Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports

[Techniquest]

I must say that you’re looking very healthy there Tech.

Thank you good sir, a wee bit different to the last time we met, several years ago that now actually Just got to get rid of the food belly, an easier task on paper than in practice! It's coming together slowly though Just need to sort out my current obsession with biscuits, oh my days it's so nice having biscuits with tea/coffee. I'm getting on top of that slowly but surely, I think!

Thanks to all for the comments so far, and without further waiting here's Day 2:

26/05/22 - Tech's Cycle-Cross, Day 2

After collapsing into a deep sleep a little after 2300, I slept really well until about 0600 and the sunshine was impossible to ignore any further. I had the option of a bath or shower here, and I couldn't turn down the bath. It's a rare treat for me, and I felt so relaxed afterwards, so much so I am absolutely making it a priority to have in the next place I live in when that happens! Some planning of the day was made over a coffee, and there were multiple options but the winner one ended up being the Woolwich Free Ferry and filling an annoying gap on my map.

After another coffee, and an unexpected headache cleared up, I soon bade farewell to my host and I was on the march to Woolwich's CrossRail station to collect my beast. I had of course been concerned it may not be there, or it may have been vandalised, however my fears were soon put to rest. After unlocking the beast, the walk continued over to the ferry pier. I could have cycled, but I was still a long way from clearing the 500 miles of leisure walking challenge I started at the beginning of March 2022. So all miles count to get me back on track, following the injury endured a few weeks ago. That is finally nearly healed, it's been a long process but it's getting there! While that's been going on, and I've had to work through it too, I've had to cut back on my exercise which has put me so far behind on both my cycling and walking!

Anyway, after a short wait the ferry arrived and I was the only cyclist on it. Perhaps that should be unsurprising at the end of the morning rush. Anyway, my first time on the ferry was good fun, and it called for a video too. It just had to be done! Once off the ferry, the journey taking around 6 minutes, I loaded up Strava and off I went. The ride up to CS3 (Cycling Superhighway 3) was not too challenging, and once there it was first onto some territory covered when I did the ride to Barking many months ago.

Soon however that ended and the route went over shared-use pavements towards Dagenham and it was officially now National Cycle Network Route 13. Which means that, for me, one thing was for sure as it is almost always the case. Yes, that's right, poor or missing signage. Maps saved the day more than once, and I was soon near Dagenham and following the A1306 to Rainham (Essex). With a tailwind in many places, this even allowed me to use my fastest gear and really put the hammer down in places, much to my delight!

I was soon at the Tesco Extra in Rainham, and a supply raid was certainly required. After sourcing my much desired coffee and dealing with other matters of importance, I came away with a few basic but essential items. Well, I say essential, as I typed this up on the train to Hereford much of it was still in my backpack! With the coffee in my flask not cooling very fast, I gave up and decided to have it later. I had ambitions to make it to London Euston in time for the 1146 to Crewe, and I was more than a few miles out of town!

The plan had been kind-of decided as I arrived in Rainham, but I confirmed it by the time I set off. Ensuring I had absolutely linked up with the coverage in 2021, with the dash to the railway station, I was soon on the A125 to Romford. I could have easily cut many miles off my ride, and ensured I got to Central London much faster, by taking the junction for Ilford when I got to that a bit further on, but I had my heart set on Romford.

So that's what I did, and when I got there I was going to stop to have my coffee from Tesco. Yes, well, that was the case before I got to the roundabout with the A118 and I took the sign, the metaphorical one and the literal sign, pointing me to London and Ilford. I was now riding into the wind, and at times that made it pretty challenging. It wasn't even a very strong wind, I can't remember what it had been forecast but I think gusts were meant to be around 18mph. Strong enough, but I have been out in worse, although I do try to avoid riding into the wind when I can. Considering how rough it has been though this year, this was manageable, not fun but in an urban environment it could be dealt with.

Talking of, a brief deviation from the tale. Believe it or not, I'd originally intended both days of this trip report to be nice and short, an entertaining read but a short one. Well, it just wouldn't be a Techniquest trip report if that was the case eh? Anyway, you may recall back in January 2022 I finally cleared 5,000 miles on my beast after a little over a year, and that I am determined to reach 10,000 with it before I buy a new cycle. How is this mission going, you might be wondering? Well without adding up the last couple of days, I was on well over 6,200 miles and I think that number is now much closer to 6,400. I ended 2021 on something like 4,636, so I'm not too far off target to clear 10,000 in early 2023. Will I clear 5,000 miles in 2022? It remains to be seen, as I edit it 10 days later it seems likely. Quite, I even have a vague plan to start getting into running before the end of the year too! And now, back to the originally scheduled tale!

By Seven Kings, I took the chance to rest near the railway station and check Maps. My long awaited coffee was now much more drinkable, and I had got through something like 17.8 miles by that point. I had seen an enormous cycle shop somewhere near what I believe was Chadwell Heath station, I really wanted to pull over and admire what they had on display etc. I can be a sucker for a good cycle shop, and I have to be glad it wasn't Decathlon. I could easily spend a lot of money in Decathlon, and this cycle shop would easily have been the same, and I absolutely would have diverted off the A118 just for either of them if time had been on my side!

Back on the move after finishing off the half-size tiger baton, which I'm sure is probably not vegan-friendly but I hope it is, and with coffee flowing through the veins again, I got back on the A118 and just kept following it through the likes of Ilford, Seven Kings and eventually Stratford. Once I got close to Stratford station, I was back on dud terrain and on CS2 which I followed all the way into Central London.

I must have a mini rant now, as Deliveroo's riders must be some of the most reckless people I have ever seen. Almost always no helmet, on their devices more often than they should be, crossing roads in the most dangerous ways possible, you name it and they do it. My rant especially is aimed at one such fool who had an e-bike which is not a bad thing, but by cripes on a narrow cycle path if you have people behind you wanting to get by let them by! I barely saw him turn the pedals at all, he let the battery do all the hard work, which would not be so bad if he hadn't kept blocking me from passing him, or if he hadn't been making seriously dangerous crossings etc. I also saw an UberEats rider do similar later on, it makes one weep for humanity and how they haven't been killed I have no idea. It won't surprise any of you that I refuse to use such services, given the companies seem to encourage such recklessness for their riders and drivers to achieve performance targets. Ugh!

Anyway, soon enough I got to the end of CS2 and headed to Tower Bridge. I had decided I probably wouldn't make it to Euston in time, so I might as well just go and have some fun before the 1246. Sadly traffic was not flowing as freely as it had done the day before, which was annoying. Soon enough though, I got some more new coverage on a convoluted route to Euston, which saw me clear some gaps on CS6. I still want a fair bit of CS6, however that will have to wait for another day. I also want a fair bit of CS7, CS1 and CS8 to name just a few key routes I want to do.

Eventually I arrived a little after 1200 at London Euston, so if I had persisted with the ride into Central London earlier I would have made it in time. Oh well, no matter, it gave me time to go to Pret and get some badly wanted coffee first. I put plenty of sugar into it, I must confess, which is not really a smart idea but it felt right. I also spent £9.98 on a large fries and 20 vegan nuggets from Burger King, before going back to the cycle rack and collecting my beast. Off I went to platform 12 to join the 1246 to Crewe, while trying not to spill too much of my hot coffee!

Thankfully the divine spirit was with me, as my journey to Rugby was in the hands of 350370+350248. I would not need to have a 350/2 all the way after all, huzzah! With the beast safely on the 350/3, I took a nearby table seat and devoured my large lunch. It filled a big hole, and I felt a million times better for the meal. The coffee washed it down well, and I was soon onto the big job of colouring in the Central London coverage from both days. Given I had a table I might as well take advantage!

The journey was over in no time, and I got to typing up trip report notes before too long. There was plenty of stuff to talk about! 43272, in its ex-Virgin East Coast livery, and 43274 in its ex-EMR livery, looked very strange and, dare I say it, tacky with some cheap looking Colas Rail stickers on them as they worked a test train through Rugby. Nice to see them still working, granted, but they just don't look right somehow!

My train to Birmingham New Street saw me back onto double Terrible Twos, with 350265+350257 doing the honours. No matter, I was busy typing all the way to really notice. When I have a 350/2 on a journey with my beast, I normally sit on a fold-down seat with it, and this was no exception. With the arrival in Birmingham 4 minutes early, I had plenty of time to make my way over to platform 10b and to join 172340 for the journey to Hereford. More typing got done on this journey, and by Great Malvern I was finally up to date. Now you might think I'd head straight back to base, and I should have as I had a lot to do, but I had an 800km cycling challenge to complete with just a few days left to do it.

I had something like 120km to go, and I ended up going for a ride to maintain some Local Legend statuses before finally ending back at base. A 1 mile ride turned into a 9.5 miles long countryside thrashfest, or at least as thrashy as it can get with strong gusts of wind. It was worse up here than it was in London! Even at close to 2300, I had not finished everything I wanted to do, and I have to confess to struggling to keep focus on the important stuff. I should have known that would be the case to be honest, after 2 excellent days away in one of my favourite cities in the world. I would rank it number 1, but I'd have to revisit New York to make a fair comparison, given my first and so far only visit was more than 6 years ago. Will I ever make it back to New York? Will I ever complete my long-term cycling challenges? All this, and more, to be revealed as the adventures continue!

 

[Kite159]

A good long ride in London

 

[Techniquest]

A good long ride in London

It was indeed Hard to believe 2 and a bit years ago a long ride for me, on a daily basis at least with exceptions, was around 5 miles! Of course there were other longer rides.

09/06/2022 - Tech's Mad About Manchester

I was finally returning to one of my most favourite UK cities! For several days I had been wanting to get back there, and I decided during the late evening of the day before that I just had to bust out the magic plastic and book some Advances. I am supposed to be clearing it, not adding to it, but I just couldn't put it off. All day I had said no to it, and do a West Midlands Day Ranger instead, but the forecast looked less pleasant there. In Manchester, it was much more agreeable! With cycle spaces also booked, I had to try hard to get to sleep fast, as this was well after 9pm and I was booked on the 0547 from Hereford to Manchester Piccadilly!

I tried, and failed, to sleep all that much until a little after midnight and the 4am alarm was not as brutal as expected. I didn't have a huge amount of anything all that breakfast-y in the house, so I had to improvise. The perils of not shopping sensibly previously, but at least I was not buying lots of chocolate and biscuits I guess! So breakfast got formed of some sweet potato, peas and a load of onion rings. Not terribly healthy, no, but wow that was a good feed and I didn't get the frustrating desire to munch on the train, so that was a plus. A sugary coffee helped a lot too, and somehow it took me ages to get ready. By the time I set off from the house, it was 0539 and I had tickets to collect before the 0547!

Somehow, with some luck and daredevil riding in places (by my safe standards anyway), I arrived as the clock ticked over to 0544. Onto the train, mercifully, 90 seconds later and perhaps unsurprisingly I had no issue getting my beast on. I'd cleared 6,600 miles on the way to the station, so I was understandably very pleased with that. 175111 was in charge of taking me to Manchester Piccadilly, and with no earphones due to a pair failing on me recently, it felt really bizarre not having pre-ride music on! I had been due to buy new ones before now, but maybe I'd finally get some today.

Now you may be wondering why I was taking my beast with me to Manchester. I was in dire need of some red penning, and I was due to arrive at Piccadilly at 0809. A Greater Manchester Rail Ranger is not valid until 0930, and initially I had planned to walk around as I have not really tackled my 500 miles of leisure walking challenge recently. Come 0930, I'd then start on trains and trams, but I decided to take my beast with me. I had many options to fill the 1h21m, and by the time I'd got to Wilmslow I was still not really sure which one I'd go for. By the time I continue typing this, I will of course have made my decision and done the day's adventures. Will I get many 195s, 331s, trams, 397s or whatever scored? Well, there's only one way to find out, and I was seriously excited to see what I'd get!

After somehow forgetting to pick up my backpack off the overhead racks, and managing to remember before the barriers, I consulted the map again briefly but there was another deciding factor. The wind, which was getting fairly strong when it was gusting, and it was coming from the southwest. That would make the ride to Hadfield harder than it needed to be, and I ended up settling for the A56 to Bury once I got out of the city centre. That was quite the nerves-inducing ride in places! Some places also needed better signage at junctions, which I discovered to my displeasure when I found I was leaving the A56 for somewhere else altogether. Thankfully this was soon rectified and I was back on the A56 in a couple of minutes.

I eventually arrived in Bury, it seemed to go on for a long time before signs came up for Bury Interchange. That seemed like a good place to stop for a rest and decide on my next sector, which ended up being the B6222 over to Rochdale. I had planned to go to Bromley Cross at one point, and perhaps I could have rode there, but that will happen another time. The B road was more hilly than expected, and the climbs away from Bury seemed relentless in places. I blame that partly on trying to go around parked vehicles with people overtaking me though, that didn't help! Like Bury, the signs welcoming me to Rochdale were a long way out from the town centre, but I eventually reached the Asda and I pulled over there for some supplies.

