Cardiff to Porto June 2024

[timnjmorris@gm]

We have planned this for a long time. Not cheap but it is special birthday. Did not record unit numbers etc but hope will be iof interest. Several days behind but....

4th June Cardiff-Ealing
Staying with family tonight before Eurostar tomorrow. We booked advance first class tickets with Railcard discount. I don't think I have ever been legitimately first class before so was a ew experience for me. Advanced with Railcard was £36 each to Ealing Broadway mid-afternoon. Compared to the £100 plus peak time 2nd class this seamed like a bargain. We arrived early at Central for the 14:18 to Paddington so had some time in the 1st class lounge on Platform 1. Nothing that special but decent free tea / coffee / cold drinks / snacks that probably justified the difference between 2nd and 1st. Right on time boarded the 800 xxx, sorry did not record number, although our coach was not quite where I expected in the middle of train but was right at the front. But this was better positioning for arrival in Paddington. Journey uneventful except that it was 1st class so quiet, more legroom ( a big plus for me as I am 6'2") and generally more space. Drinks service was not brilliant but did have another free coffee, cake and bottle of water. Arrival into Paddington dead in time and being at the front meant a speedy exit through barrier towards the Cross-rail, which other people might know as the Elizabeth Line, another new experience for me but one failiar to my partner. After going down in lift as we had luggage we waited a couple of minutes for west bound. 10 ish minutes later we were at Ealing Broadway, although we could have got a bus to South Ealing. we decided to walk as we would be on the train for the next day. Good evening spent with family . So far 1 x Train, 1x Metro

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

5th June
Ealing to Bourdeux
Although we knew that we would not need to get to St Pancras 90 minutes before our scheduled Eurostar at 11:31 we thought we would set off early . So walked to South Ealing tube at about 9 to get Piccadilly to St Pancras. On family recommendation waited at the east end of platform to get some room and that worked. A bit of a walk from tube to Eurostar but all well signposted. Check-in was also relatively painfree taking about 10 minutes, so we were very early for our 11:31 to Paris. Difficult to find a seat and another train, the 11:05 to Amsterdam was delayed so waiting area ended up with 3 trains worth of passengers, rammed. I would hate to see it if there were anymore delays. Boarding for us was on time and we found our coach/seats without problem. Our worry in this day was that we only had 70 minutes in Paris before our next connection, but buying metro tickets on the Eurostar and getting detailed instructions from maninseat61 under our belts was all the preparation we could do. I can't warm to Eurostar, stock is a bit tired, not much leg room, dirty windows and nothing much to look at anyway. As it happened Gare de North arrival was on schedule (or slightly early). As we towards front of train it was less walk to Metro Line , it was bit of a hike from Metro to train at Gare monpasse but we knew about it so in total it took us about 40 minutes, comfortably in time for the15:59 to Bordeaux. We were standard class but upstairs facing forward so comfortable and quite busy. Not brill for scenery but very relaxing, dead on time arrival into Bordeaux. Had a bit of hunt for tram ticket shop in the station, which we did not need to do as we could have just got one at the stop. And then a bit of confusion about which way to get the tram, no drama. We got to our hotel for 2 nights at about 19:20. First impressions of Bourdeux, beautiful and they have public transport sorted. Not many private cars in the city centre, and lot more relaxed than most UK cities, already regretting that we only booked 2 nights here. Total to date Trains x 3, metro including Trams x 6

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

6th June
Bordeaux
As we knew we would need another tram ride the following morning we had a bit of a later start before buying a 24 hour travel card , which as the name suggests is valid for 24 hours after 1st use. So a day travelling around in trams, we did not do a lot of research in advance but were recommended some area by the lovely hotel staff. Including a 2nd world war submarine base that apparently is still too strong to demolish so it has been turned into an art gallery.
Total to date trains x 3, metro x 10.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

