Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports

[barrowjack]

Just caught up with all your postings. Great and interesting read as always. Looks like you have some exciting things planned already for 2023, but in the meantime hope you and yours have a good Christmas.

 

[Techniquest]

Just caught up with all your postings. Great and interesting read as always. Looks like you have some exciting things planned already for 2023, but in the meantime hope you and yours have a good Christmas.

Thank you I hope the same will apply to you and your family too

Today I paid £20 for a replacement provisional driving licence, my other one had the old address on it so I finally got to changing that. Only problem was I couldn't find it, so I've sent off for a new one! Learning to drive has gone way up my priority list, I think I might have finally found a way to get around the anxiety it causes. I will be doing something about that in January, once the holiday has been had!

 

[Iskra]

That's quite the year you had Tech. Amsterdam is a great city, but I find the rest of the country is much nicer so do explore beyond Amsterdam if you can

 

[All platforms]

I have enjoyed the mammoth read on the 2022 review - quite a lot packed in despite a few setbacks at times. It is most definitely recommended to have a wish list for 2023 and beyond, and i think your list is far broader than most folk will have. Always good to see what tickles peoples fancy regarding travel! Have a great 2023 when it finally arrives and i look forward to reading your festive trip report in due course.

 

[Techniquest]

I have enjoyed the mammoth read on the 2022 review - quite a lot packed in despite a few setbacks at times. It is most definitely recommended to have a wish list for 2023 and beyond, and i think your list is far broader than most folk will have. Always good to see what tickles peoples fancy regarding travel! Have a great 2023 when it finally arrives and i look forward to reading your festive trip report in due course.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the read! It was a mammoth read, but then it was a mammoth task to type up I suppose! It's fair to say it's been an interesting year, and 2023 has got a number of goals and resolutions all set. I've finalised that list today, at long last, and it has been discussed at some length in the New Year Resolutions thread. I've been on this mission for 5 and a bit years, and now we're almost at the end of 2022 and the period of reflection and planning (the final 16 days or so is often full of such activity) has almost been concluded, I am happy to say I'm about to launch fully into the final stages of the 2018 Grand Plan

Today I paid out £54 for a 2 hour driving lesson on the 3rd of January 2023, so that mission is underway. The rest of it, well I don't think it will be much longer until it all happens. I also have up for consideration, during the dead time at work later, a red pen fest in Manchester on 4th January 2023 if there are no strikes on. It will be the first of the year, and who knows when the next one will be? I doubt it will happen, so close to the 8 day adventure coming up on 8th January 2023, but I also said last year I'd never need my provisional driving licence ever again!

I fully expect to post the trip report for 8th January that evening, it won't be a long one as it's basically just a day of travelling from base camp to Premier Inn in Dalston. If all goes to plan though, I'll have some red penning that day too!

In the meantime, have a great New Year everyone! I'd best go get ready for, and depart for, work before the rain arrives again!

 

[NorthWestRover]

There is a strike on 4th January. RMT on 3rd and 4th, ASLEF ON 5th, RMT ON 6th and 7th. Don't think Northern will be running much, if anything, around Manchester.

 

[Techniquest]

There is a strike on 4th January. RMT on 3rd and 4th, ASLEF ON 5th, RMT ON 6th and 7th. Don't think Northern will be running much, if anything, around Manchester.

Oh well, never mind. Another load of money the railway gets to miss out on, and potentially more money into Stagecoach's pockets. No doubt there will be issues in London on the 8th, 12th and 15th of January too, I will have options there but I'd like to avoid dragging a case around London if I can! I think I've made the right decision in learning to drive, some serious expense in doing so but the money I don't spend on the railway will soon balance that out nicely!

Quite, I'm so determined I'll get it done in 2023 that I'm already deciding what kind of car to buy. I've decided learning in a manual car is the most sensible thing to do, and in time I think that decision will reap many rewards. Nothing too major for the first car, but something with enough oomph in it to get me up hills without too much struggle will be mandatory. Ideally it'll have to be able to fit my Blue Beauty in the back too, with enough room left over for some luggage and shopping too. I don't think that's too much to ask!

 

[Techniquest]

08/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 1

Hello and welcome to the first entry of my World Frenzy series in 2023! This year, I am fully expecting to conclude the World Frenzy, following a recent re-design of my world exploring trips. There's two big adventures to come in 2023, hopefully, which will end this blog before I restart my European adventures. That is to take an entirely different fashion to previous World Frenzy adventures, no longer is the focus on ticking off as many countries as possible, as fast as possible or as cheaply as possible. These days, it's much more active travel than ever before, and the 2024 adventures will hopefully be done in a fashion never previously expected or desired. That is the brief run-down of that, let's get to the fun stuff!

This adventure has been lined up for a long time, and encompasses London, Amsterdam and Inverness, hence 'tri-city'. Originally, it was just to be London and Amsterdam, but an opportunity to meet up with a very good friend in Inverness was not going to be passed up! The new railway station at Inverness Airport was meant to be opening before my visit, but this has been delayed. We'll get to that on Day 6, and this is an 8 day adventure! Day 1 was set to be pretty much just a positioning move to London, ready for a Eurostar service to Amsterdam Centraal the following day. Yes I was finally doing the direct Eurostar to Amsterdam, it had been on my list to do for a long time!

To kick things off, GWR provided 802102 on the 1227 Hereford to London Paddington and I had, for a while, considered not doing the £20 Weekend First upgrade. When the train arrived, however, the platform was rather busy and I felt it would be £20 well spent. So I took seat 59 in coach L at the front of the train, which is a solo seat next to the kitchen on a Class 802/1. The memories of First Class travel in November 2022 came back to me, and this was my first train journey in just under a month. Therefore, this was a special occasion again and I could not turn down the better seat. Even better was that there was catering on board, and shortly after Ledbury I got a coffee and fruit crumble flapjack square. If only I could afford First Class travel more often!

The journey to London was going pretty smooth, in some changeable weather, and from the sound of an announcement at Oxford it was very busy in Standard Class. I certainly felt very good about deciding to upgrade! I had had a further coffee between Worcester and Honeybourne, after which they left us to enjoy the journey. I'd also got through an orange and 4 bananas that I'd brought with me, as part of a recently discovered drive to eat better after a weigh-in the day before. Thankfully this was to be a fairly active 8 day adventure, which would help no end with burning off the 7kg I wanted rid of!

Arrival at my favourite railway station, anywhere in the world, was almost 4 minutes late at 1532, and I didn't hang around long for I had a connection I wanted to make onto the Bakerloo line. With a fairly large case, I wasn't interested in doing too much in one of my most favourite cities in the world on this occasion. I love to spend time in London, but I wanted to drop my case off before much else. So I made my way onto 3456+3255 to Queens Park, and due to engineering works there were London Overground trains diverting via Primrose Hill. I had not done that line for more than 15 years, back when Silverlink was in existence and 313/1s and 508/3s worked the Watford DC Lines! For those familiar with that era, that was a long time ago!

I missed a train doing such a diversion, so with just under 30 minutes until the next one I went off on a stroll. Having been sat down for the majority of the day, any and all exercise was welcome! A short trip to Co-Op to use a voucher was made, and I had lots of time left so I kept my eyes focused on the Bakerloo line trains. I only want 3461/3561 (one of my old books from 2004 listed the 34xx number first, so I've stuck to that traditionally) on that line to 'clear' the lot, so I am keen to find it one day. Both trains with numbers after it showed up, but not my desired one. I even flagged (passed up on) 710257 in favour of looking for it, but 3461 didn't show up before dud 378232 was taken on the slow journey to Dalston Kingsland, on the aforementioned diversionary route via Primrose Hill.