With that done, and the route to the station investigated, I set off for yet more climbs up to the railway station. After buying my Greater Manchester Rail Ranger for £7.70, I still had a good bit of time to fill so I took a seat and started on my early lunch. Dud 158759 kicked off things on the railway, around an hour later than originally planned but I'd had an epic ride with a lot of new coverage for my Merseyside and Manchester Sustrans map, so that was absolutely fine by me.

At Manchester Victoria, where I'd arrived a few minutes early, I took my beast and secured it on the cycle rack before dashing over to a Leeds train. That turned out to be a dud 195, not the one I had expected, but fortune was on my side still as winner tram 3132 was scored on a leap to Exchange Square instead. Double duds 3116+3080 took me back to Victoria, where I sourced a much required Starbucks. Bear in mind this was by now my first coffee in around 5 hours, so I think I did reasonably well to get that far without a coffee! I'd made sure I got back to Victoria as I knew a winner 195 was due, and sure enough 195113 was a score on the 1121 to Leeds.

After boarding, the train needed resetting so we all anxiously waited to see if it would work or not. Thankfully it did, and it was off to Rochdale. With nothing of serious interest here towards Manchester being due for a while, I took the opportunity to visit a station I haven't done before in the form of Smithy Bridge. My chariot for this short journey was 158757, and I had forgot how nice the scenery is around these parts. A winner 195 was due from there at 1233, so I set off on a Thriller Filler walk.

I got to the top of the road, quite literally as it's a surprisingly steep road, and I saw a sign welcoming me to the borough of Littleborough. A check on Maps revealed that the station for Littleborough was walkable and in time for the 195. So I got the arms swinging, bent a bit like laid-back Ls and closed the fingers and thumbs together in a straight formation, ready to chop through the air. That's right, it was time to get proper into speed walking mode! It has been a while, and it was jolly good fun. I even got to Littleborough around 8 minutes faster than expected, and arrived just in time to watch 60056 do its deep roaring on an eastbound biomass train. Perfect timing!

Littleborough station is surrounded by gorgeous scenery, and I must make an effort to return here soon. On the Manchester-bound side, there was National Cycle Network Route 66 and on the Leeds-bound side I'd seen signs for Three Bridges Cycleway. 3.5 miles to Rochdale apparently, something to fully investigate before my next adventure in these parts and I absolutely want to come back soon!

Winner 195127 turned up as hoped, and I alighted at Rochdale for an approximate 14 minutes fester. The train behind was formed of winner 195018 and dud 195015, so it made sense to get that one scored off while I was over this way. At Victoria, I could have scored another 195/1, but I just couldn't stomach another Rochdale leap so I set off for Piccadilly. The road route took me some way out and around, but I guess at least it's new coverage! Another 2 and a bit miles in the book as well, not to be sniffed at!

156401 in its EMT livery on the 1340 to Rose Hill looked odd, but the sight and sound of 68020 was very welcome! I had time however first to secure the beast and do some different journeys. I saw that the Sheffield had a winner on it, so it made sense to first grab a Pret then some hot wedges from Sainsburys. For the second time today, I had a 195 which needed a reset, and thankfully it worked. Winner 195130 took me to Marple, where I now had a +21 for a train back to Manchester. I waited it out in the waiting room, taking advantage of the time to update my notes. I could have gone back to Manchester quicker, but this move would put me onto a winner!

As hoped, winner 195124 turned up to take me back to Manchester. There was another 195/1 showing as required on a train from Sheffield a while behind me, but I'd seen a better move potentially at Piccadilly, so that needed investigating more! After waiting for what felt like a millennium for the ECS from Longsight depot, the 1529 to Scarborough was to be pushed by winner 68031. Happy days!

Or at least it was meant to be happy days. The conductor was late arriving, and then we had to wait for a path. 10 minutes of delay, which earlier on would have been fine but I only had something like a +8 at Stalybridge onto the 1550 back into town before the off-peak ended. I was less than impressed, and as much as I like the TransPennine Express trains, their operator leaves a lot to be desired. I was planning to have to buy an additional ticket, just because TransPennine seem incapable of running almost anything these days. I would see what happened, the forum legend that is Kite159 gave me a couple of ideas that appealed.

I couldn't be bothered hunting the canal, and followed the streets that Maps recommended instead. 1.7 miles later, and I was faced with a 10 minute wait for a pair of trams. If it hadn't started to rain, albeit not for long in the end, I would have continued but no matter. I hadn't done the Ashton line of Manchester's massive Metrolink network for a very long time, I think I did it the same year it opened but even that I'm not sure about now!

3096+3025 took me all the way into Central Manchester, and I alighted at St Peters Square. It was a decent journey, and I was glad not to be on the trams towards Ashton. When I went past Etihad Campus, the crowd for the Ed Sheeran concert was enormous. Sure enough, all the trams heading that way were crush loaded with queues for boarding. In that breeze, it would have been unpleasant! A lot of people were being more sensible and walking there, which is what I'd have done.

I ended up scoring two trams for sight but not haulage, as I got chatting to Markbtelevision on YouTube for around half an hour. As you do! A case of contributing to his channel where he has conversations over 20 questions with people, and it sounded like a fun idea so why not! I'll have to link to the video when it's up, and he's a really friendly guy. The concept for his channel sounds interesting, and while I probably should have focused on the trams I did enjoy that. I got two trams for sight, and after I bade farewell to Mark I soon got on the move again.

Dud 3070 led winner 3126 on a leap to Exchange Square, and across the platform I was straight onto dud 3135 and winner 3130 for the return journey to St Peters Square. It was getting mighty chilly, and time was now ticking by fast. I had to cut my losses, although I did get two trams in so that's more productive than previous evening festers! A fast walk to Vegan Shack, near Piccadilly Gardens' Metrolink station, got me some of the amazing vegan fries, which were thoroughly enjoyed. After being reunited with my beast, I was soon on board 175011 on the 1831 to Camarthen.

The little sister spent a good portion of the time to Crewe on the phone, and as you'll have seen I still didn't get my new earphones! At Crewe, another passenger required one of the power sockets which reminded me that I needed to charge up myself. After Nantwich, the weather improved drastically, which was nice for the more scenic parts of the journey.

Overall, it was a really good day out, and yes I didn't spend as much time in Manchester as I really should have, but I did get a reasonable number of scores. I did keep looking out for 331s, but the /0s I want were just not turning up! The sound of the 68, when I could actually hear it as it left Stalybridge, was really good and something I had not heard in ages, but otherwise it was a dull journey. A lot of exercise got done, and to be honest I think that's how my 'red-pen days' will be these days. A combination of trains and cycling/walking works well for me, especially so in areas where I want quite a bit but there's a lot of duds around.

My 195s have come down nicely, and I have 3 more trams in the book. I enjoyed some stunning scenery, got a good few miles of cycling in and plenty of new coverage for cycling. In case you're wondering, I had considered visiting the National Cycling Centre but a quick search suggested it was closed until late August 2022. Another time, all good things are worth waiting for! Definitely worth the long day, and of course I already want to go back ASAP!

 

[Kite159]

It was indeed Hard to believe 2 and a bit years ago a long ride for me, on a daily basis at least with exceptions, was around 5 miles! Of course there were other longer rides.

Even for me, hard to believe that summer 2020 my max walk was 14 odd miles with the average being 10 miles.
Looking back in the last month the average has been higher with the new max walk at 19.3 miles (and I could have easily kept going if I didn't run out of time).

Anyhow sounded like a good trip to Manchester, the canal in the Rochdale area is on my list to do as I believe it goes very scenic as it crosses the hills into Yorkshire

 

[Techniquest]

Even for me, hard to believe that summer 2020 my max walk was 14 odd miles with the average being 10 miles.
Looking back in the last month the average has been higher with the new max walk at 19.3 miles (and I could have easily kept going if I didn't run out of time).

Anyhow sounded like a good trip to Manchester, the canal in the Rochdale area is on my list to do as I believe it goes very scenic as it crosses the hills into Yorkshire

I'm still incredibly amazed with that walk of yours, that's a lot of miles in one day! If I wasn't into my cycling, I'd be on walks much more often myself. You've had an epic month, that's for sure!

The canal, yes I've quickly looked at it and the bit up to Hebden Bridge and the surrounding area must be absolutely amazing. Unsurprisingly that area is on my list for a full explore, I already have a vague plan going on with bailing at Stockport to do the ride up to Victoria (to fill a gap between Piccadilly and Stockport), then train to Littleborough and go from there. This time of course I'd be going up for at least one night away, to maximise my time to explore.

I also have vague plans forming to ride further north from Bury, that ride yesterday finally got me some progress on my Loch Lomond-South Coast mission, and when I get Piccadilly-Stockport done I'll have Bury-Penkridge done. No real plan for the route the mission will take, but it does need to be vaguely north-south. Tough to explain really, but it makes sense to me I need to get the coverage between Kidderminster and Penkridge done soon, which would really progress my mission.

I'll be here all day talking about my cycling coverage missions, for now let's just say there's plenty coming up this summer. When 387174 comes back out to play, I can see it being combined with progressing my West to East coverage mission, for example.

Of course, in the meantime there's a focus on getting a better diet and building up hill climbing experience this month. Got to be done in preparation for the big adventures in the North of England and Scotland!

 

[Techniquest]

30/06/2022 - Tech's Midlands Mayhem and Madness

Hello one and all, welcome back to the long-running trip report series! I was back onto a bit of a train day, at long last, although there was also to be some cycling as I was 20 or so miles short of clearing a huge challenge on Strava. I'll get to that later on, although I will note that I was exhausted after 64 miles the previous day!

As a result of that, the body was screaming at the idea of going out again, especially for anything too intense and it wasn't quite as good a sleep as I had wanted, nay, needed. Thankfully, some painkillers and a really good feed helped a lot, as did the usual morning supplements. By 9am, I was finally ready to go after 2.5 hours of going back and forth on whether it was a good idea or not. I had developed a sore throat and a bit of a random cough at random times, nothing too unusual as I'd picked up a minor cold a few times during 2022 so far and it had been nothing a bit of medication didn't fix the same day. I'm in and out of cold environments all the time at work, with huge temperature variations when it happens, so it's no surprise that I'm prone to colds.

The 0939 to Birmingham New Street was in the hands of 172335, and I easily got on board with my beast. I'd left the new addition to my household, a second-hand Carrera Zelos road cycle, at base for two reasons. One was because the grip tape on the left side had come off somehow, and I didn't fancy any more miles leaning forwards with no proper grip on that side. The second was because I was homing in on the 1,250km challenge on Strava, and this was the final day to achieve that goal in June. I'd never achieved that challenge before, and I was determined that I would do it. 20 miles was all I needed to achieve victory, following some local cycling in town, which I could have easily done in Herefordshire and saved money. However, I spent most of June cycling in my home county, and I needed a change of scenery.

So what was the second reason, exactly? Well quite simply, I'd given my beast (a Ridgeback Speed hybrid) a really good clean two days previously and it felt only appropriate to clear the challenge on the machine that's done me proud. I'd spent a lot of time deciding on a route before leaving the house, and having had quite a challenging month with three hill climbing challenges I wanted something a little easier than Kidderminster-Penkridge. So then, back to the trains! This first journey was all about getting to Birmingham New Street, and to be honest nothing super exciting happened. I had a brief chat with a lady who was flying back to Australia in a couple of days, other than that it was a fairly standard journey. I discovered, while looking through some old Strava screenshots, that I had cleared the 7,500 metres elevation gain challenge in April 2021. I'd forgot about that, it was finished on the ride that took me to Monmouth. Now that was a challenging ride, maybe a story for another day, so I've now done that challenge twice which does take away some of the celebratory mood from doing it this month. At least I can say I've done it again, and smashed it by a long way this time!

A slightly early arrival, and finally into the sunshine, I made my way quickly to Birmingham Moor Street. I wanted to see which 165 was on the Leamington Spa stopper at 1134, so I didn't waste time stopping at Pret. Dud 165013 was on the stopper, so I ended up sourcing some coffee and a flapjack in the expensive GWR Centenary Lounge. £4.55, and she didn't fill the cup even close to the top. I won't be going back to that rip-off place again! Departure was a couple of minutes late, but no problem, it was off to the countryside and I was settled on alighting at Lapworth. I noted two GBRf 66s and two 196/1s on the way out of Birmingham, so that was nice. Plenty of 196s I couldn't get the numbers of, but they'll be about in service soon enough. That will be the start of a number of Midlands train days!

From Lapworth, where the sun came back happily, I had no real plan. Once I got to the A4141 I then settled on heading to Solihull. I'd seen a Chiltern Silver set on my way to Lapworth, which I was certain would be on the 1255 from Birmingham Moor Street. That absolutely had to be done! The A4141 was a bit more challenging than I expected, and just before the M42 I saw a little blue sign. That indicated a safer cycling route into Solihull, so the M42 is now on my list of motorways I've been over or under! There's a huge amount of cycling I want to do up this way, so this could easily be an area I visit often. Back onto the road after a while for the final push into Solihull, and that roundabout just before the railway station was very confusing. The swapping of lanes without sufficient warning, thankfully with some clearly understanding drivers around me, was most frustrating!