7th June
Bordeaux to San Sebastian
Using our 24 hour ticket got the tram back to the station for the 10:19 to Hendaye. Unreserved seating but it was fine, sorry did not get class number but huge windows and comfy. Good views throughout the journey. Glimpsing the sea and mountains from Biarritz onwards Arrival in Hendaye was 5 minutes late for a 13:03 connection we knew this was not a problem as we were transferring to Euskotren with departures every 30 minutes. So after getting tickets we managed to get our intended connection to San Sebastian. Would people class this as Train or Metro? Spanish narrow guage, a lot in tunnels, some single sections, loads of closely spaced stations. But I am calling it a train. It ran alongside the "main line" through Irun and other places. I was a bit surprised to see EWS liveried Class 66's at Irun, sorry no numbers. It does feel a bit more like a Metro to me. Anyway Eurosken got us into Donostia-San Sebastian Arama dead on time before short walk to hotel.
Total to date trains x 4, Metro x 11

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

8th June San Sebastian
Almost a pubic transport free day today as the city is easy to walk around, but did get a bus to the funicular which we went up (and down). Unfortunately visabily was not great at the top but it did have a bit of a fun fair from the 70s I think. Glad we got the first ride up as the queue when we got down was huge other than that just wandering about.
I am not counting funicular as a train so total as yesterday.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

June 9th San Sebastian
Rest day really as we will on trains a lot in the next two days, that and it was windy / raining all morning. But found a good bar for pinchos / beer in the evening near the football stadium. That and ice-cream was our evening complete. Tomorrow and Tuesday some serious trains. We are not expecting fast, we are expecting scenery.

Trains total same as yesterday

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

10th June San Sebastian to Santander
Part 1 San Sebastian to Bilbao, our company could not pre-book these tickets but were easy to get at Amara station for €6.50 each. We knew it would be 2.5 hours so got in provisions. The train, Euskotren unit 929 looked to be suburban emu, seats confirmed that, no padding, but it did have a loo. After getting out of San Sebastian the views were and curves were like a Welsh narrow guage on steroids (this is metre guage) on a tube train. Awesome scenery and once out of city not very full . So 9:50 departures from San Sabistian and arrived a few minutes late at Zazpikakeak at about 12:32. There were 32 stops in 110 km so hardly surprising it took so long, but on this holiday it was about slow travel. Must look up about more history of this line as there did not appear to be many freight facilities, even unused. But would recommend to any slow travel fans.
Part 2 Bilbao to Santander
Our itinerary said 13:30 departure from Bilbao, but Googlemaps said 13:00. But it was only 10 minutes walk across from our arrival station to Bilbao FEVE station which you can't miss as you cross the river, known as Concordia but right next door to main line Abando. A very handsome frontage in the Belle Evoque style. Anyway back to trains, we went to ticket office, confirmed train was 13:30 and got singles to Santander for €8:90 each. After having a quick look at Abando station and it's stained glass window (the rest of the station has seen better days and may do again) we went back to Concordia and up to platform. There was a unit 2427 waiting there but was expecting something else to come in for our 3+ hour trip to Santander. It was just it looked a bit tatty from the outside and as the lines were overhead wired expected an emu to come in. No, when departure was almost due 2427 moved to the middle of the platform for loading. Once we got onboard though I changed my mind. 1 + 2 seating. B ig padded seats, large windows, plenty of luggage space. So sat back and enjoyed the trip. Up hill and down dale through incredible scenàry. The slightly odd thing was that we needed to change trains at I think Marron as each unit turned around and went back the same way. 110 km in 3 hours although was late arriving as itt crawled along once we had got to the outskirts of Santander.

 

[Mike99]