Following the journey into East London, and a quarter of a mile walk later, I had arrived at Premier Inn and my room (number 415) was huge. I had so much free space that I could have parked up 3 fully laden touring bikes in the room! The next mission after dropping off my case was to do some more walking and get food. I settled upon Sutton & Sons outside Hackney Central, as that fish and chips shop did vegan options. I liked the sound of them, so went in but being hungry and tired (with all that coffee in me, I have no idea how I was tired) I settled for the budget option of a large portion of chips. £3.95 and I had a monster feed, the quality was excellent and I will absolutely be going back there. Quite, on Day 5 of the adventure I will be back in London and they may be getting a visit again! For London, the price was extremely reasonable and I would recommend them. It is a small place, but worth the visit!

The walk back was done in no time, and I actually struggled to finish the last few chips! It was comparable with my local chippy, who can do quite generous portions at times too! A lot of lazing around the room followed for the evening, the conditions weren't amazing outside and eventually I got determined to do something about that. I connected up my wireless earphones, for which I'm starting to see why people love them, and put some music on to get a monster indoor workout done. I had plenty of space, so it got well used!

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More photos coming soon, right now it's time to hit the shower and finish getting ready for today's adventures

 

[Kite159]

That first class upgrade was worth it for the distance and more comfortable seat

 

[noddy1878]

Once you've gone wireless for earphones you can't look back!! Sounds like a relaxing positioning move day.

 

[Techniquest]

That first class upgrade was worth it for the distance and more comfortable seat

Absolutely I would have liked them to do one more round after Oxford, but that's just me being picky.

Once you've gone wireless for earphones you can't look back!! Sounds like a relaxing positioning move day.

I have to agree, it was a bit weird using wired earphones again today. Foolishly lost my wireless ones at Heathrow, thankfully as they were £10 they aren't super valuable!

 

[Techniquest]

Well hello everyone! Before I share Day 2, I offer my apologies for the delay in continuing this trip report. It's been a very busy few weeks since I got back from my adventure, the health and fitness goals are well underway and are taking up much of my time. I've also had 3 day trips since then, two of which haven't really warranted trip reports but one of them did. In due course, it'll also get posted but not before this one is done.

There's also been a lack of enthusiasm for trip reporting recently, and I'm mostly only getting back on track with this one because it's starting to annoy me. It should have been done 3 weeks ago, if not more. I've also been down and out with a nasty cold recently, the month of February has not started well and my health and fitness goals are not going well. January was amazing for that, I logged 54 hours and 51 minutes of activity on Strava! I also achieved 30km of running in just 6 days, which for me is incredible, as well as 477km of cycling, a Gran Fondo with a difference and 207km of walking in January. Helped no end by having 8 days of holiday time, of course, but even I'm happy with that as it felt like I was getting back to an acceptable level of physical fitness again.

Anyway, I'm going back to work today and given the MacBook is on charge I've got my trip report out to have a look at it again. So here, finally, is Day 2!

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09/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 2

0400 and I was awake, not what I wanted after not getting to sleep until at least 2330, but something got me up and I just knew I'd not get back to sleep. With a much needed shower had, it was time for a coffee and some music before I decided on my route to London's St Pancras station. Anyone familiar with it knows just how beautiful it is, I didn't explore it properly today athough I had plenty of time. Next time perhaps!

Soon enough, while drinking my coffee in Premier Inn, I had the crazy idea to check the route by foot from Premier Inn Hackney, Maps suggesting it would take me around 57 minutes. As I found out, even with a couple of brief stops for checking Maps and such like, I got there much faster than that! Of course, it was easy with almost no traffic so there was no hanging around at crossings. After my second coffee, I had committed to the walk and I was on the way at 0522. A small drain was missing its cover near Essex Road station, so while I managed to successfully avoid the case getting caught on it, my right foot was not as lucky. It being full of water, my poor foot was pretty wet, d'oh! Other than that, it was an easy walk and one I'm glad I did.

With the walk completed in just 41 minutes, I had to wait for check-in for the 0816 London St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal to open at 0615. I was through all the security checks and passport control at 0622, so I had a nice and long wait for the train! I had not expected it to take long at that time of day, and once I got a Pret filter coffee I parked up and just chilled. As it was a World Frenzy trip, I had to get Dougal's Bonkers 4 - World Frenzy mix playing. Hard to believe I took the title for this series of blog posts from that almost 5 years ago, where has the time gone?

A short time before 0800, boarding had begun and after grabbing a photo of the Class 374 I found my seat, number 54 in coach 7. Up front on my first ever ride on a Class 374 Siemens Velaro Eurostar set was 374025. It was assumed at that point that 374026 was on the back, although this would at some point be checked! I had plenty of space at the table seat, due to it being just me at the table, and soon after departure at 0816 it was a very slow journey. Thankfully after Stratford International the power was put down and it was non-stop to Brussels' South station, better known as Bruxelles Midi.
First impressions then of the Velaro sets, well they are fairly modern and not as uncomfortable as they look. The tables are narrow, even with the pull-out bit extended. There is a UK power socket and a Euro plug socket between the seats at tables at least, they are a bit awkward to reach when sat down though. I would much rather be aboard a Class 373, the original Eurostar sets, which are in my opinion more fun. The airline seats do not look terribly appealing, I must say, and looking at the experience so far I'd not be in a rush to choose Eurostar to Paris or Brussels again, unless it was on a 373.

To be honest, I don't rate the scenery of northern France or western Belgium that much, so that bit wasn't terribly exciting. Going over the sprawl of lines and depots to the west of Brussels is always a good sign that the journey is finally nearly finished, and this was the first time I've been on a Eurostar which doesn't use the terminal platforms. That felt a bit odd, and the screens on board said the stop in Brussels was short so pleaded to get people to alight quickly. We were at platform 5 for about 11 minutes, hardly 'very short' in my opinion! Upon departure, I got my first sight of SNCB Class 18s, 27s and even a NS 186 in a long time. I didn't realise the 27s were still running, they're rather old now and they were on my last visit!

Passing through places like Bruxelles Central on an Eurostar was well funky, and there I saw a pair of SNCB 'Break' units. They're still going, they were worn out when I went to Belgium years ago! I noted, sadly, that Bruxelles Nord is still an absolute dump, and after Scharbeek I was onto new terrain. This would be the case until somewhere just before Amsterdam Centraal. Another note about my Eurostar set, the windows were not as clean as I would have expected, and they reflect a lot of the interior, so photo taking was not worth even attempting. Something was ahead of us by the looks of it for a while, thankfully once into Antwerpen Central a bit of speed was finally found again. I wasn't all that impressed with this journey, as you may have guessed, and if I was to go to the Netherlands again I would absolutely choose to fly from an airport close to base, or if I was taking a cycle I would absolutely choose the ferry from Harwich. The Eurostar services to/from Amsterdam will not feature in my European adventures again, it's just too slow and boring!

Around 1116 UK time, it was over into the Netherlands, it felt like a long time getting to that border. It did mean that we were not too far from Rotterdam though, a city I would like to explore at some point. 1301 (now gone to GMT+1 for the next few days) and it was through Schipol Airport, so back to track I've done for most of the way to Amsterdam with exception of a couple of little bits into Centraal. I was certainly looking forward to a good walkabout, I was feeling uncomfortable after so much sitting down in one place for hours. How I will manage the ultra-long-haul flights later in 2023, I have no idea but by then I hope to have figured out a way!

Arrival in Amsterdam was 2 minutes late at 1315, and I was glad of the fresh air. The rain had held off, and I had to wait until 1500 to check in. So I went exploring and of course that meant I got wet when the clouds tipped out a few minutes after I started walking! The streets of Amsterdam damaged my case too, one of the wheels got damaged so it became difficult to move it after a while. Much grr! Eventually, after 4.68 miles of exploring, I got to base camp for the next 3 nights, which was Sara's Boutique Hotel. Check-in was done after two obnoxious Brits, who were not very nice to the staff and later left after complaining about almost everything. I was glad they left as were the staff, and with the €50 deposit done and €17-something city and tourism tax paid I went up the narrow and steep stairs to my room.
I have to say I liked it, OK room 4 is just a single bed room but it had a TV, good heating, wardrobe and a decent looking bathroom. WiFi was pretty good too, and the bed was very comfortable. I've stayed in better hotels, it has to be said (the Sheraton in Zagreb will always take some beating!) but this was pretty decent. I think for the 3 nights with the taxes it worked out at around £117, so not too bad at all.