I arrived with 30 minutes to spare, so I was going to head to Birmingham on 172342, but I declined for a break on the bench for sunshine, rest, notes updating and colouring in the relevant bit of my map. With 8.5 miles under my belt for that ride, I was now really close to victory! The Silver set finally turned up a few minutes late, and a very busy train this was. I had gone to the front to load the beast into the DVT, but because of the delay the train manager said to just park it in a vestibule. So I did just that, parked it next to the buffet car and found a seat a couple of coaches back, one which didn't stink of sewage like the first one did. I had no idea which 68 I had pushing the train, 82309 was up front and the 1255 from Birmingham is much slower than it used to be. So many stops south of Bicester, compared to how I remember these services, so I was glad not to be on it all the way to London!

The MK3s are nice, don't get me wrong, but those fixed armrests I do not miss. I might be a lot thinner than I was in the days of HST bashing in South Wales, thus it being easier to get into the seats, but it's still a feature that isn't really needed. 70011, passing with a ton of sound on a northbound Freightliner was a seriously welcome sound that's for sure, and of course at Leamington Spa I would find out which 68 I had on the back. The sun was gone again, but I was hoping it would stay reasonable for the next ride of the day! Would the weather hold back for me? Well, just wait and see!

After noting dud 165005 on the 1532 to Stratford upon Avon, 68014 made a mighty noise as it roared past me. 68008 was also out on the 1326 from Leamington to Birmingham, but there was no way of making that. I wanted to clear my cycling challenge more anyway, and to do it before the weather changed! So that's precisely what I did, once I was let through the barrier, I hate it when the Seek Assistance message comes up, makes one feel too much like a criminal!

Onwards and upwards, I wanted to get to Kenilworth to do the 'new' station there. I say new, it's been there for years and it's the only mainline station left in the Midlands for me to get. I got lost on my way out of Leamington, not helped by road signs suddenly not having Kenilworth on them! In the end, I ended up in Warwick which I'd wanted to see properly for a long time, so no problem for me. I will be back there on a walking expedition some time, and it looks like I will need a good couple of hours to see even half of the town, and the castle grounds were clearly worth exploring too.

Eventually, I was faced with a roundabout sign that had the A429 to Cirencester on it. Oh my no, that will not do! I put into action a vague plan to head to Warwick Parkway, and once I did the bit of National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 41 around the huge roundabout and over the M40 (another one for that list!), I changed my mind and kept going south.

A blue NCN sign alerted me to the fact Stratford upon Avon was 10 miles away and Hampton Lucy 3 miles away. So I ended up following that, and fair play these were some nice quality roads I was cycling on. Considering these are unclassified roads, I was quite impressed. Soon, the promised rain came down and I wondered how I had talked myself into doing such a ride! At Hampton Lucy, no little blue sign was visible but a road sign said 'Stratford 4' which I was more than happy with. It turns out NCN Route 41 goes via a much quieter route than my choice, but I was happy enough to just plough on, put the power down and get to Stratford upon Avon ASAP.

That was until I turned up in front of the A439, and yes you guessed it, one of the reasons I was not happy is that I usually get overtaken by idiots who go around on blind bends, who get too close and so on when I ride A roads. Eventually, I arrived in Stratford upon Avon and I was surprised at the lack of road signage for the railway station. I knew roughly which way it was, from a visit to the area in 2021, but for those without experience that's not clever of the council or Highways Agency. I pulled up outside the station around 1438, with Esquires Coffee next to me. When I was last at the station, it was for a Retro Railtours with 60059, which memory tells me was in 2014. I could be wrong, if someone can confirm that I would appreciate it. I could have done the 1441 to Leamington Spa, but that was too tight and I had a suspicion it would be 165005 which I didn't want anyway.

£6.15, and a small tip, for a large coffee (£2.90) and some amazing chocolate orange cake (£3.25), was a lot of money, however it was so good! That cake, WOW! Plenty of photos were taken of the decadent treat, a celebratory selfie and of the station, before joining 172220+172221 on the 1503 to Kidderminster via Dorridge and Birmingham Snow Hill.

So, you all want to know how I did with the 1,250km challenge don't you? Well I achieved 14 and something miles on that ride from Leamington Spa to Stratford upon Avon, which meant I cleared it by 5km. I was an incredibly happy man, as I am sure you imagine. It had been a hard week to drive myself to do the miles needed, I was needing 89 miles the day before in order to clear the challenge, at the start of the week it had been a fair bit more! So it's been an intense 4 days, having done 64 miles of hardcore cycling just the day before this adventure! As I updated these notes a few days later, Strava informed me I had done 155.1 miles of cycling in 4 days. My record for a week is 188.9 miles, achieved in early June 2022, and if I'd kept going with my usual amounts of cycling all week I'd have probably passed 200 miles!

The coffee and cake in the town upon the Avon became an impromptu celebration of conquering this challenge, last time I tried it a long time ago, I fell short by around 150km. Strava also told me I had done 780 miles in June, which was by some way a new personal best!

Back to the trains! I took those 172s to Smethwick Galton Bridge, for an easy change onto a Liverpool bound train. With the main map update done, and Strava activity log shared once it finally let me, given it was lagging like crazy, it was time to mong out. At Widney Manor, I had a Chiltern Silver set pass by, was there meant to be 3 68s out? I was of the assumption this was not the case.

Sitting by the doors, for the cycle space, is less than ideal and this showed when I was rather chilly before Birmingham. Down the stairs to platform 3 at Smethwick Galton Bridge, and 350239 rolled in up front on the 1604 Birmingham New Street-Liverpool Lime Street. I would have to ID the rear one at Crewe! With the space for wheelchairs and cycles filled with passengers, I resorted to standing in the vestibule until Wolverhampton, taking a fold-down seat onwards to Crewe. By then, the weather had come out to be glorious, although that did not last long. I had been going to get some sort of hot beverage in Crewe, but that went out the window when I was on the phone to my little sister for a while. She was expecting me to suddenly announce I was popping by for a surprise visit, given I was in Crewe!

I noted 350118 on the back of the train I'd taken from Smethwick, and I had also seen 3 777s and 230008 on the approach to Crewe. I was doing well with new sights today! An unusual sight was 66501 hauling HHAs, now that is a sight I'd not seen in a long time! 57314 was also around on some sort of fancy charter stock, and soon after I observed 325006+325001 come to a stop heading north. It isn't too often that I get to take photos of any 325s so I was on a roll. A shame I didn't get numbers of the 777s on the other side of Crewe LNWR, and it was a sad sight when I saw the Freightliner 86s on Crewe Basford Hall, all parked up awaiting perhaps no more duties.

My mission in Crewe was simply to finally do platform 7 at what is probably the most famous railway location outside of London. This platform had bugged me for far too long, although it's been years since I stopped micro-gricing I still keep note of interesting bits at frequently used stations. Platform 7 is awkward and expensive to do if not on a WMDR. That ticket is £30 now, so it's not the sort of day out I can afford to do too often. Like most journeys, it has to have multiple uses to justify the fares, given the ever-rising cost of food and so on! 350107 and 350265 were in combination today on the 1733 to London Euston, and I had wanted to take them to Lichfield Trent Valley for some Starship action all the way to Bromsgrove. Just for the novelty of doing so, but that meant a +/-0 in Birmingham for the 1920 to Hereford, as well as a huge wait in Bromsgrove for a train to Hereford, and I would have to arrive back super late. That could not be justified, primarily because I had not yet had a proper lunch, let alone any evening meal, and I was almost out of the water I'd brought with me. The sight and sound of 68017 as I passed it on a car train was most welcome though!

So it was with much regret that I would have to sacrifice some much-desired Starship action, yet again. I bailed at Stafford for the following Birmingham train, and I was shivering. The rain was back with a vengeance, and the wind was bringing quite the chill with it. I dived into Starbucks and got a small Earl Grey as well as some banoffee cake. £5.15 was a super urgent and desperate ploy to warm the body up, it sure didn't feel like the end of June out there! The cake, well it was nice but not worth the ching. The Earl Grey was good, it must be said, that warmed me up nicely, so it was worth £2.40 and a fine bit cheaper than Upper Crust had wanted for tea in Crewe! From the waiting room above platform 4, I got to note 66770 head north making a racket, it might even have been a required sight. On which note, I'm bringing something back to the trip report thread on this occasion, stay tuned!

350121+350267 were in charge of taking me back to Birmingham, where I was planning to finally source some proper food before the train back to Hereford. Tesco Metro was due to get its first visit from me in quite a while, I genuinely could not remember at the time of typing when I was last in Birmingham for long enough to leave the station! I eventually got there and, thankfully, it didn't take long to find a space to lock the beast near Tesco. I had been toying with diving into Greggs on the station instead, but I declined the incredibly unhealthy food.

Since my last visit, Tesco Metro has had quite the move-about, so it took a while to find stuff I liked. I really don't like paying £2.80 for a 10-pack of Violife cheese slices, but I knew full well a meal deal was not going to cut it. £6.10 spent, and I was fortunate to get onto 172335 (hello again!) in time to grab the space I had taken in the morning. Exactly the same seat too, although the less said about the unpleasant people around me the better. That is one thing I always forget, on WMR the class of passenger is only just above the drain on some services, and the 1920 from Birmingham is often one of those. Call that snobbish if you like, but when you look up and the man opposite you is scratching the living daylights out of his inner leg (I hope it was just scratching!) then you do have to question why one gets on a train sometimes. The chavvy parents on the other side of my area, I wasn't a fan of them and their behaviour either, but at least they weren't heavily intoxicated I suppose! They eventually got their foul behaviour under control, I felt sorry for the child to be honest!

Anyway, my monocle and top hat is firmly put away, and 60074 in the loop platform at Bromsgrove made for a nice surprise. A shame I wouldn't get to hear it roar away! I had not noticed the 1920 has a long turn-around at Worcester Shrub Hill, if it had been more than 9 minutes I would have got off and done the ride to Foregate Street, rejoining the 172! By the time I'd have got out of Shrub Hill Station though, I'd have had just 7 minutes and that was too risky.

I was bored beyond bored, and I was hoping for dry weather for the short blast back to base. That looked possible as I approached Malvern, and I could not help but wonder why I didn't pack a jacket. I blame not being fully well before setting out, thankfully the throat and cough did not cause any real problems all day. The odd cough, but nothing unusual. Even so, by Ledbury I was absolutely ready for bed!

So what does July hold in store for me? Well, the Tour de France was due to start on 1st July, running until 24th July, and I believe the women's version was scheduled to follow it, so I have an action packed month of pro cycling to watch. Trying to fit that in around work, regular exercise and so on is going to be a challenge on its own. The end of July sees the start of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and I am lucky enough to be going to a few events over the 2 weeks. I'm unable to go in-person to the cycling events, so I will have to watch that on live-streams etc. So until early August, I am going to have very little time to do much on trains, apart from some mandatory moves for the Commonwealth Games. There may be the odd bit of train-related stuff done, and if RailUK Forums have a Tour de France discussion thread going I will be active in that!

Sadly, as I finish editing these notes a few days after the event, I must add that I was rather unwell the day after. I ended up with a really bad throat, the cough was worse and I even fainted in the bathroom soon after waking up from a long and heavy sleep! The covid test got done, and sure enough I was positive. That had never happened before, so imagine my disappointment to see the two red lines on it. It has hit me pretty hard, just the trip to/from the kitchen is enough exercise for me currently, and I'm just glad I managed to achieve my cycling challenges in June before this happened. Coffee doesn't have its usual magical effect, nor really does the vitamins and minerals supplements I normally have. Fatigue is very real, and just the idea of leaving the house for any purpose is too much to consider.

Obviously, as a result, I'm off work at the moment as I doubt I'd survive the walk there, never mind a full shift or anything else. All sorts of medications are being used to help sort this out, I don't want to be out of action for too long! I am glad that I have the Tour de France to keep me occupied, and before anyone asks yes I am resting like an absolute boss. I hate downtime for inclement weather, never mind anything else, but this is a rare occasion where I've had to accept my fate and just deal with the problem. I'm used to being highly active every day of the week, so this complete change of activity is driving me crazy!

Finally then, what am I bringing back to my trip reports? Scores on the Doors! Yes, it is finally making a long overdue comeback. So here we go:

Mileage: 269.25
New haulage: 0
New sights: 14
Move Of The Day: Tough call, given the MK3s weren't that pleasant, I think none of them stood out enough to count here.
Best bit: Clearing the huge distance cycling challenge!
Worst bit: Feeling rubbish and cold at various times in the afternoon.

 

[LowLevel]

Esquires is a superb establishment, I've spent some money and put on some pounds in there! Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Techniquest]

Esquires is a superb establishment, I've spent some money and put on some pounds in there! Hope you feel better soon.