I'm enjoying your report, thanks for posting

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

11th June Santander to Gijon
Part 1 Santander to El Berron.
This was our only hotel where we did not book B&B , when we went out for dinner last night in Santander we ordered, as well as other stuff a 1/2 plate of various cheeses. When it came it looked like there was about a pound of cheese on there. I like my cheese but after having a whole plate of various fried things (delicious by the way), and a half plate of yummy sausage I was full after a small taste of each of the 6 cheeses on the plate I was done. Anyway the point of this is that we asked the restaurant to wrap the remaining chese for us which they were happy to do. It just meant a bit of a search for a bakery to get bread to go with with cheese. open before our 8:30 train. Managed that and back to train action, honest. We got our single tickets to El Berron for €15.60 each from ticket kiosk. Platform arrangements at Santander Reve are weird. Platform 1 in the middle order of platforms lelf to right was something like 9,7,1,2,8. But might of got that wrong. Just before advertised departure time Unit 2732 turned up at platform 1 for our 5 hour journey to El Berron We left Santander in pouring rain but it soon got cleared up. I have run out of words to describe the scenery so will not try. Not as comfortable as yesterday's emu as it was 2+2 . One of which we thought we had broken as they are reversible seats but could not get it lock into place. As the train was lighty loaded we moved to another seat. Whereon an issue, we saw some locals on the train, met some other Brits going to stations before El Berron but lighty loaded would be exaggerating . At times it was me , my partner and a couple of locals plus two train staff. Oddly we passed two of the $1000/day luxury trains on route, perhaps this is the future of the line as local traffic is not paying it's way. El Berron station has an interesting layout with "main" lines crossing at right angles and various random platforms in the chords. I am sure the internet will explain it better. And of course had lovely bread and cheese as on board snacks.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

11th June Part 2 El Berron to Gijon
First time in trip things went wrong as track to Gijon was closed due to maintenance. I tought I would clever and get a normal bus to Gijon tha might end up closer to our hotel than rail replacement bus, bad move as there were no directs, reverted to rail replacement coach, which was much faster than scheduled train, then local bus across town to our hotel.
.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

I'm enjoying your report, thanks for posting

Thanks Mike, not sure any of this was worth posting as it looks like a well worn route. Anyway will continue to post hopefully until Porto, there we get cheap jet back to UK

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

12th June Gijon/Xixon
No scheduled travel today. We were a bit unimpressed by city on our bus trip across it yesterday evening. But actually turned out to a great day. For anyone coming here to the main station, most of the buses into and across town leave from the old station site which is about 5 minutes walk. This is is labelled as Museo del Ferrocarril de Asturias, or Railways of Asturias Museum. Again the Spanish confuse me, a free museum that took us 2 hours to go round without dawdling, almost no other people there and free. It was almost like York in scale, especially as they catered for the various guage s. Apparently Gijon had at least 3 gauges to the docks at one stage. Loads of locos , carriages, wagons and stuff. Some has English labels but some others need QR codes. Especially interesting was their exhibition on railways/industry some of photos looked like South Wales so understand the close links between the two areas. Without reservation I would recommend anyone doing this area to visit. Weather was absolutely perfect sunny but bit of a breeze. We ended up walking from our Hotel near the Bull Ring across to the railway museum and back again. But there are extremely frequent buses which cost €1.50. After thinking why did we book 2 nights here I am thinking should have done 3, as we have not explored enough. At least we do not have a big journey tomorrow to Oviedo , so are thinking about bus not train, as it goes from near hotel to near to target hotel. And Friday is a 12 hour train. Message is Gijon/Xixon is well worth a visit, recommended to go to a Sidrerira tonight as our diet has been lacking in Vegetables and these places serve local dishes including bean stew.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

13th June Gijon to Oviedo
After the bustitution episode a couple of days ago we were in three minds about how to make the short journey. Bus all the way or risk either train route. We got bus from hotel to Train station and decided to make it up from there. Very helpful lady at ticket office sold us singles on direct (Broad Guage) route and directed us to appropriate platform. Going up the line we could see the vast steel works close up so was like being in South Wales again. It was 10:00 from Gijon got to Oviedo about 10:35. We spent a bit of time in the station getting a over 60 discount card for €6 euros as one of us can claim it and hopefully 50% off future fares in Spain for a year. The nice man at the office said did we want 2 of these but one of us is about a month short of qualifying, and they do check your ID. Anyway with one pass in hand and the other one we can get soon already planning another Spanish rail trip next year. We were directed to the FEVE ticket office for our journey tomorrow, but they could not sell in advance. Out hotel is only a few minutes walk from the station, and, so far the most impressive on the trip. Built in 18th century it is gorgeous and near all the sights here, oddly not the most expensive on this trip per night but probably the most memorable, Hotel Reconcistidor. A bit of a wander though town and getting provisions for tomorrow was our trip out before going for evening meal which will be another Sidrerira, they are everywhere here and offer hearty meals. Tomorrow is the epic trip to Vigo, 3 trains and 12 hours via Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela .

 

[peteb]

Just before advertised departure time Unit 2732 turned up at platform 1 for our 5 hour journey to El Berron We left Santander in pouring rain but it soon got cleared up. I have run out of words to describe the scenery so will not try. Not as comfortable as yesterday's emu as it was 2+2 .

You were a bit unlucky. When I travelled in February we had an older style dmu with the 2+1 seating but changed half way to a modern dmu with the 2+2 seating: that was Santander to Oviedo.

 

[stuu]

Thanks for posting, the north of Spain is a lovely part of the world. Unfortunately Renfe seem to run their services to deliberately put passengers off as far as I can tell, I wonder how long they will survive for, especially the longer regional routes

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The main problem with the ex-FEVE lines in Northern Spain is that the fast Autovía now runs all the way from Irun to Ferrol, meaning that the trains are hopelessly uncompetitive with the excellent coach services - apart from the suburban services around the main cities. The railway is also indirect in places, running well inland, for example, between Bilbao and Santander away from the main towns. In the west the railway diverts around the head of the estuaries whilst the motorway crosses directly at the mouth.

Ferrol was not reached until 1962 so the business case must have been pretty marginal even then - Franco was born in Ferrol so no doubt had a strong influence. The station buildings on the western section are very lavish, but mostly now in private hands. It is definitely a line to be done once, but the interminable station stops do get rather wearing after several hours!

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

14 June Oviedo to Vigo, the day when things went slightly wrong.
Part 1 Oviedo to Ferrol. We were up early as we had the 07:19 from Oviedo. The hotel had provided us with breakfast in bag as it was before their start time. Got to station with plenty of time to spare to get tickets which included the over 60 discount so was €24 + €12 rather than €24 x 2. Unfortunately the first bit was covered in low cloud but still looked good (run out of words for scenic delights). Crew but not unit changeover half way, then a couple of odd experiences. At Foz the train became rammed with 5-6 year old children, with appropriate adult supervision who went up the line for about 8 stops. Other thing was a trio of locals who did not stop talking loudly for 2 hours. Anyway looking at progress we could see that we could not make our booked connection, the 15:10 to Santiago de Compostela at Ferrol as we were running about 40 minutes late. Did some googling and WhatsApp with our booking company so got local bus to a Coruna for €4.50 each. Then at à Coruna got a coach to Vigo for €14.50 each. Otherwise is was looking at 23:00 ish arrival in Vigo by train. As it happened using the coach option meant the we arrived roughly the same time as we would have with the train bookings. All the coaches were paying on board and easy. Lesson learnt today is don't rely on the narrow guage for connections. Vigo looks an interesting place but we have to leave early tomorrow so another one ticked for another visit. So only one train picture today, and only one more train tomorrow to get somewhere , the 08:58 to Porto.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

15th June Vigo to Porto
After a bit of a rushed breakfast in the hotel, as they did not start serving until 8, got to Vigo Guixor in plenty of time for our 8:58 departure to Porto, only to see the dreaded cancelled, bus on the departure screen. Thinking that it would bus all the way we settled down for a 3 hour road trip on admittedly a very comfortable coach. But when it got to Valenca it was everybody off and into the station. There was rather grand loco hauled stock waiting there with displays saying that it was our train. Not to be, this got shunted out with an electric loco to be replaced by a DMU. Found some good seats through and apart from a bit of noise from the engines, that we were sitting on top of, was perfectly fine. A few minutes late into Porto but today was no rush. A bit of a hike to hotel who said that we could not book in until 3. Other hotels we have been on this trip where we have arrived early have made an effort to get a room ready early, at least they agreed to look after our luggage . So had a walk to main food market and the station for tomorrows trip to confirm arrangements. Got the metro back to hotel and then booked in properly. Good news for us is that breakfast starts at 7:00 even on Sunday so there will be no rush for the 8:20 up the Douro. Pictures are what I thought we would be on, loco hauled, other picture is what ended up with. No complaints really as DMU was much more comfortable than any UK offering. Not sure it went normal route.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