I was soon back out exploring, and my walk took on Vondel Park. I hadn't expected to find a park, and it was massive. It sure gave me good excuse to stretch the legs and get some power, not to mention speed, going on! I also wanted to see Rijksmuseum, it looked a beautiful building and that was not wrong, wow it looked good! I don't know what the museum is for, but the place was definitely worth seeing. Before too long, I wanted to see the city lit up at night, so I made that a priority. I left my card in the room, so whether or not I wanted to buy something, I couldn't!

In all honesty, while there's some beautiful architecture in places, I hadn't seen what all the fuss is about with Amsterdam. Perhaps if one consumes all the dodgy adult activities, then it's a different place but someone who is teetotal then it's not really a city for me. I do like the cycling culture in the Netherlands though, that much I can say. It does 'weird me out' a bit when I don't see people wearing helmets, but it is a totally different ballgame than cycling is in the UK. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when I discovered the hotel does cycle hire I was hugely interested. They looked a bit like Beryl bikes, so only really much good for city cycling but that would suffice for me. The prices seemed reasonable too, so I would investigate on Day 3!

I was feeling the effects of much exercise by the end of the 7.36 mile walk, so once upstairs I had a good feed from the supplies sourced at Albert Heijn on the first walk in Amsterdam. A bit later on, the rain kept starting on and off again, so it was probably just as well that I got back indoors a bit early! After that, and typing up the trip report, the main objective was to prepare for Day 3. This included the hope that the nutrition would sort out the aching body, although I was sure a good shower would help too.

I was surprised at the pace being done at times, given I had my last coffee around 0830 UK time. There were plenty of times that I fancied coffee, but was I willing to chance it in one of the many nice looking cafes in Amsterdam? I'm sure, as I returned to my trip report to re-edit it on 6th February 2023, that I'd have probably been fine but there was no chance of me risking it.

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I forgot to mention that I am hopefully soon going to actually go through all my photos and sort out a proper online gallery of them. It has been on my list of things to do for a long time!

 

[Techniquest]

Day 3 is also ready! The frost has pretty much gone outside, so I'm going out there shortly. Days 4-8 will have to wait until another time!

10/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 3

After a mighty long sleep, something around 11 hours I think, I was up around 0815 and soon enough I was out on a walk to go and get coffee. I stopped for that at Dunkin' Doughnuts, who had a morning offer on with a small coffee costing just €1,50. It was indeed small, but very good so I could not complain at that! A bit further on, the coffee had gone in no time, so while also stocking up on supplies in Albert Heijn I got another coffee. Also €1,50 and a bit bigger, but the quality was lower.

Once back at the hotel, I was now finally feeling a lot more alive thanks to the coffee and, after some time preparing my bag for the day's activities, I made my way to reception to enquire about the hire bikes outside. These require a €50 deposit, and cost €15 for a full day. These Dutch bikes, better known as fiets, are a bit different to the cycles I've used in the past but they were OK. I'd not want to ride one all the time, or on anything other than a quick dash down the road for some shopping, having now tried them I'd be happier on my Blue Beauty! I had planned to do my Gran Fondo today, which for those not versed in cycling is a 100km in one ride challenge on Strava. I failed to achieve it in December 2022, one of only two months where that happened (the other was July 2022 during the recovery from Covid) in 2022, and I was keen to do the year's first one in the Netherlands. It's a fairly flat country, how hard can it be?

Well the terrain may have been fine, but what I hadn't planned for was the weight of the fiet and the strength of the wind. Oh my that was not fun! I gave up on the Fondo after 7 miles, and instead of the ride to Utrecht and back I kept it much more local to Amsterdam. Until I found one of the red and white signs for Haarlem, 21km away at that point. I just had to go for it! A bit later, I rode past an old railway, I couldn't tell if it was being ripped up and not replaced, or if it would be fully modernised after a new bridge was put in somewhere. Unfortunately, I took no photos which is crazy when I think about it! With some confusion on the route with some signs missing or pointing me in the wrong direction, I ended up instead following signs for Aalsmeer.

Crossing a big road with a heavy and slow fiet, with the resulting difficulty in getting it going again along with some sticking gears, well you can imagine the panic that created when I found the traffic signal thing wasn't working! Thankfully I made it across OK, and after a break I finally made it to the outskirts of Aalsmeer. I then saw a windmill, so I had to go and take a photo! After that, I rode into town to hunt coffee. Well I failed miserably with that but I did source some food in Jumbo, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands. The chilly weather was getting to me as I ate lunch, so I was glad to get moving again. My route took me up past Schipol Airport, Amsterdam's international airport. At one point, I rode relatively near the end of the runway and the noise off the planes taking off was incredible! I was rather enjoying that, and it had me in the mood for the flights to/from Inverness later in this adventure!

I kept on riding up through Hoofsdorp, all the while with the plan to stop in Haarlem for a coffee before the ride back to Amsterdam. Heavy rain had been forecast for the capital city of the Netherlands at 3pm, so I was keen to avoid that. Somewhere a bit further on, some confusing signs led me the wrong way, so I stopped and looked at the map on Strava. Oops, back I went and carried on towards Haarlem, then another red and white sign suggested, while the blue road sign said 4km to Haarlem, that I should turn right for a 5km ride into the city. OK, I thought, I'll do that but further up the road I found I was riding around the outside of the suburbs of Haarlem. Fine, whatever, I'll just carry on back to Amsterdam was the thought, and by now the wind was getting stronger.

Every mile felt like 10 by this point, fighting the sidewinds was not fun. On one of my own cycles, in particular my road cycle nicknamed the Blue Beauty, I'd have probably flown up the road! That said, it's so light I'd have probably been blown off the road on it!

Eventually I reached the outer suburbs of Amsterdam, it having been drizzle levels of rain for a while. I could have changed into my waterproofs, but I didn't see much point by then! 6km to go the signs assured me, and the ride wasn't too bad through the city although the wind made the effort required so much more! Getting into the city centre felt like a long ride though, and it's worth mentioning I'd somehow strained the muscles in the back quite badly during Day 2. If I hadn't packed my Deep Heat roll-on, I'd have been unable to do much at all! That in combination with painkillers saved the trip!

With a couple more stops in the city to make sure I was going the right way, I finally made it back to the hotel after a little over 40 miles. Getting inside into the warm was so welcome! I bought a small coffee for €1,50 at reception, much needed by then given it had been something close to 6 hours on just two very small coffees (by my cup's standard anyway) all day! Once upstairs, the other urgent business was taken care of and it was time to rest. The back was not liking me, and some more Deep Heat was applied. A couple of hours of rest was seriously welcome, and later on I decided to brave the wind and rain, not to mention the chill, to go out and see Amsterdam at night.

There were some nice scenes, of that there can be no doubt, but to be honest Amsterdam is not my kind of place. There's some nice architecture, actually scratch that there's a lot of it, and Vondel Park was amazing, but all the silliness like the legalised cannabis, alcohol consumption and the Red Light District all put me off ever visiting the place again. Other places in the Netherlands, yes I am sure they will appeal enough for me to visit and who knows, perhaps they will get done, but Amsterdam is not for me. Once I leave on Day 5, I won't be back!
Maoz Vegan got a visit at last, and their falafel burger was amazing. I added some carrots, pesto and chickpeas to the lettuce already in there, and while it wasn't cheap at €8,50 she failed to charge me for the fries at €2,80 so that wasn't so bad. They were overcooked and oversalted, so not great but they were still welcome. A visit to Albert Heijn saw me get some vegan chocolate to enjoy back at the hotel, and a little bit more walking through the city followed before finally crashing out in the room. The walk got logged on Strava, then I hit the shower for a badly needed clean-up. A catch-up on RailUK Forums followed, and I finally got around to typing up these notes. By that time, it was nearly 2130 and I still needed to plan Day 4.