Agreed there, fantastic place and I will absolutely be back as I have plenty of cycle touring to do in that area. I'm dosing up on meds aplenty, so I expect to be back to normal before too long. How long it takes to get back on the saddle, impossible to tell. I recovered from the accident at the end of March really well, just over a month after that I managed a 100 miles ride so there is precedent to recover fast.

 

[xotGD]

You're doing some serious mileage on two wheels.

I used to do a lot of cycling around Warwickshire several decades ago. Some very pleasant countryside to enjoy and the hills weren't too challenging. A stop at a country pub was often built in to the day too.

Mind, one time my chain snapped when I was about 10miles from home, which was less than ideal!

 

[Techniquest]

You're doing some serious mileage on two wheels.

I used to do a lot of cycling around Warwickshire several decades ago. Some very pleasant countryside to enjoy and the hills weren't too challenging. A stop at a country pub was often built in to the day too.

Mind, one time my chain snapped when I was about 10miles from home, which was less than ideal!

I certainly found some challenging hills when I did a ride down to Charlbury last year, starting in Honeybourne! I couldn't tell you off-hand where they were right now, but there are certainly some tough climbs in parts of Warwickshire. Mind you, with some of them it could have been in part due to a lack of experience with hills at the time too. Yikes to the chain snapping though, that would be most awkward and possibly a long walk back home!

Agreed that my mileage is pretty serious, I hope to have a final total soon of how much I've done since February 2020. It's on my list to do!

 

[Kite159]

A good day in the West Midlands, although shame the C word has finally caught up with you.

Get well soon

 

[barrowjack]

So what does July hold in store for me? Well, the Tour de France was due to start on 1st July, running until 24th July, and I believe the women's version was scheduled to follow it, so I have an action packed month of pro cycling to watch. Trying to fit that in around work, regular exercise and so on is going to be a challenge on its own. The end of July sees the start of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and I am lucky enough to be going to a few events over the 2 weeks. I'm unable to go in-person to the cycling events, so I will have to watch that on live-streams etc. So until early August, I am going to have very little time to do much on trains, apart from some mandatory moves for the Commonwealth Games. There may be the odd bit of train-related stuff done, and if RailUK Forums have a Tour de France discussion thread going I will be active in that!

Going to the Commonwealths too but left it late so can now only justify 2 days. Love the swimming but couldn't face being inside in the heat still so outside events for me! I will hopefully pick up at least one of the cats on the Monday before I can get into the Trip HQ (Haven't anything Chiltern in the book at all still so even a return to Solihull would be a start!) Otherwise it will only be mandatory games moves for me too.

You have probably seen but one stage of the Tour of Britain cycling in September this year isn't going to be a million miles away for you (i don't think) either though not sure its easy to get to by rail at least.

https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-six/

Hope you recover from the dreaded C soon (Had it in April after avoiding it all that time. Doing my best to not get it again!)

 

[47403]

Jesus H Christ Tech after reading that it had me knackered. I was pedalling that hard on the settee hoping you done the Strava Challenge that I ended up 4 doors down the street .
Massive well done bud. The skin on your backside must be like rhino hide with all that cycling. Joking aside. Very impressed mate. You should pack a tent and supplies and see how far you get in a week. Bad news though, is you'd have to cycle all the way back.

 

[Techniquest]

Going to the Commonwealths too but left it late so can now only justify 2 days. Love the swimming but couldn't face being inside in the heat still so outside events for me! I will hopefully pick up at least one of the cats on the Monday before I can get into the Trip HQ (Haven't anything Chiltern in the book at all still so even a return to Solihull would be a start!) Otherwise it will only be mandatory games moves for me too.

You have probably seen but one stage of the Tour of Britain cycling in September this year isn't going to be a million miles away for you (i don't think) either though not sure its easy to get to by rail at least.

https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-six/

Hope you recover from the dreaded C soon (Had it in April after avoiding it all that time. Doing my best to not get it again!)

I think I'm at the opening and closing ceremonies, one of the swimming events (the mother and sister wanted to go), there's a women's cricket match I'm going to as it was only £15 and it seemed a good excuse to finally visit Edgbaston. There's also two athletics events I'm going to, so I've got a good share of events coming. I really wanted to go to the track cycling, having fallen in love with it during Tokyo 2020, but I couldn't get tickets at the time and I didn't try again after 3 attempts. Hoping to go to the championships in Glasgow (I think!) next year instead.

I had forgot to look up the ToB route, from a cursory glance that will be enormous. You are right, it's not that far from me but a little awkward. Doesn't mean I won't be there, I just don't know how I'll work it out yet but there are ways and means of doing almost everything! Thanks for the heads up

As for my recovery, I'm so dosed up on every medication and remedy to get rid of it I no longer know what's working and what isn't. The great news is that I'm a lot better this evening than I was this morning, and I expect to wake up tomorrow even better. I'm not quite back to being fit enough to do a 4am start tomorrow, and I may not be ready to go back on Tuesday, but I will find out tomorrow.

Jesus H Christ Tech after reading that it had me knackered. I was pedalling that hard on the settee hoping you done the Strava Challenge that I ended up 4 doors down the street .
Massive well done bud. The skin on your backside must be like rhino hide with all that cycling. Joking aside. Very impressed mate. You should pack a tent and supplies and see how far you get in a week. Bad news though, is you'd have to cycle all the way back.

You'd have hated my 100 miles ride in May then! Even I didn't think I'd make it at many points, how I did it I'm not quite sure, as there was one moment in particular where I thought my left calf bone was going to burst through the skin! Your comment sure made me laugh though, that's absolutely brilliant!

Padded shorts are an essential item, as I'm sure you can imagine, doing the distance I do. My record in one week is 188.9, and that was in early June 2022. If I'd been able to keep going this week, I'd have easily cleared 200 miles in one week. A week of cycling to see where I end up actually sounds like fun, I have no shortage of ideas of places to go cycling that's for sure. I reckon I could end up a long way up north in a week, maybe not Scotland as there's some rather serious hills to conquer in the way, but I'd certainly make Cumbria with the right breaks/nutrition/etc!

 

[Turbo004]

Hope you continue to recover from Covid. Your trip around Birmingham area appeared very successful. Hope you are OK for the Commonwealth Games.

 

[Techniquest]

Thank you, much appreciated It's Day 6 today, and a Covid test has come out with a faint second line. It's not gone yet, but it's on the way out. I didn't dose up all day on meds yesterday, so that was a nice change. I actually felt well enough to go for a good walk in the evening, probably wasn't wise to go for full power on my first exercise in 5 days though! The cramp in my quads was fierce, thankfully some stretches and light exercises a while after getting back helped sort that out. I had been gearing up for a ride today, if I'd been negative, but that's obviously not happening now.

I'm just glad the Tour de France is helping to keep me occupied. Not so keen on others having to do shopping for me though, I cannot break my morals and ethics by going to the shops even with a weak-positive. I know I don't have to stay indoors and all that, but again my morals and ethics. In any case, it's clearly still present as there's some tightness in the chest, which I'm keeping an eye on.

Fingers crossed tomorrow I will be clear and able to go back outside properly. Obviously this time I will be more sensible with my exercise and not go too fast like last night! I'm missing my cycling though, it has to be said, it feels weird but at least I'm sticking with it as I have planned some rides for next week. Nothing too major, but enough to ease me back into it. Whatever happens, I'm hoping to be all fit and healthy to go to the Games in a few weeks time, and you can all be sure I will be doing my best to stay healthy as much as I can. That won't be easy, considering where I work!

In much happier news, I have attached some screenshots that were grabbed to celebrate the challenge being cleared last week, as well as one from the Everest challenge. I finally had a celebratory meal, with a takeaway delivered from Papa John's the other day, to mark this occasion! Oh and I had to include a photo of my Blue Beauty (I also call her Thunderbird 1, as she's so fast!) when I got it from Glos Bike Project last month.

Finally, before I load up GCN+ to watch today's Tour action, I hope everyone is well and having a great July so far!

EDIT, 2130, 06/07/2022:

I've been a bit busy this evening getting my cycling mileage logs up to date at long last, and I wanted to share the fact I'm on 9,635.3 miles with everyone. 365 miles until I clear the 10,000 lifetime mileage goal, and I am already fired up planning how I'm going to hit that. One ride I have lined up is Pontypool & New Inn to Blaenavon, 942ft of climbing over 9.9 miles according to Maps. That's definitely not going to be my first ride when I get back out there, I will be easing into cycling. The first couple of rides will be local spins around Hereford, or at least the area immediately outside it. I'll be back on form next month for sure, and I've got my eyes on Kidderminster-Penkridge and back via two different routes. That one is just crying out for the Blue Beauty!

 

[The_Train]

30/06/2022 - Tech's Midlands Mayhem and Madness

Hello one and all, welcome back to the long-running trip report series! I was back onto a bit of a train day, at long last, although there was also to be some cycling as I was 20 or so miles short of clearing a huge challenge on Strava. I'll get to that later on, although I will note that I was exhausted after 64 miles the previous day!

As a result of that, the body was screaming at the idea of going out again, especially for anything too intense and it wasn't quite as good a sleep as I had wanted, nay, needed. Thankfully, some painkillers and a really good feed helped a lot, as did the usual morning supplements. By 9am, I was finally ready to go after 2.5 hours of going back and forth on whether it was a good idea or not. I had developed a sore throat and a bit of a random cough at random times, nothing too unusual as I'd picked up a minor cold a few times during 2022 so far and it had been nothing a bit of medication didn't fix the same day. I'm in and out of cold environments all the time at work, with huge temperature variations when it happens, so it's no surprise that I'm prone to colds.

The 0939 to Birmingham New Street was in the hands of 172335, and I easily got on board with my beast. I'd left the new addition to my household, a second-hand Carrera Zelos road cycle, at base for two reasons. One was because the grip tape on the left side had come off somehow, and I didn't fancy any more miles leaning forwards with no proper grip on that side. The second was because I was homing in on the 1,250km challenge on Strava, and this was the final day to achieve that goal in June. I'd never achieved that challenge before, and I was determined that I would do it. 20 miles was all I needed to achieve victory, following some local cycling in town, which I could have easily done in Herefordshire and saved money. However, I spent most of June cycling in my home county, and I needed a change of scenery.

So what was the second reason, exactly? Well quite simply, I'd given my beast (a Ridgeback Speed hybrid) a really good clean two days previously and it felt only appropriate to clear the challenge on the machine that's done me proud. I'd spent a lot of time deciding on a route before leaving the house, and having had quite a challenging month with three hill climbing challenges I wanted something a little easier than Kidderminster-Penkridge. So then, back to the trains! This first journey was all about getting to Birmingham New Street, and to be honest nothing super exciting happened. I had a brief chat with a lady who was flying back to Australia in a couple of days, other than that it was a fairly standard journey. I discovered, while looking through some old Strava screenshots, that I had cleared the 7,500 metres elevation gain challenge in April 2021. I'd forgot about that, it was finished on the ride that took me to Monmouth. Now that was a challenging ride, maybe a story for another day, so I've now done that challenge twice which does take away some of the celebratory mood from doing it this month. At least I can say I've done it again, and smashed it by a long way this time!

A slightly early arrival, and finally into the sunshine, I made my way quickly to Birmingham Moor Street. I wanted to see which 165 was on the Leamington Spa stopper at 1134, so I didn't waste time stopping at Pret. Dud 165013 was on the stopper, so I ended up sourcing some coffee and a flapjack in the expensive GWR Centenary Lounge. £4.55, and she didn't fill the cup even close to the top. I won't be going back to that rip-off place again! Departure was a couple of minutes late, but no problem, it was off to the countryside and I was settled on alighting at Lapworth. I noted two GBRf 66s and two 196/1s on the way out of Birmingham, so that was nice. Plenty of 196s I couldn't get the numbers of, but they'll be about in service soon enough. That will be the start of a number of Midlands train days!

From Lapworth, where the sun came back happily, I had no real plan. Once I got to the A4141 I then settled on heading to Solihull. I'd seen a Chiltern Silver set on my way to Lapworth, which I was certain would be on the 1255 from Birmingham Moor Street. That absolutely had to be done! The A4141 was a bit more challenging than I expected, and just before the M42 I saw a little blue sign. That indicated a safer cycling route into Solihull, so the M42 is now on my list of motorways I've been over or under! There's a huge amount of cycling I want to do up this way, so this could easily be an area I visit often. Back onto the road after a while for the final push into Solihull, and that roundabout just before the railway station was very confusing. The swapping of lanes without sufficient warning, thankfully with some clearly understanding drivers around me, was most frustrating!

I arrived with 30 minutes to spare, so I was going to head to Birmingham on 172342, but I declined for a break on the bench for sunshine, rest, notes updating and colouring in the relevant bit of my map. With 8.5 miles under my belt for that ride, I was now really close to victory! The Silver set finally turned up a few minutes late, and a very busy train this was. I had gone to the front to load the beast into the DVT, but because of the delay the train manager said to just park it in a vestibule. So I did just that, parked it next to the buffet car and found a seat a couple of coaches back, one which didn't stink of sewage like the first one did. I had no idea which 68 I had pushing the train, 82309 was up front and the 1255 from Birmingham is much slower than it used to be. So many stops south of Bicester, compared to how I remember these services, so I was glad not to be on it all the way to London!

