Welcome To France
The French train from Hendaye may not have been one of their most modern, but everybody was pleasant and the train trundled along the coast to Biarritz, which was my final destination.
There wasn’t any good map at Biarritz station and as it was now dark, I felt I had better take a taxi.
The driver though, wasn’t the surly individual beloved of British comedians, when talking about France for years, but a clean cut individual, who spoke perfect English and charged me what it said on the meter.
So painlessly, I’d arrived at the Radisson Blu hotel.
A Warm Welcome In Irun
Michael Portillo’s documentary on travelling by train from Bordeaux to Bilbao gave me the impression that finding your way from the French to Spanish railways systems is easy.
So I went into the station at Irun and asked if I could buy a ticket to France. I didn’t get an answer from the guy in the ticket office, but I heard him swear under his breath. Railwaymen the world over tend to be cherry souls, who are usually willing to help, but this oaf was by a long way the worst I had met. He made the staff at Osnabruck, when I was abandoned by Deutsche Bahn, seem to be some of the best customer service people, I’d ever encountered.
I then looked around for a helpful notice, that might say you took a taxi to the nearest French station and it would cost you so many euros. But there was nothing!
I had noticed taxis outside, but was reluctant to take one, as they would probably charge a British tourist a hundred euros to go a couple of kilometres.
In the end, I walked into the town and asaked a couple of teenage girls, if they could help a lost traveller. After all, I did hope that they had learned some English.
They had and told me to walk to the Metro station with the blue sign, from where I could get a train to Hendaya. I knew that I could get a train from Hendaye, as the French call it, to Biarritz.
A Virtually Deserted Station
Abando station in Bilbao is the main station fromn where the citry connects to the rest of Spain.
A Virtually Deserted Station
But it seems not very often and as my next destination was Hendaya, it wasn’t any use. So I would have to take a coach to Irun. But the coach would take under two hours, as opposed to an early morning roundabout route by train that would take over six.
It would appear that most of the trains, metros and trams are owned and controlled by the Basque regional government and it looks to me as an outside observer, that they don’t believe in connecting their part of Spain to the rest of the country or for that matter, France. It does seem though, that the whole area could benefit from better train links.
Do East Midland Trains Not Want Football Fans?
I say football fans, but it could be anybody, who wants to travel to somewhere like Ipswich, Liverpool or Nottingham from London to arrive by a certain time like 14:00, have a meeting or watch an event, which maybe of a variable duration and then return home.
I regularly book a ticket to Ipswich on a Saturday with Greater Anglia. It is a simple process, where I buy one ticket, which can be either a First or Standard Class Off Peak Return. I usually buy a First, at £32.60 on a Saturday. It’s also the same price on a weekday, if I leave after the rush hour.
Liverpool is a different one purchase process, in that I usually buy a First |Advance ticket for about forty pounds to go North. Coming home for flexibility and to avoid buying a ticket for a specific train, I buy a Standard Class Off Peak for £25.50.
But East Midland Trains are different. I have just booked my ticket to Nottingham for the 14th of December. A First Advance Ticket has cost me £17.80, which is about the same as my ticket to Ipswich. So as the journey is longer, it’s good value. Coming back the option of a flexible ticket, will cost £37.30, which is fifty percent more than Virgin’s from Liverpool.I can get a ticket for under £20, but that means I have to name a train. So what happens if I meet a mate and have a coffee? I’ll have to buy a new ticket at £37.30.
East Midland Trains are also distinctly against running late night trains back to London, after a football match, as I found at Derby earlier in the season.
Out of curiosity, I just checked out going to Bristol. It looks like FOSH (First Out and Standard Home) is about forty five pounds. And it can be booked in one go!
Doncaster in FOSH by East Coast is just under fifty pounds.
Note that all the prices quoted here are using a valid railcard.
More Progress On The Bacon Factory Curve
The Bacon Factory Curve at Ipswich is progressing well.
I should be going back to the dentist in the Spring, so it will be interesting to see the progress as it is slated from completion next year.
Travelling With Michael Palin
The Class 153 train, that shuttled me to Felixstowe was named after Michael Palin.
Travelling With Michael Palin
I wonder how many other trains have been named after comedians?
Freight Trains At Ipswich
On my trip to the dentist in Felixstowe yesterday, I changed trains at Ipswich. There was a wonderful example of the problems that the Bacon Factory Curve is designed to eliminate, as two freight trains going to and from London, passed through the station at the same time.
One thing that worries me, is that these trains were going through a busy station, where lots of people were waiting for trains like I was. Is this a good idea from a Health and Safety point of view?
Many of these trains, are routed by the North London and Gospel Oak to Barking lines to complete their journey.
When the curve is fully operational, they will go on a more direct route, via Stowmarket and Peterborough.
But will those who live on that line be complaining of very noisy Class 66 locomotives at all hours of the day and night?
Incidentally, as a lot less freight trains will be travelling to or from London, they should be able to use the direct line through Ipswich station, which is between the main lines used by passenger trains to stop at platforms 2 and 3. This will certainly make things less frightening and probably a lot safer.
Off To Bilbao
I think, I might be flying off to Bilbao on Sunday. I’ve found a nice hotel by the Guggenheim Museum and then it will be home by train, staying nights in Biarritz, Bordeaux and possibly,Paris.
Dalston Junction As An Interchange On The London Overground
Last night, I came back to Dalston Junction from Highbury and Islington, on an Overground train with a friend, who was going on to Anerley in the Deep South.
They needed a West Croydon train and were going to pick one up at Canada Water later on.
I’ve remarked about interchanges on the London Overground before in this post, but I’ve never investigated Dalson Junction, as I usually get on the Overground there, rather than chsnge trains.
I hadn’t realised that to get on a West Croydon train at Dalston Junction, you always go to Platform 3, which is alongside Platform 4, where the trains from Highbury and Islington arrive.
So it has been laid out to make things easy.
Trains going south, start at the following places.
West Croydon – Platform 3 at Dalston Junction
Crystal Palace – Platform 1 at Highbury and Islington
Clapham Junction – Platform 2 at Highbury and Islington
An Offer For An Ipswich Town Fan Based In London
I am attempting to see every Ipswich Town League and Cup match this season.
So far it has gone very well and I haven’t missed one, although some it could be said were eminently missable.
The problem match is the Boxing Day match at Doncaster, where there are no trains on that day.
Today though, I have bought two tickets for the match. One ticket is for myself, and the other will be for anyone who gives me a lift to and from the match.
The Anonymous Widower 