After a lot of exercise in the first few days of the adventure, it seemed like a good idea to dial it back a bit on Day 4. There would of course be some exercise done, but the use of some trams and Metro sounded like a good idea!

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More photos from Day 3 will soon follow, I'm sure, there's too many to choose from here. The Strava segment screenshot is included here as it was my first ever KOM crown on Strava. I never expected to be the fastest of them all anywhere in the world, so that was a pleasant surprise. I suspect by now I've been overtaken, but in honour of such a, well, honour I had to screenshot that!

 

[Kite159]

Nice exploring of the city & area l. shame the bike was heavier than what you are used to.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Know what you mean about the hire bikes - a few years ago I had one of the blue and yellow OV-fietsen* that you could hire with the Dutch equivalent of the Oyster card, and it was a heavy old lump even in calm weather.

* bike singular in Dutch is fiets with the S, bikes plural = fietsen. Only one Dutch lesson today, double tomorrow perhaps.

 

[Techniquest]

Nice exploring of the city & area l. shame the bike was heavier than what you are used to.

Beryl bikes weigh a fair amout, but they're very light compared to a fiets! They need to be, I guess, for the winter weather but I will not be rushing to buy one!

Know what you mean about the hire bikes - a few years ago I had one of the blue and yellow OV-fietsen* that you could hire with the Dutch equivalent of the Oyster card, and it was a heavy old lump even in calm weather.

* bike singular in Dutch is fiets with the S, bikes plural = fietsen. Only one Dutch lesson today, double tomorrow perhaps.

Thank you for the correction, I clearly am not well versed in Dutch!

You can sure tell when a bike is heavy when even a tailwind doesn't push one along very fast!

 

[daveo]

Brilliant trip reports and photos, thanks. Any chance of some captions please?

 

[Techniquest]

Brilliant trip reports and photos, thanks. Any chance of some captions please?

Thanks, happy to hear you're enjoying the read so far I'll see what I can do about captions on the previously posted photos, I'm having a lazy morning to allow recovery time from yesterday's running (don't ask how that's going!) and even more so since the recovery from the flu has not yet been completed.

So I will try to get it done today, shortly I will be getting some more photos from Day 3 added to this post then onto the re-edit of Day 4. It was all done weeks ago, but I'm clearly not happy enough with it to go up just yet. Once this one and the day trip to Shropshire is up, I think it will be a break of a few weeks before I carry on with trip reports.

Which I don't think is necessarily a bad idea, given most of my trips don't really feature the railway too heavily these days, so I can't imagine how they must read. Equally, I like them because I feel it helps to showcase how it's possible to combine two very different lifestyles into one purpose.

So then, the next wave of photos in order are:

1) Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
2) Shopping street in the centre of the city, I have to be honest I can't remember which one
3) A view from one of the many, many bridges in Amsterdam, looking west, a short way from Rijksmuseum I believe
4) Hotel D'Europe, Amsterdam
5) Almost next to Dunkin' Donuts, this street leads towards Centraal Station
6) Apologies but I've forgot the name of this place, I'm sure it's a museum of music though, it just caught my eye and I didn't make notes
7) Another piece of architecture that caught my eye, but I haven't got a clue what the name of the church was!
8) No I can't remember where precisely this was either, it was in the city centre somewhere though!
9) Finally, this one I believe should be with Day 4 but it is the huge entrance to the Noord-Zuid Metro line at Rokin

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 3 is also ready! The frost has pretty much gone outside, so I'm going out there shortly. Days 4-8 will have to wait until another time!

10/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 3

After a mighty long sleep, something around 11 hours I think, I was up around 0815 and soon enough I was out on a walk to go and get coffee. I stopped for that at Dunkin' Doughnuts, who had a morning offer on with a small coffee costing just €1,50. It was indeed small, but very good so I could not complain at that! A bit further on, the coffee had gone in no time, so while also stocking up on supplies in Albert Heijn I got another coffee. Also €1,50 and a bit bigger, but the quality was lower.

Once back at the hotel, I was now finally feeling a lot more alive thanks to the coffee and, after some time preparing my bag for the day's activities, I made my way to reception to enquire about the hire bikes outside. These require a €50 deposit, and cost €15 for a full day. These Dutch bikes, better known as fiets, are a bit different to the cycles I've used in the past but they were OK. I'd not want to ride one all the time, or on anything other than a quick dash down the road for some shopping, having now tried them I'd be happier on my Blue Beauty! I had planned to do my Gran Fondo today, which for those not versed in cycling is a 100km in one ride challenge on Strava. I failed to achieve it in December 2022, one of only two months where that happened (the other was July 2022 during the recovery from Covid) in 2022, and I was keen to do the year's first one in the Netherlands. It's a fairly flat country, how hard can it be?

Well the terrain may have been fine, but what I hadn't planned for was the weight of the fiet and the strength of the wind. Oh my that was not fun! I gave up on the Fondo after 7 miles, and instead of the ride to Utrecht and back I kept it much more local to Amsterdam. Until I found one of the red and white signs for Haarlem, 21km away at that point. I just had to go for it! A bit later, I rode past an old railway, I couldn't tell if it was being ripped up and not replaced, or if it would be fully modernised after a new bridge was put in somewhere. Unfortunately, I took no photos which is crazy when I think about it! With some confusion on the route with some signs missing or pointing me in the wrong direction, I ended up instead following signs for Aalsmeer.

Crossing a big road with a heavy and slow fiet, with the resulting difficulty in getting it going again along with some sticking gears, well you can imagine the panic that created when I found the traffic signal thing wasn't working! Thankfully I made it across OK, and after a break I finally made it to the outskirts of Aalsmeer. I then saw a windmill, so I had to go and take a photo! After that, I rode into town to hunt coffee. Well I failed miserably with that but I did source some food in Jumbo, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands. The chilly weather was getting to me as I ate lunch, so I was glad to get moving again. My route took me up past Schipol Airport, Amsterdam's international airport. At one point, I rode relatively near the end of the runway and the noise off the planes taking off was incredible! I was rather enjoying that, and it had me in the mood for the flights to/from Inverness later in this adventure!

I kept on riding up through Hoofsdorp, all the while with the plan to stop in Haarlem for a coffee before the ride back to Amsterdam. Heavy rain had been forecast for the capital city of the Netherlands at 3pm, so I was keen to avoid that. Somewhere a bit further on, some confusing signs led me the wrong way, so I stopped and looked at the map on Strava. Oops, back I went and carried on towards Haarlem, then another red and white sign suggested, while the blue road sign said 4km to Haarlem, that I should turn right for a 5km ride into the city. OK, I thought, I'll do that but further up the road I found I was riding around the outside of the suburbs of Haarlem. Fine, whatever, I'll just carry on back to Amsterdam was the thought, and by now the wind was getting stronger.

Every mile felt like 10 by this point, fighting the sidewinds was not fun. On one of my own cycles, in particular my road cycle nicknamed the Blue Beauty, I'd have probably flown up the road! That said, it's so light I'd have probably been blown off the road on it!

Eventually I reached the outer suburbs of Amsterdam, it having been drizzle levels of rain for a while. I could have changed into my waterproofs, but I didn't see much point by then! 6km to go the signs assured me, and the ride wasn't too bad through the city although the wind made the effort required so much more! Getting into the city centre felt like a long ride though, and it's worth mentioning I'd somehow strained the muscles in the back quite badly during Day 2. If I hadn't packed my Deep Heat roll-on, I'd have been unable to do much at all! That in combination with painkillers saved the trip!