Porto -Pocinho -Porto

Part 1 .Last day of proper training on this trip. Luckily hotel started breakfast early at 7 so we could have a leisurely walk to Sao Bento station for our 8:20 trip up the line. Sat on right side as advised but it does take an hour on the train to reach the Douro valley again. Once we did partner was a bit unimpressed with scenàry only giving it a 7/10. It was quite busy to Pinhao where loads of people baled out. Above Pinhao though we opened the windows and got the views she was expecting . They don't even close the doors half the time so you can experience some old style train experience hanging out the door. Last train trip but it was awesome, she gave it a 10/10. We got to Poncinho on time at 11:50. This is one of my bucket list of trains ticked off and it did not disappoint, the last hour especially. Going up was red loco with 2+2 reversible seating. We decided to get the 13:00 back rather than planned 15:12 back as it did not look there was much around the station. We had a had a walk round the area and saw a dead steam loco and abandoned branch line. Obviously more research to be done.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

16th June Porto -Pocinho -Porto
Part 2
Our going up train got shunted into siding on arrival, and we thought it would be the 13:10 back down. But the up the valley train a hour later pulled into the platform. So different loco and coaches going down. This one being 2 + 3 non-reversible. I am sure someone on the forum can explain the difference in ages and makers. Anyway going back down was equally good seeing the valley from a different angle. Hopefully, one day, they will reinstate the planned extension to the Spanish border. Arrival in Porto slightly late but no bother to us.

 

[30907]

16th June Porto -Pocinho -Porto
Part 2
Our going up train got shunted into siding on arrival, and we thought it would be the 13:10 back down. But the up the valley train a hour later pulled into the platform. So different loco and coaches going down. This one being 2 + 3 non-reversible. I am sure someone on the forum can explain the difference in ages and makers. Anyway going back down was equally good seeing the valley from a different angle. Hopefully, one day, they will reinstate the planned extension to the Spanish border. Arrival in Porto slightly late but no bother to us.

I sympathise with your other half- the electrified bit out to Marco de Cavanese(?) is nothing special.
As to the trains - most of the coaches were built by Schindler, and look very Swiss - unsurprising, as it's a Swiss firm! The ones with centre as well as end doors have the 3+2 seating (I presume they were suburban stock). The ribbed grey design is from the Portuguese firm Sorefame.
Your locos were class 1400, built by English Electric; the 2nd is in a retro livery.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

I sympathise with your other half- the electrified bit out to Marco de Cavanese(?) is nothing special.
As to the trains - most of the coaches were built by Schindler, and look very Swiss - unsurprising, as it's a Swiss firm! The ones with centre as well as end doors have the 3+2 seating (I presume they were suburban stock). The ribbed grey design is from the Portuguese firm Sorefame.
Your locos were class 1400, built by English Electric; the 2nd is in a retro livery.

Thanks 30907, I thought the locos had a bit of a class 20 vibe about them. Going down the valley we sat up close to loco but even with windows open did not get much noise from engines. Should of stood by open door next to loco. Still say one of the great rail journeys of the world if you go all the way to Poncinho from Porto

 

[The exile]

We have planned this for a long time. Not cheap but it is special birthday. Did not record unit numbers etc but hope will be iof interest. Several days behind but....

4th June Cardiff-Ealing
Staying with family tonight before Eurostar tomorrow. We booked advance first class tickets with Railcard discount. I don't think I have ever been legitimately first class before so was a ew experience for me. Advanced with Railcard was £36 each to Ealing Broadway mid-afternoon. Compared to the £100 plus peak time 2nd class this seamed like a bargain. We arrived early at Central for the 14:18 to Paddington so had some time in the 1st class lounge on Platform 1. Nothing that special but decent free tea / coffee / cold drinks / snacks that probably justified the difference between 2nd and 1st. Right on time boarded the 800 xxx, sorry did not record number, although our coach was not quite where I expected in the middle of train but was right at the front. But this was better positioning for arrival in Paddington. Journey uneventful except that it was 1st class so quiet, more legroom ( a big plus for me as I am 6'2") and generally more space. Drinks service was not brilliant but did have another free coffee, cake and bottle of water. Arrival into Paddington dead in time and being at the front meant a speedy exit through barrier towards the Cross-rail, which other people might know as the Elizabeth Line, another new experience for me but one failiar to my partner. After going down in lift as we had luggage we waited a couple of minutes for west bound. 10 ish minutes later we were at Ealing Broadway, although we could have got a bus to South Ealing. we decided to walk as we would be on the train for the next day. Good evening spent with family . So far 1 x Train, 1x Metro

2 x train, surely. Despite the best efforts of TfL, the EL is not a metro!