The MK3s are nice, don't get me wrong, but those fixed armrests I do not miss. I might be a lot thinner than I was in the days of HST bashing in South Wales, thus it being easier to get into the seats, but it's still a feature that isn't really needed. 70011, passing with a ton of sound on a northbound Freightliner was a seriously welcome sound that's for sure, and of course at Leamington Spa I would find out which 68 I had on the back. The sun was gone again, but I was hoping it would stay reasonable for the next ride of the day! Would the weather hold back for me? Well, just wait and see!

After noting dud 165005 on the 1532 to Stratford upon Avon, 68014 made a mighty noise as it roared past me. 68008 was also out on the 1326 from Leamington to Birmingham, but there was no way of making that. I wanted to clear my cycling challenge more anyway, and to do it before the weather changed! So that's precisely what I did, once I was let through the barrier, I hate it when the Seek Assistance message comes up, makes one feel too much like a criminal!

Onwards and upwards, I wanted to get to Kenilworth to do the 'new' station there. I say new, it's been there for years and it's the only mainline station left in the Midlands for me to get. I got lost on my way out of Leamington, not helped by road signs suddenly not having Kenilworth on them! In the end, I ended up in Warwick which I'd wanted to see properly for a long time, so no problem for me. I will be back there on a walking expedition some time, and it looks like I will need a good couple of hours to see even half of the town, and the castle grounds were clearly worth exploring too.

Eventually, I was faced with a roundabout sign that had the A429 to Cirencester on it. Oh my no, that will not do! I put into action a vague plan to head to Warwick Parkway, and once I did the bit of National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 41 around the huge roundabout and over the M40 (another one for that list!), I changed my mind and kept going south.

A blue NCN sign alerted me to the fact Stratford upon Avon was 10 miles away and Hampton Lucy 3 miles away. So I ended up following that, and fair play these were some nice quality roads I was cycling on. Considering these are unclassified roads, I was quite impressed. Soon, the promised rain came down and I wondered how I had talked myself into doing such a ride! At Hampton Lucy, no little blue sign was visible but a road sign said 'Stratford 4' which I was more than happy with. It turns out NCN Route 41 goes via a much quieter route than my choice, but I was happy enough to just plough on, put the power down and get to Stratford upon Avon ASAP.

That was until I turned up in front of the A439, and yes you guessed it, one of the reasons I was not happy is that I usually get overtaken by idiots who go around on blind bends, who get too close and so on when I ride A roads. Eventually, I arrived in Stratford upon Avon and I was surprised at the lack of road signage for the railway station. I knew roughly which way it was, from a visit to the area in 2021, but for those without experience that's not clever of the council or Highways Agency. I pulled up outside the station around 1438, with Esquires Coffee next to me. When I was last at the station, it was for a Retro Railtours with 60059, which memory tells me was in 2014. I could be wrong, if someone can confirm that I would appreciate it. I could have done the 1441 to Leamington Spa, but that was too tight and I had a suspicion it would be 165005 which I didn't want anyway.

£6.15, and a small tip, for a large coffee (£2.90) and some amazing chocolate orange cake (£3.25), was a lot of money, however it was so good! That cake, WOW! Plenty of photos were taken of the decadent treat, a celebratory selfie and of the station, before joining 172220+172221 on the 1503 to Kidderminster via Dorridge and Birmingham Snow Hill.

So, you all want to know how I did with the 1,250km challenge don't you? Well I achieved 14 and something miles on that ride from Leamington Spa to Stratford upon Avon, which meant I cleared it by 5km. I was an incredibly happy man, as I am sure you imagine. It had been a hard week to drive myself to do the miles needed, I was needing 89 miles the day before in order to clear the challenge, at the start of the week it had been a fair bit more! So it's been an intense 4 days, having done 64 miles of hardcore cycling just the day before this adventure! As I updated these notes a few days later, Strava informed me I had done 155.1 miles of cycling in 4 days. My record for a week is 188.9 miles, achieved in early June 2022, and if I'd kept going with my usual amounts of cycling all week I'd have probably passed 200 miles!

The coffee and cake in the town upon the Avon became an impromptu celebration of conquering this challenge, last time I tried it a long time ago, I fell short by around 150km. Strava also told me I had done 780 miles in June, which was by some way a new personal best!

Back to the trains! I took those 172s to Smethwick Galton Bridge, for an easy change onto a Liverpool bound train. With the main map update done, and Strava activity log shared once it finally let me, given it was lagging like crazy, it was time to mong out. At Widney Manor, I had a Chiltern Silver set pass by, was there meant to be 3 68s out? I was of the assumption this was not the case.

Sitting by the doors, for the cycle space, is less than ideal and this showed when I was rather chilly before Birmingham. Down the stairs to platform 3 at Smethwick Galton Bridge, and 350239 rolled in up front on the 1604 Birmingham New Street-Liverpool Lime Street. I would have to ID the rear one at Crewe! With the space for wheelchairs and cycles filled with passengers, I resorted to standing in the vestibule until Wolverhampton, taking a fold-down seat onwards to Crewe. By then, the weather had come out to be glorious, although that did not last long. I had been going to get some sort of hot beverage in Crewe, but that went out the window when I was on the phone to my little sister for a while. She was expecting me to suddenly announce I was popping by for a surprise visit, given I was in Crewe!

I noted 350118 on the back of the train I'd taken from Smethwick, and I had also seen 3 777s and 230008 on the approach to Crewe. I was doing well with new sights today! An unusual sight was 66501 hauling HHAs, now that is a sight I'd not seen in a long time! 57314 was also around on some sort of fancy charter stock, and soon after I observed 325006+325001 come to a stop heading north. It isn't too often that I get to take photos of any 325s so I was on a roll. A shame I didn't get numbers of the 777s on the other side of Crewe LNWR, and it was a sad sight when I saw the Freightliner 86s on Crewe Basford Hall, all parked up awaiting perhaps no more duties.

My mission in Crewe was simply to finally do platform 7 at what is probably the most famous railway location outside of London. This platform had bugged me for far too long, although it's been years since I stopped micro-gricing I still keep note of interesting bits at frequently used stations. Platform 7 is awkward and expensive to do if not on a WMDR. That ticket is £30 now, so it's not the sort of day out I can afford to do too often. Like most journeys, it has to have multiple uses to justify the fares, given the ever-rising cost of food and so on! 350107 and 350265 were in combination today on the 1733 to London Euston, and I had wanted to take them to Lichfield Trent Valley for some Starship action all the way to Bromsgrove. Just for the novelty of doing so, but that meant a +/-0 in Birmingham for the 1920 to Hereford, as well as a huge wait in Bromsgrove for a train to Hereford, and I would have to arrive back super late. That could not be justified, primarily because I had not yet had a proper lunch, let alone any evening meal, and I was almost out of the water I'd brought with me. The sight and sound of 68017 as I passed it on a car train was most welcome though!

So it was with much regret that I would have to sacrifice some much-desired Starship action, yet again. I bailed at Stafford for the following Birmingham train, and I was shivering. The rain was back with a vengeance, and the wind was bringing quite the chill with it. I dived into Starbucks and got a small Earl Grey as well as some banoffee cake. £5.15 was a super urgent and desperate ploy to warm the body up, it sure didn't feel like the end of June out there! The cake, well it was nice but not worth the ching. The Earl Grey was good, it must be said, that warmed me up nicely, so it was worth £2.40 and a fine bit cheaper than Upper Crust had wanted for tea in Crewe! From the waiting room above platform 4, I got to note 66770 head north making a racket, it might even have been a required sight. On which note, I'm bringing something back to the trip report thread on this occasion, stay tuned!

350121+350267 were in charge of taking me back to Birmingham, where I was planning to finally source some proper food before the train back to Hereford. Tesco Metro was due to get its first visit from me in quite a while, I genuinely could not remember at the time of typing when I was last in Birmingham for long enough to leave the station! I eventually got there and, thankfully, it didn't take long to find a space to lock the beast near Tesco. I had been toying with diving into Greggs on the station instead, but I declined the incredibly unhealthy food.

Since my last visit, Tesco Metro has had quite the move-about, so it took a while to find stuff I liked. I really don't like paying £2.80 for a 10-pack of Violife cheese slices, but I knew full well a meal deal was not going to cut it. £6.10 spent, and I was fortunate to get onto 172335 (hello again!) in time to grab the space I had taken in the morning. Exactly the same seat too, although the less said about the unpleasant people around me the better. That is one thing I always forget, on WMR the class of passenger is only just above the drain on some services, and the 1920 from Birmingham is often one of those. Call that snobbish if you like, but when you look up and the man opposite you is scratching the living daylights out of his inner leg (I hope it was just scratching!) then you do have to question why one gets on a train sometimes. The chavvy parents on the other side of my area, I wasn't a fan of them and their behaviour either, but at least they weren't heavily intoxicated I suppose! They eventually got their foul behaviour under control, I felt sorry for the child to be honest!

Anyway, my monocle and top hat is firmly put away, and 60074 in the loop platform at Bromsgrove made for a nice surprise. A shame I wouldn't get to hear it roar away! I had not noticed the 1920 has a long turn-around at Worcester Shrub Hill, if it had been more than 9 minutes I would have got off and done the ride to Foregate Street, rejoining the 172! By the time I'd have got out of Shrub Hill Station though, I'd have had just 7 minutes and that was too risky.

I was bored beyond bored, and I was hoping for dry weather for the short blast back to base. That looked possible as I approached Malvern, and I could not help but wonder why I didn't pack a jacket. I blame not being fully well before setting out, thankfully the throat and cough did not cause any real problems all day. The odd cough, but nothing unusual. Even so, by Ledbury I was absolutely ready for bed!

So what does July hold in store for me? Well, the Tour de France was due to start on 1st July, running until 24th July, and I believe the women's version was scheduled to follow it, so I have an action packed month of pro cycling to watch. Trying to fit that in around work, regular exercise and so on is going to be a challenge on its own. The end of July sees the start of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and I am lucky enough to be going to a few events over the 2 weeks. I'm unable to go in-person to the cycling events, so I will have to watch that on live-streams etc. So until early August, I am going to have very little time to do much on trains, apart from some mandatory moves for the Commonwealth Games. There may be the odd bit of train-related stuff done, and if RailUK Forums have a Tour de France discussion thread going I will be active in that!

Sadly, as I finish editing these notes a few days after the event, I must add that I was rather unwell the day after. I ended up with a really bad throat, the cough was worse and I even fainted in the bathroom soon after waking up from a long and heavy sleep! The covid test got done, and sure enough I was positive. That had never happened before, so imagine my disappointment to see the two red lines on it. It has hit me pretty hard, just the trip to/from the kitchen is enough exercise for me currently, and I'm just glad I managed to achieve my cycling challenges in June before this happened. Coffee doesn't have its usual magical effect, nor really does the vitamins and minerals supplements I normally have. Fatigue is very real, and just the idea of leaving the house for any purpose is too much to consider.

Obviously, as a result, I'm off work at the moment as I doubt I'd survive the walk there, never mind a full shift or anything else. All sorts of medications are being used to help sort this out, I don't want to be out of action for too long! I am glad that I have the Tour de France to keep me occupied, and before anyone asks yes I am resting like an absolute boss. I hate downtime for inclement weather, never mind anything else, but this is a rare occasion where I've had to accept my fate and just deal with the problem. I'm used to being highly active every day of the week, so this complete change of activity is driving me crazy!

Finally then, what am I bringing back to my trip reports? Scores on the Doors! Yes, it is finally making a long overdue comeback. So here we go:

Mileage: 269.25
New haulage: 0
New sights: 14
Move Of The Day: Tough call, given the MK3s weren't that pleasant, I think none of them stood out enough to count here.
Best bit: Clearing the huge distance cycling challenge!
Worst bit: Feeling rubbish and cold at various times in the afternoon.

Another superb write up Tech, and congratulations on completing the challenge
What better sort of hobby to enjoy than one that is genuinely good for your health in every way - keep up the great work with that!

Sorry to hear you've got the lurgy though, I'm sure you'll be over it in no time. I think it took me 7 days to get a negative test when I had it last year so you're not far off that and the fact the line is faint would suggest you're heading in the right direction.

 

[Techniquest]

Another superb write up Tech, and congratulations on completing the challenge
What better sort of hobby to enjoy than one that is genuinely good for your health in every way - keep up the great work with that!

Sorry to hear you've got the lurgy though, I'm sure you'll be over it in no time. I think it took me 7 days to get a negative test when I had it last year so you're not far off that and the fact the line is faint would suggest you're heading in the right direction.