With a couple more stops in the city to make sure I was going the right way, I finally made it back to the hotel after a little over 40 miles. Getting inside into the warm was so welcome! I bought a small coffee for €1,50 at reception, much needed by then given it had been something close to 6 hours on just two very small coffees (by my cup's standard anyway) all day! Once upstairs, the other urgent business was taken care of and it was time to rest. The back was not liking me, and some more Deep Heat was applied. A couple of hours of rest was seriously welcome, and later on I decided to brave the wind and rain, not to mention the chill, to go out and see Amsterdam at night.

There were some nice scenes, of that there can be no doubt, but to be honest Amsterdam is not my kind of place. There's some nice architecture, actually scratch that there's a lot of it, and Vondel Park was amazing, but all the silliness like the legalised cannabis, alcohol consumption and the Red Light District all put me off ever visiting the place again. Other places in the Netherlands, yes I am sure they will appeal enough for me to visit and who knows, perhaps they will get done, but Amsterdam is not for me. Once I leave on Day 5, I won't be back!
Maoz Vegan got a visit at last, and their falafel burger was amazing. I added some carrots, pesto and chickpeas to the lettuce already in there, and while it wasn't cheap at €8,50 she failed to charge me for the fries at €2,80 so that wasn't so bad. They were overcooked and oversalted, so not great but they were still welcome. A visit to Albert Heijn saw me get some vegan chocolate to enjoy back at the hotel, and a little bit more walking through the city followed before finally crashing out in the room. The walk got logged on Strava, then I hit the shower for a badly needed clean-up. A catch-up on RailUK Forums followed, and I finally got around to typing up these notes. By that time, it was nearly 2130 and I still needed to plan Day 4.

After a lot of exercise in the first few days of the adventure, it seemed like a good idea to dial it back a bit on Day 4. There would of course be some exercise done, but the use of some trams and Metro sounded like a good idea!

-----

More photos from Day 3 will soon follow, I'm sure, there's too many to choose from here. The Strava segment screenshot is included here as it was my first ever KOM crown on Strava. I never expected to be the fastest of them all anywhere in the world, so that was a pleasant surprise. I suspect by now I've been overtaken, but in honour of such a, well, honour I had to screenshot that!

Great read and photos. Busy week for both of us!

 

[Techniquest]

Great read and photos. Busy week for both of us!

Thank you Hopefully all is good your end

I've spent a lot of time today having a thorough catch-up on the forum, I've been watching Disney+ a lot recently which shows just how unwell I was as I don't normally have the patience for several hours of such things! However, Day 4 has now been reviewed and I'm finally happy enough with it to go live.

11/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 4

After waking up at 0715, I was soon up and out of the hotel on a mission to go and find coffee. As I soon discovered, Amsterdam doesn't really wake up until at least 0800! After a while, I reached Centraal Station and realised I could walk to Westerpark easily enough. It was on my to-do list, so it made sense to use the hours of still-dark-but-getting-lighter to make my way over.

Along the way, I stopped at an Albert Heijn as I hadn't taken any bottles of water or anything with me. My Post Office prepaid card did not work in this shop, it did in other Albert Heijn shops which was confusing! Thankfully I busted out the debit card, I had wanted to avoid doing so but it is what it is. The bottle of own-brand sports drink was incredibly welcome, and kept me going well until the end of my walk. Worth mentioning that it is perhaps recommended to have a small amount of cash with you for such occurances, in the modern day this should not be necessary but perhaps, just perhaps, the next generation will have such luxuries of an actual cash-free society. It's on the way but oh so flawed right now!
Sadly, a lot of Westerpark appeared to be blocked off for works, and while I could have probably followed a different way around, it defied the point of going for a walk through the park to walk around the outside of it! So I ended up on the streets, walking alongside the main road, with my goal being Sloterdijk station. It seemed to take an eternity to take there, at one point I was convinced I'd gone the wrong way, but eventually I arrived and I was initially taken aback by it. The modern architecture was more impressive than I expected, and that huge bike parking area was crazy. You would really need to remember where you parked your bike in that lot! Next to the station, and right next to the mainline as a result, was Train Lodge Hostel. This is made up of former railway carriages, and in years gone by I would have absolutely jumped all over a stay there. Can you imagine the disruption caused by the noise from the trains during the night/early morning? No thanks, not for me, not these days!

I finally, finally, got a coffee at the Spar shop and it was seriously well received. It was also good quality for €1,25, of course it didn't take long to drink as the size of coffees in the Netherlands is just tiny compared to the UK. It will be no surprise that I'm looking forward to having what I would call a 'proper' size cup of coffee upon arrival in London on Day 5 (quite, during the ride through the Channel Tunnel I had a destination in mind for that), I cannot imagine living on the continent! I could already sense my satisfaction with a UK coffee, and just the thought of it while typing this up at gone 9pm was enough to put a beaming smile on my face! I also hadn't had breakfast yet, and I'd done a 6 mile walk. I was therefore pretty hungry and ready to devour some food! On that topic, I'd like to mention how easy I found it to get vegan food in Amsterdam. I don't know what the restaurants were like, but in the supermarkets it was pretty easy.

Having finally fuelled up, I next got the GVB (local public transport operator) app out and bought a €9 24 hour pass to cover trams, buses and the Metro. Ah yes, the Metro, we will cover that better later! 3069 took me along tram route 19 to Marnixstraat, which appeared to be the closest stop to my hotel. Given that a relief stop was by now getting urgent, and finding a facility in Amsterdam is actually surprisingly tough, I wanted to get there ASAP. As it turned out, my original choice of stop was actually significantly closer! With that all done, bottles filled up with water and so on, I was back out to Marnixstraat. I had just missed a tram, but eventually another route 19 tram showed up and I joined 3045 for the journey to Wijttenbachstraat.

I alighted here for an explore of Oosterpark, and much like Vondel Park on Day 2 this was a beautiful place. I absolutely recommend exploring it to everyone, it's a pretty place and in the glorious sunshine Amsterdam was enjoying plenty of others felt the same. It was far superior to Westerpark, only a small place but definitely worth doing. A coffee break was had in the cafe/bar inside the multi-purpose building on the north side of the park, and while it was a rip-off at €3, the caffeine was seriously welcome. For anyone thinking I was drinking a lot of coffee, this visit to Amsterdam was actually the opposite, I was having much less than is usual on long days of exercise and exploring! The visit came in handy for their facilities too, again how is it that Amsterdam is so short on such a thing? I must have missed them all somewhere!
The weather had been forecasted to include hail when I looked at the end of Day 3, but it was far better than that much to my pleasant surprise. The wind was not welcome though, especially the strong gusts! I made my way to the same corner of Oosterpark as I'd arrived at, and joined tram route 1 this time. 2066 took me through the city to Surinameplein, and I alighted there for Rembrantpark. It was a nice place, no question of it, but like Westerpark I wasn't blown away. When I discovered Vondel Park was close by, I had to make sure I included that too, given I'd failed to take any photos there on Day 2. Rembrantpark was explored quite a bit, and I suspect it is better in the spring when the trees are full of colour.

When I reached Vondel Park, I felt very pleased, as if I'd returned to a magical place. It's a bit difficult to explain the feeling, but I just know I was glad to be back. At one point, I had been going to utilise some of the national trains to go and explore another city, but by now I was seriously glad I hadn't. It was time for lunch, to fuel me back up midway through what turned out to be a little over 6 miles of exploring, and the view overlooking a lake was just tranquil. It was easy to forget there was a capital city all around me, and this park was by some way my favourite bit of Amsterdam, with Oosterpark a close second for such an accolade.

With the stomach satisfied, it was time to explore some of the many, many paths I'd not done on my circular walk around the park two days prior. Even after I finished, there were stilll plenty I could have gone and done but time just wasn't on my side. After I left the beautiful place, and yes I now had a reason to come back to Amsterdam if the opportunity ever comes up (Oosterpark being a reason too, the cycling routes too I suppose, but the rest of Amsterdam, no thanks) and I stopped off at the Spar for another coffee. I swear down, that machine charged me twice but I hope not. The coffee was of course good again, and with a swift stop at base camp I was soon on the move again to Elandsgrant. I was now back on the trams, this time route 7, with 2031 taking me to Vijzelgracht. The feet were starting to get fed up now, but then they'd done something like 13.25 miles already just on Day 4, on an adventure with a whole ton of activity!

