be small groups, whohad had a day out and were returning to Leeds. But judging by their clothes, they weren’t going to stray far into the hills.
If this a typical journey on a wet Tuesday afternoon in late January, there can’t be much wrong with the way the line is managed, as a partnership. Judging by the age of many of the customers, the ridership is probably a tribute to the Senior and other railcards.
Reading various web sites it would seem that Network Rail have got to grips with the magnificent Ribblehead Viaduct, the track and other structures, and the Settle Carlisle Railway Development Company seem to have been doing their best in restoring stations and other lineside structures. I also found this article on the Network Rail web site about improving communications and signalling.
It would appear too, that there is a lot of enthusiasm and common sense in securing the future of this line.
So what do I think the future will hold?
The Development Company and others want to see more trains on the line. Currently, there are seven trains in both directions between Leeds and Carlisle, with the first leaving at 05:29 from Leeds and 05:50 from Carlisle. If that isn’t a schedule to get people into the hills for a heavy constitutional, then I don’t know what is? The train I rode was one of Northern Rail’s two coach Class 158s. It would be interesting to see how crowded these trains get in the summer! Obviously new trains are out of the question, but with the Manchester-Liverpool-Blackpool electrification, there might be some more of these Class 158s available. If those backing a direct Manchester to Carlisle service over the line, they’ll certainly be needed. But people have said to me, that there is a shortage of decent diesel multiple units in the UK.
Surely though, greater capacity on the line will help to generate tourism in the area and all the much-needed employment it creates!
As I write this note, it has been announced that the West coast Main Line has been closed due to overhead line problems at Penrith. So like the problems I encountered last Saturday on Greater Anglia, there I suspect, a lot of frustrated passengers and rauilway managers and staff, wondering what is going to happen!
So perhaps one option might be to electrify Settle to Carlisle and the related Leeds to Morecambe line. This would provide a double-tracked by-pass from Carnforth to Carlisle. This option, which could also be used by freight trains is discussed here. Remember that the West Coast Main Line is mainly double-track, so an electrified Settle to Carlisle line, would give some extra much-needed capacity between the North of England and Scotland. Admittedly, it wouldn’t be a 200 kph like the West Coast Main Line. It certainly, is a line that can take heavy trains, as the media is always showing pictures of trains like steam driven excursions using the route.
As I indicated earlier, there is a shortage of diesel multiple units and this is often the reason that drives services on the UK’s railways. Greater Anglia run a deplorable service from Ipswich to Felixstowe using a single coach Class 153. But it’s not their fault that they can’t get hold of something bigger and better. Nothing else exists!
I have said before that the High Speed Diesel Trains, that will be surplus to requirements after the introduction could be reused on some of the lines in the UK like Settle to Carlisle and Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. As Chiltern have shown, if the Mark 3 coaches are refurbished and returned to their original seat layout, they ride like Jaguars and are some of the finest trains in the world.
On Settle to Carlisle line, they would be ideal to allow the reinstatement of direct Glasgow to Leeds and East Midlands services, which currently go via Edinburgh.
I don’t know what is going to happen in the next few years, but without doubt, something will happen to invigorate the Settle to Carlisle line.
The line will outlive us all!
Even The Tourist Office Was Open!
Surprisingly, the Tourist Office in Biarritz was fully open.
But I don’t think you could call Biarritz by any means. a sleepy town.
The Closing Of Underground Ticket Offices
The unions will have a field year of disruption over the closure of all ticket offices on the Underground, as is reported here in the Standard.
But the Underground must move on, and another story in the paper is more important, which reports that London tourism will be worth £77billion by 2025. This is a rise of over £30billion from today’s figure.
Many of these tourists will require help in the Underground, so those staff displaced from the closed ticket offices, will be needed in the stations and on the platforms.
I think the unions have a choice here; create some of biggest strikes we’ve ever seen or negotiate proper conditions for staff working overnight and outside of the ticket offices.
Venice Limits Cruise Ships
I love Venice and so did my late wife, C. We must have gone about five or six times and it was no surprise, that the first place abroad I visited after her death, was Venice, to see if I could holiday alone. This post contains a lot of how I feel about Venice.
So Venice to me is special and I’ll probably go again this winter. The winter to me is the best time to visit, as there are less tourists and day-trippers gumming up the city. I always stay in the same hotel close to St. Mark’s Square and even next week, prices are high. So I suspect that even in the winter now, it’s getting lots of visitors.
So to see that the city is to limit the number of cruise ships that visit, as reported on the BBC, is to me a very good thing.
Looking at prices and knowing the city as I do, I would recommend that if you want to visit Venice, you book the best hotel you can afford close to St. Mark’s Square, fly into the Marco Polo airport and then take the ferry to the centre. It looks like nights at the beginning of the week are best and as Venice is a city which is on the go all the time, Monday to Wednesday, aren’t the disasters some cities are. But go out of the city the back way, using the train to a contrasting city like Milan, Bologna or Verona and fly back from there. Remember, every sizeable city in Italy is worth visiting and there are very few, where you can’t enjoy yourself sightseeing, eating and drinking for a couple of days.
We must find better ways of visiting Venice, otherwise the city that I love, will be ruined by tourism.
Florence Is Being Destroyed By Tourists
Not my words, but those of Ottaviano de Medici, a direct descendant of the Medicis, who created Italy’s jewel. He is quoted in this article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Here’s the first paragraph.
A descendant of Florence’s famous Medici family said on Tuesday that mass tourism was a “threat” to his native city and called for it to be put on a UNESCO list of endangered areas.
I must admit, I get a bit fed up with tourists, especially in London. It’s one of the reasons, I’m a member of many of the arts institutions in London, as it means I can bypass queues and crowds, and get invited to special events like this one at the British Museum.
So if I go to Florence or Venice, I always go in the winter, as the threat of cold and wet weather keeps most tourists away. It was one of the great charms of my visit to Genoa recently, that the city was almost empty.
Tourists may be a curse, but they do bring in money and create employment. We need to find a balance as to how we charge them for their disruption.
Welcome To Milan
The tourist office in the station was shut.
In the end, I took the Underground to the Duomo and then found that my hotel was by the station, so I had to come back.
I know there was a lot of building work going on, but surely some maps and posters around the station would have helped. Surely, Milan only has to look two stations down the line to Genoa.
I did fill in the survey, but there was no place for comments.
Would I Go Back To Genoa?
Genoa was a total surprise and the icing on the cake, was the old city, with its Aladdin’s Cave for coeliacs.
I will definitely go back. It would be a very good starting point for a trip round Italy.
One of the great advantages is the lack of tourists. But sadly, they will discover it!
Wandering Around Palermo
I spent most of the afternoon and some time before I left in wandering around Palermo.
I like the buildings of the capital of Sicily, even if some parts are a bit run down. I wouldn’t stay in the Hotel patria, judging by the look of the outside.
Walking Around Windsor
It’s been a long time, since I’d been to Windsor.
The weather was lovely and it made for a very pleasant day, walking amongst memories of the times I had spent in the town with C and other friends like a guy from Liverpool University, who lived in the town.
If you decide to go, it might be better to choose a rainy day and certainly a train journey might be less stressful. The only problem with the train I took from Waterloo, was the lack of toilets, which was compounded by long queues to access the station toilets at Windsor and Eton Riverside station.
The Anonymous Widower 