Trains!

It's Flying Scotsman day!!


Alarm went off at 0630 - mistake! Got up 0730. Lovely shower, v new block, design is 9/10. Good old CAMC, reliable sites. 

Into Wareham, lots of space in Quay park. N idly looked up tides over a coffee in the Quirky Cafe in West St and realised the van had its first tidal gate! The car park will probably flood at HW in 2 hours time. Meanwhile L hit the vintage clothing shop and charities. N found a lovely Crew winter shirt in Margaret Green Foundation, where his mum and dad volunteered at the animal sanctuary some 40 years ago. Just like his mum before him, N walked in and put his hand straight on a perfect item.

Drove to Norden and left van for the day. Got the 1200 shuttle service (regular steam train) into Swanage, watched from vantage point above station for Flying Scotsman arrival.

Wandered into Swanage centre for lunch, came across the Beach Brunch with views across the Bay. Had delicious Chef's Skillet (chorizo hash) and Green smoothie. V filling. Waddled back to station via charity shop and watched FS come in before we boarded and settled in with scone and prosecco.


The trip was non-stop to Norden and back, took 50 minutes. Of course you can't see the train when you're being pulled by it, but in the second carriage we could tell it was more deep-throated than the other engine half its size. The weather has been brilliant this trip, warm sun and little wind. I got an arty shot of Corfe Castle with L's ghostly face, and a cheeky bridge shot.


The FS is so impressive up close, huge, gleaming, almost featureless, it is clearly built for speed whereas today it was virtually idling. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home again

Image
Amazingly straightforward journey home. 6 hrs inc 2 pee stops at Hilton and Taunton Deane and a decent brunch stop at Gloucester.  The heating is on, the washing machine is whirring, and all is right with the world. 
Read more

Kerry Ring part 2

Image
The pizza last night from the Watch House was excellent, not too big so all crusts were eaten. Boston's Bar, the only pub in town, was a 5 min stroll. A pint and a half of Guinness was consumed. The bar was busy until the gaelic football match finished. There was talk of music later but it didn't seem certain and again we were tired so we didn't stay. The weather cleared, blue sky and distant hills were seen, and it was a lovely evening. The assessment of the Valentia campsite was not so sunny; the showers were fierce with no controls and no seat, and the WiFi was flakey then broken. This morning the cloud was back down with a vengeance, can hardly see beyond the campsite. We exited Valentia via the small ferry and continued along the Ring which frankly isn't that scenic on the sea side; maybe the hills/mountains are good but we can't see them. We diverted to Killarney to find a pharmacy open on a Sunday, to get insect repellent- we are starting to get bitten. Killa...
Read more

A Corking day

Image
Up at 0630, chatted to Kevin over breakfast after he'd returned from his spin class at the gym, said our goodbyes with heartfelt thanks and headed off by 0830. 2 hr drive to Cork slightly marred by mistake at bottom of M8 - it does not become the N8! Googlemaps got us back on route and we went to the Park & Ride - L's bright idea to avoid city centre parking stress. €5 for parking and return bus for 2 of us, pleased with that. We hit the English Market first, and have never seen such displays of meat and fish, we think it even beat Bury market. We had a coffee and resisted the cakes, strolled in the city centre, Saint Patrick's street, and climbed onto the City Tour bus. After a cold, damp start the sun came out v hot. We ate sandwiches kindly provided by Noel as we toured the city. The pre-recorded commentary was leavened by acerbic comments from the lady driver - she was very funny. We jumped off at the Cork City Gaol and spent an interesting hour learning about the p...
Read more