It was finally time to join the Metro, and while scanning the QR code on the gates should not be difficult, it was as the plastic panels had been heavily scratched. This was soon to drive me crazy! Downstairs on line M52, which runs from Zuid to Noord and didn't exist when I was last here, and I joined 141+142 on the ride to Noord. I'd never been out that way, so it would be a new bit of exploring. I think these trains are technically half-sets like on London Underground's S stock, so if the need ever arises they can be split into two and partnered up with another half-set. Once at Noord, I soon double-backed with 143+144 to Noorderpark, which Maps assured me would be worth a look. This would be my 5th park of the day!
By the time I finished exploring the pretty place, my feet were ready for a mighty good rest. They were on something like 15 miles logged on Strava, and that amount of walking I would normally only attempt with lots of coffee and lots of high-energy food in me. 123+124 took me to Zuid, which cleared the Metro's M52 line. By now, the stomach was angry and healthy food had to go out of the window soon. That would have to wait though, as I joined 129+130 on line M50 to Isolatorweg. That finally cleared that line, which I'd done a small part of many years ago, and I didn't hang around long at all. 119+120 took me back out on a M51 line train, and while I'd considered clearing that line too I ended up alighting at Lelylaan for a connection onto tram route 1 instead.

The QR code thing drove me nuts here, the panels above the reader were damaged and none of the 3 would read my code. Other people were tapping in and out, so they didn't have this problem, and eventually with no help around I ended up following one of them through a gate. I had a valid ticket, I just couldn't make the gates read it! In all the hassle that caused, I ended up forgetting to note the number of the route 1 tram I took to Leidseplein! Hunger took over, as did my desire to get out of my face covering. Yes, yes, I know most of you reading this don't use them these days, but I still do. This is of course not the time and place to discuss such a thing! I ended up diving into Burger King and getting a large fries for €4,25. I was expecting more, to be honest, but I gladly received them! The stomach certainly was happy, it finally shut up shortly after devouring the fries!

Onto tram route 2 next, and 2109 was warmly received to get out of the cold for the very busy journey to Centraal Station. For what it's worth, the QR code readers on the trams all worked fine with my code on the app, a couple seemed to take a few tries to make it work but I didn't have the issues I had on the Metro. Unsurprisingly, I didn't go near the Metro again after that experience! I had received wisdom on RailUK Forums a few months ago from 'duncombec' about tram route 26, and its interesting features, so I wanted to do it in daylight. 2143 took me to journey's end at Ijburg, and not wanting to wait around for the same tram back I ended up walking a short way up the road to Dekka Markt (I might have that wrong sorry!) to get supplies for my evening feed. It would save me getting off a tram in the city centre to do so, and while it's not a bad place to shop I did prefer Albert Heijn and Jumbo. Even so, I came away with enough goodies to have a decent feed.

Back onto route 26, and I must say thank you for the advice as it was sound. From a civil engineering point of view, it was certainly interesting and worth doing the line for that reason above all others! Line 26 includes the unusual highlight of crossing a motorway junction on the level, as well as running through some tunnels and over some bridges. All the advice I received ahead of this trip was gratefully appreciated, although of course I didn't act upon much of it! Thank you to everyone who provided input, and who knows if I might one day return to the Netherlands for a full-on tour of the rails?

By the time I returned to Centraal Station on a double tram, 2132+2131, the wind was getting strong and it was bitingly cold. I'd had to take some ibuprofen for a mighty headache it had given me! 2076 was my last journey of the day, and I took it on route 2 to Leidseplein. I had a crazy idea now, inspired by a significant amount of runners seen in the parks, and had a run to the hotel. As it turned out, it was only 0.2 miles away but it's all a good bit of progress. Without wanting to tempt fate, the body was nearly back to normal after the pain of Day 3, although I discovered during the run I had a bruise on my right calf. I'm not sure how that came about!

Once upstairs, it was time to rest and get all prepped for departure. After a good feed, and the majority of the packing done, a mighty good shower was enjoyed and the feet appreciated that! 2213, and my trip report was all typed up, so all that was left to do was to set the alarm for 0530 and get some sleep.

Photo captions:

1) Amsterdam Centraal Station early in the morning
2) This was somewhere not far east of Westerpark
3, 4 and 5) All scenes in Westerpark just before the sun rose above Amsterdam
6) Bike parking at Sloterdijk Station
7) Train Hostel at Sloterdijk Station
8) GVB tram at Sloterdijk Station
9) GVB tram approaching Marnixstraat

I see I can only share 9 photos now, what happened to the 10 it used to be?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Yes all well here thanks, although what I wouldn’t do for Australia to stock some tropicana orange juice or innocent smoothies! I miss the home comforts of Tesco

Edit: No wait forget those, I’d lose everything else just for an Oasis Summer Fruits.

 

[Techniquest]

Yes all well here thanks, although what I wouldn’t do for Australia to stock some tropicana orange juice or innocent smoothies! I miss the home comforts of Tesco

Edit: No wait forget those, I’d lose everything else just for an Oasis Summer Fruits.

Ooh Oasis Summer Fruits, I haven't had that in ages but suddenly I want one!

Attached are some photos from Oosterpark, a tram on route 1 then some from Rembrandtpark too. Still many, many more photos from that day!

 

[Kite159]

A busy day 4 there

 

[daveo]

Brilliant again and thanks for the captions

 

[biko]

Nice to see you (mostly) enjoy Amsterdam.

I also wanted to see Rijksmuseum, it looked a beautiful building and that was not wrong, wow it looked good! I don't know what the museum is for, but the place was definitely worth seeing.

It's the National Gallery of the Netherlands, people come to Amsterdam specially for this museum!

Perhaps if one consumes all the dodgy adult activities, then it's a different place but someone who is teetotal then it's not really a city for me

I also don't like the dodgy stuff (as does nobody I know over here), but Amsterdam has a lot of history, architecture and art interest as well, it's just in other parts of the city centre.

These Dutch bikes, better known as fiets

Fiets just means bike, so it doesn't really designate a specific type of bike. The one you rented looks like a really heavy variety of a normal city bike. No Dutch person would consider cycling such distances on a normal bike, even less so on this one!

Shopping street in the centre of the city, I have to be honest I can't remember which one

I wanted to identify it, but it seems the order is not the same for me.

 

[Techniquest]

It's the National Gallery of the Netherlands, people come to Amsterdam specially for this museum!

Fair enough, thanks for letting me know Not really my thing, but the architecture sure was!

I also don't like the dodgy stuff (as does nobody I know over here), but Amsterdam has a lot of history, architecture and art interest as well, it's just in other parts of the city centre.

It is worth noting that I did appreciate the architecture quite a bit, certainly perhaps more than the trip report suggests. Art isn't my thing, and I'd love to have more of an interest in history but I just can't get enthused by it.

Fiets just means bike, so it doesn't really designate a specific type of bike. The one you rented looks like a really heavy variety of a normal city bike. No Dutch person would consider cycling such distances on a normal bike, even less so on this one!

Fair enough, I've seen such bikes called 'Dutch bikes' elsewhere and it's what I associate as a 'Dutch bike'. You're not wrong about it being heavy, it has 7 gears apparently but I got to 5 for a short time and no further!

I also cannot believe that no Dutch person would ride 40 miles on a bike! There might not be many non-athletic/cycling enthusiast people who wouldn't, but 40 miles on a bike is not that massive really.

On a bike like the one I used, 40 miles definitely felt like more than that. I hope to pop over with my Blue Beauty, or even The Beast, one day and have a proper bit of cycling.

I wanted to identify it, but it seems the order is not the same for me.