 

[Giugiaro]

We decided to get the 13:00 back rather than planned 15:12 back as it did not look there was much around the station. We had a had a walk round the area and saw a dead steam loco and abandoned branch line.

I was rather busy last week and couldn't check this forum and reply to people. You missed a great opportunity to have some of the best meals in the country (if you're not vegetarian/vegan) at Taberna da Julinha.

Maybe next time. It's best to book in advance as the place is rather small

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

17th June Porto

No train action today but plenty of metro, walked down to the river. Steep. So we did not look forward to walk back up but on the south side of the river is a cable car which takes us back up the hill to the metro. A bit pricey at €7 each but well worth it for the views even on a rainy day like today. Then got 24 hour metro tickets after a bit of a fight with ticket machine (why we could not recharge our existing card we could not w ork out). Metro to
Matosinhos which is apparently best sea food in the world but not that hungry so had small lunch and coffee. Then the heavens opened on our way back to Metro. So decided to get back to hotel for rest / relaxation. Porto metro though is awesome and very well used. Some more exploring to be done tomorrow.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

18th June Porto
Part 1 We had until noon on our 24 metro ticket, so went down to southern end of the D line where we could see the extension in progress, back up to Jardim do Morro for a walk up to Miradouro da Serra do Pilar. There are probably a lot better photos on the internet than what I can do on my phone camera so won't bother posting. Our ticket by this stage was almost out of time so got Metro to Trindade and walked down or up to the Mercado do Bilbao, which is entirely dedicated to food, drink and flowers. I generally hate these places as I get a bit claustrophobic but we went briefly on Saturday and it was fine, even better on a Tuesday. So after an hour in here we walked back to our hotel as it had a roof terrace where we could get some sun.

 

[Iskra]

Sounds a good trip, I’m reading with interest as I should be doing Porto and the Douro Valley Line later this year all being well.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

18th June Part 2
We had made contact with a family friend for tonight who said they would take us to the best fish restaurant and put us up for the night.So P +S you know who you are and delivered. I won't say where we went to keep it from being too popular but it was awesome. In my head the best sardines I have ever had plus turbot.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

19 th June Porto-Cardif
On top of all the hospitality that P + S had given us yesterday
P offered to drive us to the Airport. As things get busy on the Douro river bridges and we were south we set off reasonably early and encountered a bit of traffic but not too bad. easyJet flight back to Bristol with long wait for luggage there, we could not do 2 weeks with just carry on bags We had a bus (A1) / train ticket back to Cardiff and although we might of got back quicker doing a Bristol Parkway change, decided to have Greggs and get on direct. So last photo of train our GWR to Cardiff. Might do some reflections later but that's all from me for now. And a thank you to our travel company if I am allowed Byways who put up with our changes in mind about trains/hotels and gave us support in the one day when things went wrong.

 

[timnjmorris@gm]

Reflections - we should not of booked the 12 hour, 3 train choice on the 14th. It was ambitious to the point of lunacy. Me and partner are slightly strange in that we both enjoy looking around faded industrial bits of towns/cities rather than the "sights". I think it is caused by our respective professions. Northern Spain and Portugal were clean, no litter on streets, people properly recycling (sort of my job in the UK). Anyway that means that non-tourist places are interesting to us anyway, we once went for a weekend in Stoke-on-Trent as my partner is a pottery fan and the free municipal museum there was great. We did not stint on hotels as this was a special holiday and they were all great, travel cheap-accomadation comfortable was our our goal and we hit it. Would we do it again? Probably but not same route, going quicker to Porto via higher speed trains then slow down to southern Portugal. But don't regret booking what we did. Soon we both qualify for over 60's discounts on rail tickets so Europe is our oyster!