Thanks! I'm on Day 9 today, and I've finally tested negative this morning. I did it again this afternoon, to make sure it wasn't a fluke, but finally it's clear. Still feeling proper rubbish in the mornings, by the afternoon it's a lot better. Weird!

I'm definitely struggling to go back to normal, the body just can't cope with even a walk at the moment without having a hissy fit. It manages to an extent, but I'm constantly having to watch out for cramp in the legs and tightness in the chest. It's as if I aged 30 years in no time at all!

Still got the desire to go out cycling, I tried a gentle pace ride on Thursday to put some normality in the legs, developed bad cramp in both quads. Nothing physically wrong with the legs, according to the physio I saw yesterday, and according to the NHS there's nothing wrong with me. Just a lag from Covid and I am apparently fit enough to go to work. That was their view yesterday, when I was still struggling with energy levels being through the floor. I can go back to my normal job and return to normal activity apparently!

That remains to be seen, I'm doing much better this afternoon but even a slow walk had to be monitored carefully and my left quad acted up after a while with my phone in my pocket. Took it out, and it stopped moaning at me but still had to be careful. For someone whose average speed is 4.5mph on a slow day, and 5.5mph over an hour as a record, only managing a top speed of 3.9mph today was poor. I dare not take either of my cycles out for a ride, and I'm losing the plot with that mentally. I can't wait to go back out, but the physical health barrier is driving me mad.

Back to work on Monday at 4am in theory, but I just don't know how the body will be tomorrow. The NHS say I'm just struggling with a slow recovery from Covid, and that I don't need more time off work (how they come to that conclusion I don't know), so I have little choice, I have to go back to work and struggle on!

 

[Box]

That all sounds rather nasty, but I’m sure things will improve. Try to stay positive, I hope the recovery is quick.

 

[Kite159]

Hopefully you will be back to full strength sooner rather than later

 

[Techniquest]

That all sounds rather nasty, but I’m sure things will improve. Try to stay positive, I hope the recovery is quick.

Hopefully you will be back to full strength sooner rather than later

Thanks both, I'm certainly trying to get there. I wasn't feeling faint or dizzy in the bathroom this morning, so that was a big step forward. The energy levels are just rubbish though in the mornings and I'm on all the vitamins and minerals to boost my recovery as much as possible. The pharmacist in Boots was sympathetic and understanding, a welcome change from the NHS lot I've dealt with so far.

I'm still not there with it yet, and even with all the rest, hydration (I'm fed up of people telling me to keep hydrated, as if that's not something I do anyway and as if that's what is causing my issues), nutrition and all that, I still get cramp in my legs on a gentle walk. It's not been on a challenging route, or an intense pace or anything like that, and it's even been done in the evening when the weather is cooler just to make sure there's no extreme heat causing issues. Still it happens, and there is no reason for it that I can find and everything I keep getting told to do I'm already doing.

I just don't get it, I'm doing everything right but I am still not back to even half-power. It's starting to cause a lot of mental strain now, and that's really not helping matters!

 

[Techniquest]

17/07/2022 - Edgbaston Village extension opening day

Well this was a day of two very different halves! Once it was confirmed in the morning that the 1005 from Hereford was running, unlike TfW's first train of the morning but let's not talk about that disappointment, I finished watching the previous day's stage of the 109th edition of Tour de France and got going. I was finally going to meet up with the legend that is Kite159 for the first time in over a year!

He had informed me a couple of days before that the new extension to Edgbaston Village on the Midland Metro (or whatever they're calling it now) was opening on 17th July 2022, and that he was diverting that way on his way back from an adventure as a result. Funds were going to be a bit tight this month, but I decided the opportunity to meet up with the honourable gentleman could not be turned down. It wouldn't be for long, sadly, but it would be better than nothing.

170508+170513 had joined up in unison for the day to work the 1005 to Worcester Shrub Hill, as it was buses between Worcester and Birmingham due to engineering works. On the way to the station, I had discovered I could alight at Worcester Foregate Street, do a replacement bus to Kidderminster and get a train forward to arrive at Birmingham Moor Street at 1229. Much less time on a bus, on a hot day, and more train time? Bring it on! The journey to Worcester was smooth as silk, apart from a small delay for an unknown reason, but there was plenty of time to connect into the bus still. It was due to leave at 1052, and finally left at 1104. With a 10 minute connection in Kidderminster, all seemed like it was going to go wrong.

Well, it did. Finally leaving Droitwich at 1124, we went up the A442 towards Kidderminster, with the driver following Maps on his phone. I'm sure you can see already this was a problem, but it got worse. There was a road closure around 4.4 miles out from Droitwich Spa on the A442, and while Maps happily found him an alternative route it did not realise it was for a single-deck 20-plate Diamond bus! The driver eventually asked if anyone knew the area, and one lad said he did but he also led the driver to narrow roads that are signposted as unsuitable for such vehicles. So we got back to the outskirts of Droitwich, and I decided it was wise to stop fretting about the delay and moaning by text about it. I needed to take action, so I went down to the driver with Maps on my phone, and it appeared our best option was to head up the M5 and join the A448.

When we got there, of course there's no junction for that so we went to Junction 4 just past the branch for the M42, joining the A491 towards Stourbridge and turned onto the A456 near Hagley. The driver, it turned out, was from Birmingham and the drivers from the local depot don't work Sundays. The other driver who he'd seen in Worcester hadn't told him of the road closure, or the correct route, hence his using Maps. I felt bad about moaning about it all and ended up staying up front to help make sure we stuck only to roads suitable for a bus. Instead of arriving at 1137, we arrived at something like 1225, so rather late but I was glad to just get there to be honest. Perhaps I should have gone down earlier into the journey really, we may have saved several minutes.

A dash to Tesco Express got me some supplies, and I was regretting not doing the journey from Shrub Hill to Birmingham after all, as it meant my meet up with Kite159 was now going to be very short. 172217+172214 took me to Jewllery Quarter, with Kite joining me at The Hawthorns. We made the short transfer (that reminded me of 'tap with pride, every time you ride' on LA Metro, oh yes that's a nice piece of nostalgia!) over to the Midland Metro platforms, and it was onto winner 39 to Grand Central. We had a quick walkabout and a chat, but that's all we had time for as Kite had to get a train to London. Short but sweet, nice to see you again in person good sir, next time it'll be for longer hopefully!

After getting a disappointing oat milk Dark Roast coffee from Tim Hortons, as it was mostly cold as soon as I got it, that was devoured in less than 3 minutes. £2.29 not well spent, very much let down by that experience and I will not be rushing to go back there now. A shame, as I have fond memories of Tim Hortons and my first experience of them in May 2018 on my Toronto trip. Some nice pieces of nostalgia there coming through! I ended up walking to Town Hall Victoria Square, having missed a tram and the screen giving me no indication of when the next one would be. I was soon onto winner 45 to Library, as I had been genned up on a huge Commonwealth Games store next to the tram stop. Let's just say, while there was stuff I liked, I could not justify the prices being charged for t-shirts or, indeed, much else! £28-£30 for the t-shirts I liked, no thanks, and £20 for a baseball cap, not a chance, I left empty-handed but not ripped off!

Back onto the trams, and I took winner 44 to the new end of the line at Edgbaston Village. Other new stops at Brindleyplace (why there's no space and capital P I have no idea, how bizarre) and Five Ways. With the new line attracting plenty of attention, unsurprisingly, I saw I had around 16 minutes before the next tram was due out after 44. So I went for a walk to the mainline station at Five Ways, just because I could. I developed some cramp in my right quads on the way back, the body is still recovering from Covid 2 and a bit weeks after the initial infection happened, and 9 days after testing negative again. The athletic ability is taking a long time to come back, and that is driving me mad. If I'd been going 'full gas' (shamelessly stealing that term from the pro cycling world!) I could understand but this was not terribly fast.

Anyway, I decided that time was running out to make it back to Edgbaston Village, so walked to the Midland Metro stop at Five Ways. I was soon rewarded for my patience, as while the Wolverhampton tram was dud, I scored winner 40 to the terminus. Of course, the sensible move was to stay with now-dud 40 which I took to the other new stop, Brindleyplace. The on-board screens show it as 'Brindley Place' but apparently it's Brindleyplace. I guess that's just a quirk of Birmingham! Next up was winner 43 which I jumped off at after a tiny leap to Library, as there was a winner on the other platform. Sadly, no I couldn't get on it so I went for a walkabout and had an explore before waiting for it at Town Hall Victoria Square. It was a beautiful and really hot day, but the following day was scheduled to be the hottest day ever experienced in the UK, so that would be a day of no outdoor activity!

Winner 41 was up next, and just to mix things up a little I alighted at Bull Street. 39 was back on the next Edgbaston Village, but winner 38 was heading to Wolverhampton not much later. I was rather in need of dealing with redundant fluids by now, and my final target for the day was seen as I arrived at St Chad's, the stop previously known at Snow Hill. I was then on the chase, and at Colmore Row I just couldn't decide where to go and get a drink but also to use a particular facility. I found in the nearby park a statue for the Commonwealth Games, so I had to stop and snap that. If I hadn't taken so long, it appeared I'd have beaten the tram to Town Hall Victoria Square, but never mind. I continued my walk and 39 was observed at Brindleyplace. Knowing this, and that the next tram was due in 7 minutes, I continued the walk to Five Ways to join the tram there.

Sure enough, after just 3 minutes of waiting, I joined my last required tram on Midland Metro. Eventually, numbers 46-59 will be had but I'm led to believe they're either not in the UK yet or they are but won't be in service yet, not until the Eastside extension or possibly the new bit in Wolverhampton open. Until then, Midland Metro is 100% cleared again! I took winner 42 to Corporation Street, in search of an option I liked for a meal. I ended up doing a near 1 mile wander before giving up at New Street station. There, I went up to Grand Central and did what needed doing first. Did you know there's a Kitty Cafe up there? I didn't, and I just had to let a former colleague and friend know! It's not my thing, otherwise I'd have no doubt gone in.

Yo Sushi appealed, but I didn't think I'd have time to get my takeaway and onto the train, so I ended up in Tesco Express for a meal deal. That actually hit the spot well, and 323211 was in charge of taking me to Bromsgrove. Clearly, after 3 minutes of delay waiting for a pair of Voyagers to clear the way, we had a keen driver and a vocal Starship, as the motor noise was excellent on this move! All the way to Bromsgrove, it was most enjoyable and over way too fast. If I had known there were trains running between Bromsgrove and Birmingham today, I would have gone that way on the northbound journey! Waiting outside for the rail replacement bus, I continued typing up the trip report as I had no patience for any more walks to fill the time. The sound of 323211 as it left was most enjoyable, it reminded me of older days of 323s as I normally get a muffled Starship. I was also treated to a lesser-spotted part of the XC fleet, in the form of 43378+43321 heading north!

4 minutes late, the coach and its incredible air conditioning took me on the journey via the A38 and Droitwich Spa to Worcester. No problems on this journey, and it's worth noting I did make some notes on the roads for a future cycling adventure on these rail replacement journeys. When I will get to go cycling again, this remains to be seen but hopefully soon! I alighted at Worcester Foregate Street and had plenty of time for the final move of the day. Again, no patience for any more walks, so I ended up waiting it out upstairs soon enough after a fresh air break. 170513+170508 arrived to take me back to The Ford, and the air conditioning was most welcome. Considering we were only into the high-20s, I did not want to think about how I'd survive the extreme heat forecast for the next two days, this had been a bit of a challenge.

It was forecast to potentially hit the low 40s, even in my part of the world, which did not bear thinking about and it would be interesting to see how everyone gets through it. I do like the sunny weather, but usually my limit is high 20s for any real level of activity. Outside of work, all I was planning to do was watch Tour de France in the afternoon. I was so determined to go out and meet up with Kite that I purposefully delayed watching Stage 14 (out of 21) of the Tour! Those of you who have been following it will know only too well that it's been manic, well worth watching and that there's no doubt some good racing to watch on the final week ahead!

Overall then, a pretty good day out. 8 winners in the Midlands is unheard of these days, never mind the scoring of required track. To do a new line on the first day of opening was pretty fun, and of course the other two new stops were also scored. The social did not last as long as would be desired, but these things happen. Generally speaking, I cannot really complain and it was money well spent. I even got to finally start getting into the spirit of the Commonwealth Games, which with so little time left until the start is about time! It was also nice to get out of Hereford, having been stuck there for nearly 2 and a half weeks, following Covid and the recovery from it. I'm still not quite there yet, but I'm making progress.

So, to end this, what would I say was my best bit? Definitely re-clearing Midland Metro, even if it will not be for all that long. Worst bit? Not getting my planned social, for sure. Move Of The Day definitely falls to 323211 on that Birmingham to Bromsgrove journey. I haven't got on and totted up the mileage, the rail mileage was not high but that wasn't a huge concern. Now, the only thing left to say is: Let The Games Begin!