From a look at it, it appears to be one connecting into Leidseplein, but I'm not 100% now.

A busy day 4 there

Indeed, plenty happening!

Brilliant again and thanks for the captions

No problem

Attached photos are from the bridge just to the west of Vonderpark, and the other 7 are all from that park. Believe it or not, I still have more from that beautiful place! Some of the photos I see are listed as too large for the forum, oh well

Day 5 and onwards will be posted soon

 

[Techniquest]

Well I finally got around to re-editing Day 5, and I'm glad I did as I found multiple errors. I'm sure I've missed some other errors too, but I'm happy enough with this to get it shared. There's still 3 more entries from this trip to go, and then there's a day trip to Shropshire/West Midlands to share. After that, my other recent trips I haven't felt were worth a trip report. The Midlands day out ended up being more about cycling and a visit to TGI Fridays than it was about trains, and the visit to Manchester featured a lot of Metrolink journeys but again, it focused much more on active travel than anything else. I'm sure if the 67-hauled MK4 set had produced, and I'd had my First Class journey as booked, I'd have been more keen to share the adventure!

I have got a day trip to London coming up this week, and to be brutally honest I don't know if I'll do a trip report for it. I was going to make it into an 8 hour marathon of walking, running, cycling and trains. However, following a collision with the ground 5 days ago on a cycle ride, I've got an injury on my right knee/shin, and it's put a stop to all play for now. No cycling, no active travel at all apart from the walk to/from work, I've even temporarily stopped using Strava. The whole incident has been playing me up something fierce mentally, and it's causing no end of issues with trying to improve my food intake. Still, this can only be a temporary issue, surely, and I will be back to normal soon enough. I just have to ride this wave of uncertainty and instablity!

So whether or not my London trip, now focused heavily on trains, gets a trip report depends on how I feel on Wednesday!

With that update concluded, here's Day 5:

12/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 5

Wow that was a wet and wild start to the day! At 0534 I was trying to shelter from the heavy rain and strong wind, brr! Perhaps I should have stayed in the hotel reception slightly longer, but I had decided to brave the weather and forgot just how long it was until the first route 12 tram of the day from Leidseplein! If I'd thought about it, I'd have donned the waterproof trousers, but nothing I had with me would have prepared me for that biting cold and strong wind, brr!

It had been something like 0130 when I finally got to sleep, not helped by people using the noisy lift at midnight and at 0112. That drove me crazy, and the alarm at 0500 was not super welcome, but a good shower certainly helped to wake things up. Eurostar advise arriving at their terminal at Amsterdam Centraal 90 minutes before departure, so for the 0747 to London St Pancras this meant arriving at 0617. This first tram of the day would have me arrive at 0558, so well ahead of the recommended time. No doubts were had that it would be similar to the amount of time I had in London, but better to be safe than sorry, I'd had visions of them turning me away for being a few minutes past the 90 minute mark at 0620 or something! 15 minutes in the tram stop shelter went by slowly, and my poor Adidas SuperNovas were not enjoying the wet either. Nor were people's umbrellas in that wind, and right now I was super glad to have the tram available to take me to the station!

0556 and it was back outside into the cold and wet, and a walk through to the other end of Centraal Station got me onto platform 15. The Eurostar check-in area is at the far eastern end of platform 15b, and what silly fool put it beyond the station roof and the last bit of the platform, which is left open to the elements? I arrived at 0603, and finally the doors opened at 0620. Immediately upon entering is a ticket check, followed by security then two passport checks by the Dutch authorities then the UK's Border Force. I was through at 0623, and the departures lounge area is pretty basic. A fair bit of seating and power sockets, which was good, but the vending fridge was totally empty and the coffee machine just would not accept my card. Nor my Apple Pay, so I was to go without any food or drink. Pro tip with Eurostar from Amsterdam, get food and drink before you get to this area! I had cash from my €50 deposit returned from the hotel, but I could not use it here. Grr!

Thankfully the water was free, so I filled both bottles up and put everything on charge. With the crisps from Day 4 finished, I had at least had something to eat but I was ready for a good meal. Worth noting that almost nothing was open at Centraal, and would I recommend arriving 90 minutes before departure? No, absolutely not! In peak travel seasons, then yes but in January this was totally not needed. People arriving at 7am (you can see people arriving from the departures lounge) were passing through quite smoothly, so I could absolutely have had longer in bed!

As you may have guessed, I wasn't enjoying my Eurostar experience and would 100% not use this route again. I prefer to avoid short flights where possible, when there is a reasonable rail alternative, but from my part of the world then flying to the Netherlands is the only sensible option! No way would I travel to London the day before, overnight it there then get on the Eurostar again, it just wasn't cost-effective never mind how much longer it made the entire trip!
0706 and the lounge area was very busy, and to be honest by now all I wanted to do was to get back to the UK. I definitely couldn't live in the Netherlands, with such rancid weather! People were still arriving well after 7am for check-in, so why the 90 minute rule? 0738 and boarding finally commenced, with winners 374018+374017 in charge of the 0747 Amsterdam Centraal to London St Pancras International. Amazingly, it was an on-time departure, and about 10 minutes later I saw people returning from the on-board catering section, Cafe Metropole, so I was soon on my way for a coffee! The tiny one from the hotel had gone in a matter of seconds at Leidseplein, and while this one was a rip-off at €3,70 it was made with beans from Lavazza. This was a huge plus for me, I like a good Lavazza coffee!

Thankfully my card worked OK on the train, so why it wouldn't at the departures lounge I don't know. I stuck my nose into the cup and literally 'woke up and smelt the coffee'! Oh yes, that felt better. The lounge had been a bit chilly, so much so I'd had to put my coat back on after 50 minutes. The train was not very warm either, which I found silly. Thankfully, there was more speed on this journey, and I made use of my mobile data allowance with some pumping music. 0910 and the train was passing through Antwerp Central, so it was back into Belgium and at 0947, after being held at Bruxelles-Chapelle, we finally arrived at Bruxelles-Midi. Services are timetabled to wait up to 30 minutes here for boarding other passengers, and where I was in coach 11 I had no chance of seeing much through the window, certainly watching SNCB trains was not an option. I was ready for coffee again, no question of it, after 2 hours of travelling, but had to wait for the catering service to resume. I had timed it a little late for getting coffee before the Brussels stop, and I was rather hungry. London was just over 2 hours away, and I was already keen on getting something major for lunch!

0958 and the 374 was underway again, and for the first couple of miles out of Brussels I was watching the trains out of the window. The queue for Cafe Metropole was long and slow-moving, but finally at 1029 I was back at my seat with some coffee and popcorn. Unsurprisingly, as I had not had a proper feed for breakfast, that went down well! 1055 and it was into the Channel Tunnel, the time spent in it was used to proof-read and edit some trip reports (which I ended up not being happy with, and re-edited them evetually a month later) before resurfacing into the UK at 1117. With not that long left to go on the train, and with an approximate plan in place for the day in London, I was by now ready to get up and moving again.

At 1059, now back on GMT, the train terminated in London 1 minute early. The crowds were very slow moving, but eventually I was outside 9 minutes after alighting. It felt more like 20 minutes! I headed first across the road to London Kings Cross station, as I had been craving a Puccino's coffee for quite some time. Finsbury Park was known to have had one at some point, and thankfully it still does. Dud 700033 took me there from Kings Cross, and when I initially didn't see Puccino's I was dismayed. Then I saw it on the southbound slow line platform, phew! Cue a large americano for £3.30 and a vegan 'sausage' roll for £2.70, money very well spent in my opinion! Puccino's is perhaps best known for their silly sense of humour on their packets, coffee cups etc. This cup, for example, reads 'I went to Puccino's and all I got was this cup' as the main text. There's so many other good bits like that, I just love it. The coffee is also very good too!

