92 Clubs – Day 31 – Rochdale, Rotherham, Scunthorpe, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday
This was an ambitious day, but I managed it.
I took the 06:17 from Euston to Manchester and then took the tram to Victoria for a train to Rochdale. It was then a taxi to see Rochdale ‘s ground which is shared with Rochdale Hornets, as the picture shows.
Rochdale's Spotland Stadium
To get to Sheffield for Rotherham, who play at the Don Valley Stadium in that city, it was back to Victoria and then another tram back to Piccadilly for a train across to Sheffield.
Don Valley Stadium
The stadium is one of the more unusual football grounds in the country, and the only one with a still-used athletics track. It also has very good access from the Sheffield Supertram.
From there is was on to Scunthorpe on one of the awful Pacer trains, to view the worst stadium, Glanford Park, where I’ve watched a Championship match.
Outside Glanford Park
The picture of course doesn’t show the fact that it is one of the worst stadia to get to from the train station. At least I had a good taxi driver, who got me there and back efficiently.
I went back to Sheffield via Meadowhall on one of the Trans Pennine Expresses. I bougth the last gluten-free sandwich at Marks and Spencer there, before taking the tram to Granville Road for Sheffield United.
Bramall Lane
It was dark by now, as the photograph shows. After this it was another tram to Hillsborough for Sheffield Wednesday.
Hillsborough in the Dark
I actually went to the stop at Leppings Lane. In the end I was back at Sheffield station, with lots of time for my train to St. Pancras.
92 Clubs – Week 3 – 16 Clubs – 28 Trains, 3 Trams, 3 Metros
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21
Perhaps not as many clubs, as I would have wanted, but there was a lot of public transport.
I also had a late train, but that actually helped me at Hereford on Day 12, by giving me some extra time.
As with Week 1 and Week 2, I’ll put in a few awards.
Heroes of the Week
Everything went fairly smoothly and no-one really stood out, except for some very cheery people who sent me on my way.
Most Surprising Stadium of the Week
This has to be Morecambe in possibly the town that surprised me most. The whole town deserves an award for going from being a place berated in various papers for benefit tourists, to a place, where you’d be pleased to go for a few days.
Best Stadium of the Week
Huddersfield was the first of the new stadia to be built. It has a grace and engineering-style beauty that so many modern stadia lack. Access from the train is pretty good too. And the staff at the stadium I met, were friendly too. If the club make it to the Championship, they will be a welcome addition to the League.
Best Signposted Stadium of the Week
There wasn’t really one, but Manchester United and Newcastle with their own tram and metro stops are the easiest to find from the station. Newcastle probably wins because of the station in team colours and the fact that it’s so near to the ground.
Worst Signposted Stadium of the Week
A pedant would say Leyton Orient, as I don’t think I saw a single signpost after the Underground station at Leyton. But then you pass umpteen bus stops, all with maps showing you where the ground is located.
They could also include Millwall, but as the ground effectively has its own station at South Bermondsey and soon will have another at Surrey Canal Road, it is rather irrelevant.
So it has to be Manchester City, where there is no information at Piccadilly station and you have to get a bus from Piccadilly Gardens a short walk away. And then the bus doesn’t give any indication you are arriving at the stadium.
Best Town of the Week
Only Morecambe deserves any award. Just as with Hartlepool last week, they have done their best with very limited resources. The Town really shows up Blackpool to be the real dump it is. It was a pity I had so little time there on a very busy Day 21.
Dump of the Week
It’s a toss-up here between three places, Manchester, Leeds and Milton Keynes. I think I’ll give it to Milton Keynes because of the fact that it would be an impossible place to live without a car and even then the signposting leaves a lot to be desired.
The problem with Leeds and Manchester, is that their buses are so badly organised and totally unusable by visitors except with a guide. But that also applies to Blackpool and Bristol.
I haven’t really caught up much, but I’m keeping going.
Queen Elizabeth Visits Liverpool
Not the person, but the cruise ship. Read about it here.
There is rather a war growing up about attracting cruise ships to the various ports in the United Kingdom. Liverpool is particularly well placed in that cruise ships come in directly in front of the Pierhead with the Three Graces and within a short walking distance of the major shops and museums. London’s cruise terminal is forty kilometres down river. Even Edinburgh, which has a deep water port at Leith, hasn’t got its act together and has even discredited its position with the farce over the trams.
Tourism is going to be one of the things that help to grow the economy. Are the various ports around the country, up to scratch?
92 Clubs By Public Transport Alphabetically in a Calendar Month – Day 7
This is three long journeys in one day, assuming that I end up coming back from Manchester on Day 6. But you expect that with Cardiff and Carlisle being two of the farthest clubs from London.
Are The Edinburgh Trams About To Do a U-Turn?
I thought it was difficult because of their size for trams to do a U-turn. But apparently not in Edinburgh!
I think it’s a toss-up about which opens first; the Edinburgh Tram or Crossrail in London.