 

[Kite159]

It was nice to have a brief catch up , shame wasn't for very long

 

[Techniquest]

It was nice to have a brief catch up , shame wasn't for very long

Hopefully our next catch-up will be not be on a Sunday next time, and I won't have to wait until 10am to leave Hereford! I'll have to start booking time off work soon, so we'll see what happens

Also attached are more photos from yesterday.

 

[47403]

Good write up Tech. Congrats on clearing the trams, well till the new ones arrive. Shame about the very brief meeting with kite. Those rail replacement buses are a complete mare. Same when the metros are off here. They take moons to get between the stops.

Seemed like an enjoyable day out though Tech. Better to be out n about than sitting staring at the walls at home.

 

[Techniquest]

Good write up Tech. Congrats on clearing the trams, well till the new ones arrive. Shame about the very brief meeting with kite. Those rail replacement buses are a complete mare. Same when the metros are off here. They take moons to get between the stops.

Seemed like an enjoyable day out though Tech. Better to be out n about than sitting staring at the walls at home.

Sorry it's taken me more than a few moons to reply to this! I must have meant to do it after making a cuppa or something, then forgot I can well believe it with the Metro replacement buses, that would be enough to put me off travelling for the day!

I've had a few crazy weeks, the Commonwealth Games kept me very busy as did Tour de France, so did Tour de France Femmes. I haven't had time for the European Championships events, or the other pro cycling races, recently. I have been getting out and about much more though, and Tour of Britain begins a week on Sunday I'd be going to watch it in Tewkesbury or Gloucester, the closest it gets to me, but I'm working that day. Other things have been filling my time quite a lot lately, including holiday and cycle tour planning, although with no time off work booked it is all in vain at the moment. A change of hours at work is coming up soon, so it will be all change to the routines again. It should make booking holiday time a little easier though, one boss to speak to than the 3 I have currently!

Oh, and I cleared my 500 miles of leisure walking challenge a fair few days ago, when I started the challenge I was going to do a second round of 500 miles (sort of like The Proclaimers, walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more ) but I don't fancy that now.

Anyway! That's mostly what has been going on since my last post on this thread over a month ago. I'm slowly getting back on track with better eating again too, not exactly there yet but compared to a month ago it's nearly there. I eat very little chocolate these days, and my ice cream consumption is happily back to almost non-existant again as it was before Covid. Biscuits however, good gravy that's something that really needs sorting out!

What you're all here to see though is what my latest trip report is. What started out as a London red pen fest on this week's days off turned into something far different. There was still a heavy focus on trains though! Without further ado, here it is:

24/08/22 - Summer-set Tech

Hello one and all! This day trip was the result of at least FIVE hours of planning after work two days prior, it had been all set for a nice and simple whistle-stop tour of Essex but that plan changed dramatically when I saw the state of finances. With some expensive weeks ahead, and a need to stop relying on the magic plastic [credit card - Ed], it was knocked back to a day trip and I had all sorts of options. East Midlands, West Midlands, Herefordshire, Swindon-Salisbury, North Wales, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Isle of Wight, West Sussex and no doubt a couple of other choices. There was much going to and fro with ideas, and having to give up on some of them due to only getting cycle reservations in one direction but not the other. It was driving me mad, I had been awake at 3am and by the time of finally booking the tickets it was nearly half 8 at night!

Eventually, I had an Anytime Return to Taunton, with seat and cycle reservations, all to start on the 0638 from Hereford. The day before, on the way to work, I picked up my tickets and got TWENTY tickets with all the reservations! Booking on XC was the only way it would let me do things, and while I was certain the GWR GTi HSTs are non-reservable I couldn't risk not having something, just in case.

0415 and I was wide awake an hour ahead of the plan, by 0445 I gave up trying to go back to sleep. I got a lot of extra bits done as a result, and even had some modest fortune with the traffic lights. I still arrived with 14 minutes to spare, and I'd battled with the decision for which cycle to take with me. My Ridgeback Speed, a hybrid, or my Carrera Zelos, a road cycle. Both had their merits, and somehow the logic came to be that I'd take the Carrera, better known as the 'Blue Beauty'. I was hoping I would not regret that decision as the day went on, my backpack had a fair bit of weight in it!

Onto 175105 then which had arrived nice and early, and this was my first of the class in well over 2 months. Two mountain bikers got on after me, taking up all the space, but we somehow made it work for all of us, and as I was alighting before them it made sense to move mine to the front. So I settled in for the journey with some music on, reflecting on my recent [non-trip reported - Ed] cycling adventures. The previous week, I'd gone to Stourbridge to finally clear the gap between there and Penkridge on my map, as that would progress my North to South coverage mission well. That was a challenging ride for multiple reasons, partly because of the A449 but that's a story for another time. The day after that, there was a national railway strike, so I did August's Gran Fondo, which was tough going as I'd failed to restart Strava after a stop and ended up doing 9 more miles than technically required to make sure it all worked! The week finished with a 38 mile coverage mission around Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, which was a challenge with the hills and wide variety of surface quality! I was starting to see some athletic ability coming back with that amount of cycling, long overdue after nearly 2 months of waiting to fully recover from Covid!

Back to the day in question, and I wasn't aware of construction work right next to Pontypool & New Inn station, I wonder what they're up to. Certainly there's been a lot of vegetation cleared and it all caught my eye! The weather in South Wales was a bit wet, so I was hoping it was not about to change in Somerset! I toyed with waiting the extra 32 minutes in Newport for an HST all the way to Taunton, but I was due a pair of 158s and it's been too long since I last had one of those. 158769+158762 took me to Bristol Temple Meads, and no real issue boarding the Blue Beauty, apart from someone blocking some of it with an e-scooter. This is the service I would have been on if I'd gone to Portsmouth, and part of the reason for wanting to go there was to have a Turbo between Salisbury and Portsmouth. So I would have been bowled out there! Still, the nice and comfortable seat was welcome, and it was time for the coffee I'd brought with me. My mini travel flask did an amazing job of keeping that hot, so much so it took until the approach to Bristol to finish it!

Just as well I didn't really want to go to Starbucks, that queue was extremely slow moving. I kid you not, even after investigating the 0824 to Weston-super-Mare and rejecting 166204, some of those in the queue were still waiting to be served. Something was calling me with the pair of 220s on the way down from Derby, unhelpfully the cycle reservation had no allocated coach on it. I still had the option of a GTi HST yet, I would not decide until the Voyagers arrived. Thankfully, the rain was not present in Bristol, which bode well for the forecasted dry weather, and the wind from the southwest was also correct. This was the reason for choosing to start in Taunton!

220034+220030 rolled in and I surprisingly had no issue loading the Blue Beauty. Mind you, she is smaller than my Ridgeback [better known as The Beast - Ed] which was one reason for choosing her today. Let me not complain about the unpleasant looking weather outside the window, or the absolutely awful mobile signal, as to do so might take a while! The focus of the day was now shifted to cycling, and no matter how much I stared at my map I just couldn't choose which way I would go first!

A vague decision had been made by the time I arrived at Taunton, and it felt like it was going to rain. Sure enough, by the time I got outside, that's exactly what happened, it started throwing it down! The Met Office app did not have that on it, a mere 10% chance of rain but that's basically nothing, and usually the app is pretty accurate. At times it let up a little bit, but mostly it was heavy. So much so I had to squint my eyes to see where I was going at times! I really don't like wet weather cycling, and that's on roads I know well. On country lanes I don't know at all, this was not fun. When I got to Cheddon, I started following some National Cycle Trail blue signs, and they seemed to be taking me towards Bishops Lydeard. That sounded like a nice plan, I hadn't been anywhere near the West Somerset Railway in a long time, so I had an alternative plan for the day.

There was a road closure after a while, so I ended up giving up on that idea and, after a brief chat with a fellow cyclist who was trying to take shelter in a phone box-turned-library a little west of Kingston St Mary, I had a 9.5 mile ride ahead of me to Bridgwater. I could have gone back to Taunton, but that would not have been an adventure! I had found myself in the Quantock Hills according to some signs, and there was some lovely scenery around but stopping to try and take photos in the nasty rain and low cloud? Not a chance.

A couple of miles from the diversion, I came across a 15% uphill gradient, and it was a long hill. I almost got to the top without stopping, but after a few seconds I was back on the move. 6.5 miles to go from the top of that hill, 'I could do it, this would be fun' I convinced myself. To be fair, I was right at the time, the weather was against me but I could still enjoy this beautiful scenery. Well, until I got to some deceptively steep riding. The sort of road where it doesn't look like it's going down [or up - Ed] but it's affecting the ride. On a dry road, with a good surface, it would have been welcome, especially with a strong tailwind, after the climbs I'd done. This was of course not the case, the surface was dubious in many places and my brakes were so wet I was struggling to get them to work properly!

Thankfully, after Enmore, the hills let up on me and safer cycling was back on the cards. It seemed to be a long way to Bridgwater, and its town centre was finally reached. It was still throwing it down, and after 14 and something miles I had the Blue Beauty locked up. I needed coffee ASAP, and I don't like the extreme prices in Coffee #1 [or their poor service - Ed] or Costa, so I went to Greggs and a vegan sausage bap with a large sugary black coffee was a bargain at £2.80. It was not terribly good for me, but it was seriously welcome. Soon enough, I was back on the move and headed to the railway station, shivering away at times. It was a surprisingly nice station building, but in that rain I was not stopping for a photo!

43010+43162 arrived to save me from the weather, and after securing my cycle it was time to collapse onto a seat in the warm. By Weston-super-Mare, however, the rain had gone away and I decided to alight to go and buy new clothes. I ended up on National Cycle Network Route 33, and I followed it all the way to Brean Sands in the end. The route along the shared-use promenade was actually quite nice, then it goes along wide shared-use pavements for a short way, before branching off and getting to a nature park in Uphill. That was pleasantly surprising, a really nice ride through there and definitely one to recommend to others.

Bleadon Nature Reserve also looked good, one to make a visit to another time. Overall, the path was good quality apart from some rough bits. It's not terribly recommended on a road cycle, if taken at a sensible speed then it is fine though. At Brean Sands, the route goes another 6 miles to Burnham-on-Sea, but it goes over sand all the way. The Blue Beauty was absolutely not going to cope with that, so I was going to turn back. A sign suggested it was 4 miles to Burnham by road, so I decided to go for it. This did allow me the opportunity for some 'full gas' [full power, max speed, max effort, that sort of thing - Ed] cycling which was seriously welcome.

Eventually I needed a Maps check, and I had 40 minutes before the next train to Cardiff Central from Highbridge & Burnham. Tesco was very close, I figured I'd get some reasonably priced, basic clothes from there. Well no, their male range covered some boxers, socks and maybe some pre-packed shirts. Not really any good to me, so I headed to Asda, which I had wanted to avoid but it had to be done. £15 later, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and some socks were sourced. Only the basic stuff, but it would have to do. At the station, I finished logging my ride just as 43022+43194 arrived. A much more cheery Train Manager this time, and I got changed ASAP.

This time I was staying on the GTi HST all the way to Newport, everything else had to wait for a future trip. The day was not what I expected at all, but I managed to salvage some of my plans for the day. It could have gone much worse, that's for sure. A couple of bagels and a vegan chocolate and hazelnut protein bar were had, and that filled a huge hole. I was hungry and I wanted a nice big plate of vegetables and gravy, but that was not happening yet. When I got back to base, then it could, so I had something to look forward to there! Spoiler Alert, but when I got back the first thing I did was prepare and cook some veg, and it was an awesome meal!

Before I knew it, I was going through the Severn Tunnel, on an HST. I used to do this so often I can't actually remember even vaguely how often. That was a nice bit of nostalgia, and I had to start getting ready to alight at Newport. I was soon over at Hi Coffee next to platform 4, and I even just about had time to buy a £3.10 Anytime Day Return to Pye Corner once I had a coffee. Why? I wanted to do the curve at Gaer Junction that links Newport with the Ebbw Vale line, it's a bit of track I had wanted to do years ago when I lived in South Wales, but it was never too easy to do back then unless you were on an uncommon charter train. The curve reopened to regular passenger service in late 2021, from what I recall, so it's taken me a long time to get in place for it!

170270 did the honours with the 1520 to Crosskeys, and I was soon off at Pye Corner. I had 37 minutes here, hence the coffee to be enjoyed while waiting, and I was going to put some music on too. My earphones and phone, however, decided not to co-operate with each other so that plan went out of the window! The sugary coffee [I was wanting a good boost to tide me over until the return to base! - Ed] was thoroughly enjoyable, and the rain had stopped so I was about to head off for a quick bit of cycling to fill the remaining 25 minutes. Then the clouds decided they were full again, so that plan immediately went back in the bin! If I had had a coat with me, I'd have simply got on with it and pedalled away, but this was not the case, I had not planned for wet weather. At 0545, I had been applying sun cream in case the clouds with sunny spells turned into something more, but 'more' was not expected to be rain!