The Edinburgh Tram Fiasco Continues
Over the last few years, there have been several local transport prjects in the UK. Most like the London Overground have been completed on time and on budget, with one in London the DLR Extension to Stratford International being a year late.
Two major projects though have gone seriously over budget; the Cambridge Busway and the Edinburgh Tram.
The former is now up and running and most of the reports are positive. Extra buses are supposedly being ordered to cope with demand. But it will be easier to sort out the problems of the cost overruns for a success than a failure.
But the Edinburgh Tram fiasco continues according to this report on the BBC. So for a large cost overrun, Edinburgh will get what half they originally ordered. When what they are now getting is completed, passengers arriving at the airport will be unable to take the tram to the City Centre to see the similarly half-finished National Monument. But at least the tram will serve the headquarters of the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers at Gogar!
At least it has given a lot of work for consultants and material for comedians at the Festival.
Edinburgh’s Best Joke
This one from Nick Helm has been voted Edinburgh’s best joke according to the BBC.
I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
I always thought that Edinburgh’s best joke was the tram!
Edinburgh’s Second Disgrace
The National Monument on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is unfinished and according to Wikipedia it is often known as Edinburgh’s Disgrace Folly. I’ve never heard any of my friends in Edinburgh call it a folly.
This morning the BBC is discussing the new Edinburgh Trams, as the Council is deciding today, whether to complete or abandon the project. The BBC reporter, who is from north of the border, has just called the trams, Edinburgh’s Second Disgrace.
Branas Boxes Bite Again
I have a new delivery of some IKEA furniture tomorrow and to finish it off I need some more Branas boxes.
As I was going to have a coffee with a friend in Covent Garden, I thought that I might go on from there. But getting to Covent Garden had been difficult on the Piccadilly line as someone had stupidly been hit by a train at Southgate. So the obvious route back to IKEA at Edmonton which involved using the Piccadilly line to Manor House and then a 341 bus, was probably a no-no!
So I decided after my coffee to take the circular route from Embankment of a District line train to Wimbledon and then the Tramlink to IKEA at Ampere Way. Afterwards I intended to continue on the tram to West Croydon to get the London Overground to Dalston Junction.
The Chimneys at IKEA Croydon
The two chimneys of the old power station that give the road its name are still there.
As are the concrete blocks, that sit in the pedestrian entrance to catch the drunk, the lame and the elderly.
Welcome to IKEA - Again!
They may have been moved since I last visited the store.
I did have a nice lunch in IKEA before I bought another eight boxes.
Or should I say seven and four-fifths boxes? As when I checked out, a bottom was missing! I did check them, as I’d been caught once before, but I obviously didn’t check well enough! It meant another walk through the store as punishment to get a replacement. At least I didn’t take it home and now will be plotting a return.
IKEA at Croydon at least has one advantage over Edmonton. It is easy to take a trolley to the tram stop. Not that I did as many had done and dump it somewhere awkward for pedestrians, but I was able to leave it in a handy trolley park to shorten the walk considerably.
From Ampere Way I took the tram to West Croydon to get the East London line to Dalston Junction.
Overground Directions at West Croydon
The picture shows the excellent signage at the West Croydon interchange.
I actually changed trains between West Croydon and Dalston Junction, at Surrey Quays, so that I got on a train that ended its journey at Dalston Junction, which meant I only had a short walk to the lift.
It was then a couple of stops on a 38 bus home.
It would be so much easier, if I could buy the Branas boxes online in fours.
Welcome to IKEA
I finally got the spice rack last night at IKEA in Croydon.
It’s quite an easy journey by public transport, as I just get the 21/141 bus to London Bridge, a train to East Croydon and then the Tramlink to Ampere Way.
In a strange way, the journey summed up one of the things I like about London; friendliness. I chatted about my troubles and travels to a pleasant guy called Duncan from the Bank of England and then as I waited for the tram, I talked to the tram driver, who was to take my tram to Wimbledon. Incidentally, Duncan doesn’t have a car, so like me he uses public transport everywhere. Perhaps, we’re ahead of our time and in a few years or so, non-driving will be the normal thing to do.
The only problem, I had on the journey down, was caused by a slight lack of signage at East Croydon, my uncertainty about how to use the tram and which one to get.
Duncan pointed me at this book; The Brain That Changes Itself. I shall check it out!
I was then presented to this at IKEA.
Welcome to IKEA
Just look at those concrete benches, that are ideally placed to bump the shins of people with limited vision. It wasn’t the easiest walk to and from the tram stop, with some roads controlled by pedestrian lights and others that worked on the cross-quickly-and-be-lucky principle.
Coming back was quite easy, in that I took the tram to West Croydon and then took the East London Line to Dalston Junction. But there is no signage at West Croydon to the Overground from the tram stop. Supposedly, plans are in place for a better connection. At Dalston, I was even lucky enough to avoid the five minute walk, by getting a convenient bus along the Balls Pond Road.
The spice rack is now on the wall.
The Anonymous Widower 