Anyway, the divine spirits must have felt sorry for me, as the arrival of 170270 with its return from Crosskeys brought with it the return of dry weather. This time, I was going to chance it, and I had an hour before the 1706 to Newport. So I pedalled away and went via the B4591 to Risca & Pontymister station, the furthest I dared to go before heading back. Cycling in jeans that are a little bit too small for me, with basically no give, was a challenge but I survived! Once I got to the station, I fancied investigating National Cycle Network Route 47 back to Pye Corner, which uses the Monmouth and Newport [that may be wrong! - Ed] Canal's towpath.

I'm not known for enjoying cycling along towpaths, but I was willing to have a look. The roads leading up to the nearest access point, in this case McDougall's Fish & Chips, involved quite a gradient, and being unprepared for it I ground to a halt as I was in too big a gear! Soon enough I was there, and some isotonic drink was welcome here. Onwards to the canal, and I was actually pretty impressed. The towpath was actually quite wide, unusual in my experience, and it was tarmac for its surface. Colour me surprised! It even stayed that way, another pleasant surprise! A few road crossings are involved, but that's nothing too inconvenient. I had expected a number of locks to navigate, but I found none.

At Fourteen Locks, I left the towpath and it looked like the surface was about to get quite rough and ready there. I had to leave it there anyway, so I could access local roads to get back to Pye Corner station. I'm sure I could have used another point, but that was the only one I could see for sure. Of course, this meant a surprising amount of traffic, and just before then the sun even burst through the clouds for a while. It was also worth noting a road sign had declared Cwmbran was just 6.5 miles away, but I had valid rail tickets to use and I was not willing to waste them! A rather steep downhill section led to a mini roundabout, which was next to Pye Corner station and I had arrived with 13 minutes to spare.

A mandatory bike-selfie under the large station sign was had, and following the logging of the ride on Strava it was soon time to join 170270 again. A smooth journey got me plenty of time to visit Hi Coffee again, this time picking up an Earl Grey and a vegan sausage roll. The time seemed to drag waiting for the 67+Mark 4 set to arrive, partly because I wanted to know which end the DVT was for loading the Blue Beauty, and the screens were not revealing this information. 67025 eventually arrived on the front, and I had the Alzheimer's Society DVT on the back. I think that's the first time I've seen it on a train I'm on, happy days. With the cycle loaded, I found a seat in the front carriage and got this up to date. Time for that roll, which sure filled a gap!

So what of the day in general? Well I would have never believed anyone who tried telling me that I'd have a day of play being called off due to rain, nor would I have believed it if I was told I'd score some required track in South Wales and get new cycling coverage too! It was a day that didn't go to plan whatsoever, but it turned out to be pretty reasonable in the end. I still would have liked to do my touring of Somerset properly, but it is what it is! It was an expensive day, but at least by doing those bits in South Wales it will save having to go to Newport especially, so technically I saved money!

All in all, a decent day out and I had an easy day off lined up. I was doubtful it would happen, but it has to be said as I edited this the morning after that an easy day was indeed happening. Partly enforced by weather that looked like October outside, I was in no rush to go into that!

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So, what's next? I genuinely don't know. I have too many things I want to do, but money is a little too tight to do most of them. I have family visiting the area soon, and most of the non-committed funds remaining are being kept for that. There will be more cycling soon, in terms of adventures worth sharing on here though it may be a while yet!

 

[Techniquest]

Finally for now, because I can't be bothered to choose only 10 photos for the adventure, here are the others

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a nice day trip other than the unexpected wet weather

 

[shredder1]

Good stuff Tech, keep them coming

 

[Techniquest]

01/09/2022 - Tech vs Wales (aka September's Gran Fondo)

At 04:14, I was wide awake for reasons unknown, and last minute planning was soon underway for the day's adventure. I was determined that I would clear the month's Gran Fondo on the first day of the month, as well as get a whole ton of new coverage. I wasn't originally going to do a trip report, but the train back north was so enjoyable I couldn't help myself! As often happens in these trip reports, I've got so much to discuss I've missed a few [an extreme exaggeration there! - Ed] sentences, but stick around and we'll talk about that in a bit!

Much decision making had to be done, as I had needed to cancel my original plan due to a rather significant weather forecast change. I got bowled out by a heavy reliance on weather forecasting the week before in Somerset, but I was willing to believe the wind forecast today. By the time I was drinking my coffee, it had gone up to 30mph gusts in the morning in Port Talbot. Low-20s I can deal with, not happily but I can deal with it. The sustained wind, that was a lower forecast, and the glorious weather originally forecast was gone. Anyway, with a Book With Confidence claim put in yesterday, I had spent hours deciding on what to do. It was eventually left to the morning, and the gust forecast was looking to be around 23mph from the East-North East, so I took this and ran with it. I booked an Advance for £25.50 from Llandeilo [it was the same fare as Llandovery, so it made sense - Ed] to Hereford. The night before it had been £3 cheaper, but oh well!

With a need to collect tickets before leaving Hereford, I eventually got myself and The Beast [the Ridgeback Speed hybrid cycle - Ed] and its panniers loaded up with all sorts, I was not willing to put it all on my back for this ride. I'd have loved to take the Blue Beauty [the Carrera Zelos road cycle - Ed] out on this ride, she'd have gone whizzing up the hills, but in the wind that strong I'd have not been as safe. I had struggled yesterday with 18mph gusts in Hereford on it at times after all!

With the primary mission achieved, on a rather chilly morning, I rallied up my spirits and took on the A438 out of town. I had a mighty long way to go and a lot of weight to pedal along, my panniers weren't too light. Of course, it turned out I didn't need all the spare clothes this time, but if I hadn't taken it all I'd have needed it! The road had a number of silly drivers on it, and the wind was fighting against me all the way to Willersley. I was in need of a coffee already!

That was achieved at the Esso/Spar in Whitney-on-Wye, and while I don't drink Costa coffee too often these days it was £2.70 well spent. Onwards and upwards, and soon enough I was past all the roadworks for the rebuild of part of the embankments above the River Wye. The sign welcoming me to Wales was also well received, and I kept charging on towards Brecon.

Doing the ride from Hereford to Brecon had been a goal for a long time, and this was finally about to be achieved! At Glasbury, a stop was required for photos and a rest, and the wind was mighty chilly as it blew over the river. After my bagel was had, it was off through Three Cocks and around Bronllys, still a long way to go and at the 6 miles from Brecon point I stopped for a break. I knew there was a fair ol' climb coming up, so it made sense, and I was ahead of schedule anyway.

The weather kept feeling like rain, which as it turned out did not produce after all, and the long climb leading to the known downhill on the Brecon bypass was soon done. Due to the wind, I had to put in a fair bit of effort to get a decent speed on. At the junction for the town centre, I was more than ready to pull over for a while, and this got done at Aldi, the first shop I saw where I could get a big bottle of water for later on.

Coffee from base camp also had, which is just as well as it was almost cold, it was off to the A40. Brecon is on the list of places to go for a proper exploration some time, but that was not to happen today. I knew from previous road trips that there were some big gradients coming up [nowhere near as massive as those on the A4067 thankfully - Ed] and, crucially, where a lay-by was with facilities. That was near the top of my list of priorities by now, over 40 miles into the ride! The sun had also come out, which was extremely welcome. It didn't stay out for too long, but it was still nice!

The hills to Sennybridge were harder than I had expected, but eventually I got there. Just before the village, I could have turned off for the A4067 to Swansea, but I know from visits to the city how nasty the hills would be. There is a reason why I didn't go that way! I was still ahead of my schedule, which had been 7 hours to get from the house to the station then over to Llandeilo, so a stop was made and the SiS energy gel during said stop was an incredibly welcome bit of carbs. I'd had a huge plate of pasta and sauce for breakfast, thinking that would have provided plenty of energy, but apparently it didn't, I drained carbs so fast!

Onwards and I thankfully knew the A40 west of Sennybridge is not too bad. It still had its challenges, and soon before Trecastle I managed to pull over for some more scenic views. The A40 skirts along the northerly edge of the stunning Brecon Beacons, so I had plenty of scenery to enjoy! The big descent into Trecastle was seriously welcome as it allowed an actual bit of speed to be felt for the first time in possibly the whole ride. A good while later, I rode through Halfway and I'm not ashamed to confess I started singing Bon Jovi. You know the line I'm talking about, "woah, we're halfway there, woah, living on a prayer". It just had to be done! Especially as, by then, I was getting frustrated with the random deceptive climbs and descents, combined with wind that seemed to really peak at the most inopportune times and I was fed up of waiting for Llandovery to show its face!

Fortunately, I finally got to Llandovery and the final descent out of the Brecon Beacons National Park was done. I pulled over at Penygawse cafe, and £2.35 later I had a small black americano. Small is right, it was not worth the money really, but the break was entirely necessary. By the time I'd arrived there, I'd left base camp over 5 hours previous and was on 60.5 miles. Maps suggested it was 12 miles to Llandeilo on a 'mostly flat' route via the A40, that would suit me just fine, after settling up and taking advantage of the chance to visit the little room, I was off again a little after 1pm.

Maps' description, in its defence, was modestly accurate. Random and surprisingly steep climbs and side wind got on my nerves at the worst times, and when I heard a train head south near Llanwrda I was so happy to hear a Class 153. A quick stop in Llanwrda, well timed with a surprisingly steep but short climb soon after, then again in Manordeilo. Whenever possible I was going as fast as I could, no mean feat with all that weight, so that was putting a lot of strain on my back. I was getting fed up as I stopped in Manordeilo, I still had a few more miles to go and all I wanted to do was stop and give up for the day.

Thankfully, I eventually saw the roundabout I had been looking for, the one on the outskirts of Llandeilo. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a roundabout! The ride to the railway station [even though these cycling-train trip reports are originally shared on RailUK Forums, the hope is that I'll eventually share them elsewhere too - Ed] was almost over, and when I got there it was 13:52, 6.5 hours after leaving base. 72.8 miles all in, almost my biggest ride since recovering from Covid nearly 2 months ago. Two months exactly since fainting in the bathroom with it, that's not a memory that will fade any time soon! I noted later on on Strava that it was a year ago that I did my ride involving places like Mumbles, Langside Bay and Carbis Bay, that was a long time ago!

After locking The Beast at the station, I headed into town and the stomach was angry with me. Eventually I parked my rear end on a bench to finish typing up my notes on Strava, and I discovered I'd rode through 2,445 feet of elevation gain on the ride, small wonder the back was getting angry! A quick walk about town was next, and I have to be honest I don't think that much of Llandeilo. It really isn't a terribly interesting place! Do NOT get me started on the railway station, which looks like it's been abandoned for years. I've seen some seriously rough stations in Europe, and Llandeilo was slipping towards joining that club. Considering how a station can provide the first impression of somewhere to a visitor, you'd think they'd have the decency to at least empty the seriously overflowing rubbish bin!

Anyway, after sourcing some supplies in Co-Op, I headed back to the station and chose the most sanitary place I could to have some recovery food. Eventually the 15:34 to Shrewsbury turned up with 153318, and I have to confess I didn't get a photo of it. I meant to, but for reasons unknown I didn't. 12 minutes late and I was off on my first train up the Heart of Wales line in a number of years.

Jointed track and high levels of noise from the Class 153 single car DMU, oh yes I was enjoying this. More so as almost all the windows were open, so plenty of noise to enjoy. I'd even managed to get a table, so my map update was nice and easy to do. Add in ungated crossings with 10mph restrictions and much use of the horn, I was having a lot of fun! The scenery was of course good too, and the sheer racket going through Sugar Loaf Tunnel and up to the summit of the line, well I was loving it!

Penybont [not Bridgend/Penybont-ar-Ogwr! - Ed] surprised me, as I'd forgot about the tunnel soon after it. After Cilmeri, we were going up into some of the more remote areas, places like Llanbister Road [I'd seriously not want to try walking or driving to Llanbister, those roads aren't fun - Ed] and Llangunllo before heading across the awesome Knucklas Viaduct. I'm now torn between Cynghordy Viaduct and Knucklas Viaduct for which I enjoy more, I'd have to do the latter again to make a more firm decision.

Arrival at Knighton put us back into England, as Knighton is a slightly odd place in that the town is in Wales but the railway station in England. Before all too long, I noted the train going around the sharp bend into Craven Arms and arrival was now down to just under 4 minutes late at 18:03 or so. During the disembarkation process, through the narrow doorway, I managed to knock my front light off its fixture and it ended up on the track, oops! It had been playing up when I last used it anyway, so it will be time for a replacement soon!

Over the footbridge and thankfully the 18:04 to Milford Haven was a few minutes late otherwise I'd have not made it. 175114 was surprisingly quiet and the cycle space empty, so I had no issue getting The Beast secured. That isn't too common on a Class 175 [2 or 3 car DMU - Ed] in my experience, and I soon had my earphones in to start typing up these notes. Of course, I didn't get too much done on the short journey to Hereford, and they were finished around 21:45. By which time I was shattered, 04:14 had been a long time ago! Bed was not an option until after the proof-read though! 22:02 and it was ready to be posted, I hope you all enjoy the read as much as I enjoyed the 153!

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More photos tomorrow, I couldn't choose just 10!