I also wanted to visit Finsbury Park for some 717s, out of the 25 members of that class I'd only been on two so far. This finally changed on a quick journey to Drayton Park on winner 717021. I was only there for 1 minute before joining winner 717015 up to Harringay, and I did consider going over to Harringay Green Lanes for some 710s, but I wanted more 717s first. Winner 717025 was next up, and I took it to the end of the line at Moorgate. I didn't realise the Elizabeth line was closed all the way from Abbey Wood to Paddington, due to strike action. I knew the action was in effect but not where. This led to a confused walk to London Liverpool Street station, confused as in going the completely wrong way!

Once there, I was soon onto another winner, with winner 710265 taking me to Hackney Downs. An 8 minute wait would get me onto a Greater Anglia score, so I waited and took winner 720521 up to Tottenham Hale. After popping outside for a bit of fresh air, and some planning, I soon returned and waited out a 12-coach train. On this line, that meant only one thing, a 745/1, of which I had none of the ten underlined in my book. This was corrected with winner 745101 to London Liverpool Street. I do like the Stadler trains as they're comfortable and just generally nice for a modern train. It was time for my first visit in quite some time to Pure, which does high quality takeaway food in an almost fast-food style.

I settled on a thai green lentil soup, £3.90 for a regular size portion and while I hadn't noted exactly what was in it, I can confirm that it was absolutely amazing. I regretted not getting a large portion! After a few minutes, I was back on the trains with winner 710109, which took me up to Walthamstow Central. Outside, I'd decided to go for a connection onto the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, better known as the GOBLIN. The wind was doing its best to whisk my case away to some far and distant land, but I made it safe and sound. A short wait put me onto winner 710271, which I took to Harringay Green Lanes to do the transfer to the East Coast Main Line's station at Harringay. More 717 action was deemed required, and after the uphill walk which got very steep near the end, the first one south was freshly dud (that is, something I've had before - for those on RailUK Forums I'm also posting this on my blog which is not aimed at enthusiasts!) 717025 so I declined it.

That was a good decision, as it meant joining winner 717012 up to Bowes Park instead. There, a short walk is available, but poorly signposted halfway along, to Bounds Green on London Underground's Piccadilly line. With another station to station transfer sampled, I joined 120+878 to Finsbury Park for a transfer (overstappen, if my Dutch is correct) onto the Victoria line. I didn't have my wants list for the Underground with me, so I would have to wait until my return to Hereford to check those two. All of the sets on the Victoria line have been dud for years, and it was down to 11091+11092 to take me to Oxford Circus on a nice and fast journey. The sections between stations at that end of the line are long enough to get some serious speed going on, and this journey was no exception!

It was into a different world with the Bakerloo line, which is running some of the oldest and least cared-for trains in the entire country. 3449+3245 took me on the slow journey to Paddington, and I wanted to spend a bit of time at my favourite railway station before much else. There was significant disruption due to flooding on two key routes, so I was very glad to not be travelling back to Hereford after all! I later got reports of a long list of roads that were closed in Herefordshire, which didn't sound too good!

A visit to Sainsburys got me various goodies, and I noted a Heathrow Express train that wasn't there before. The 387 nearest the barriers was a winner, and given I'd already planned to do Heathrow Express on the way back on Day 8, I bought a £37 Express Class return. I strolled up to the platform after the previous train left, and I had to find out which one was on the front. Knowing the rear one, 387134, meant I only had one more to find. Was I hoping too much here? Surely it wouldn't be that one on the front?

Well blow me down, it was! I had double winners 387141+387134 on the 1625 to Heathrow Terminal 5! That would clear the Heathrow Express fleet, money very well spent there then. I celebrated this with my pot of Alpro vanilla yoghurt, I hadn't tried it before but I loved it. I had a food item I loved enough to go on my favourite foods list, happy days! The journey was over so fast, unsurprisingly, and I had nothing else that I wanted to do at Heathrow, so grabbed a free transfer ticket and got back on the train. Well, there's lots I wanted to do at Heathrow, but none of them were doable. I couldn't just jump on the first flight that took my fancy, or do some planespotting, not in those conditions!

387134+387141 soon got me back over to Heathrow Central, and 10 minutes after leaving Terminal 5 I was at bus stand 19 in Heathrow Central Bus Station. That was a quick bit of leg work, and if I hadn't had my case with me I could have done it in 9 minutes! Just over 5 minutes later, I was on what I believe was RATP Group's LG22 AUM, an electric double-decker bus, on Route X140 to Harrow. I was only taking it to Hayes & Harlington station, where I alighted to pop into Tesco Express for some biscuits to go with some decaf coffee. After check-in at the nearby Premier Inn, and the wind again doing its best to interfere with my case, I noticed this hotel has partnered with local gyms to offer half price day passes. Any other day, I'd have been all over that, but going back out into stormy weather? Probably best not!

I was delighted to find I had a bath in this room, and that was taken advantage of later on! A phone call from my sister was also received, and the bag/case re-organising got mostly done. I could have left it all for the following day, but it made much more sense to get started. Only 3 days of the adventure remained, but the first flight of the year was coming up! It was finally to sleep around 2230, that was a long day!

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Photos are of the Eurostar departure lounge at Amsterdam Centraal, the Puccinos cup, Essex Road running-in board, 387134 at Paddington, the two 387s coupled together at Paddington, the interior of 387141, a running-in board at Walthamstow Central and 387141 at Paddington. For reasons unknown, the forum has decided to put them in a completely different order to that which I asked for

 

[Techniquest]

And believe it or not, I also have Day 6 ready to go!

13/01/2023 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 6

I was awake earlier than expected, but stayed in bed until a little before 7am, there was no rush today. By half 8, however, I was outside in the glorious sunshine for a power walk, and initially I was going to get the train back from Southall, but it was still the morning peak so when I saw a different route available for the way back, well it was all I could do to not go for it! The way back started via a new development, which looked incredible. Deposit for a 2 bed apartment was £24,000, the total being £480,000. I'd love to live there, but my savings don't exactly stretch that far! As the work was still on-going as of January 2023, I had to take a different route to that which I had planned, going past Lombardy Retail Park while on the phone with my sister. Once she hung up, I dropped the hammer and got going at full power, the walk taking on 6.37 miles in the end and I was very pleased with that. 134km for the month so far, not too bad at all.

After checking out just before 10am, I made my way to Asda for a coffee in their cafe and to source some food. Breakfast had stretched to a small number of biscuits and a bagel, not all that much! Before too long, I was on a Route 278 bus, VX20 OCC from Abellio, and soon made my way through the pineapple and blueberries I'd got. Arrival at Heathrow Central Bus Station was done in no time, and my eyes may have deceived me but it looked like a cycle/walkway was finally being opened alongside the road tunnel. It is about time this happened, in the era of active travel this should have been ready by now!

I didn't know the Class 345s worked Elizabeth line services to Terminal 5, I had thought it was strictly territory of the 387s of Heathrow Express. Not that I was complaining, as that meant I got winner 345068 to Terminal 5, another 345 done and still many to go. After the cappucino-flavoured chickpeas, I was ready to go to bag drop and found my case was only 10.6kg, not too bad then as I had expected more like 14! Security was done in no time, and thankfully the officer asked about hand sanitiser, I'd forgot I had that in the bag. I don't think she was too impressed at my forgetting it mind, to be fair nor was I! With my water bottle refilled and a quick look around a shop done, it was 1148. My gate, for BA1468 1420 London Heathrow to Inverness, was to be announced at 1330.

I had a fair bit of time to fill then, and a bit of plane spotting and a stroll around the airport was done. I wasn't super hungry, but the other food had not satisfied me enough. When I saw Itsu, I decided this was the day to finally try them, and I eventually settled on a plant-based veggie meatballs rice bowl for £7.89. The sauce had a bit of a kick to it, but the entire feed was less than 700kcal and full of goodness. I cannot believe I hadn't been before, but I now have another restaurant on my list of favourites! By 1300, I was finally caught up on my notes, and frustratingly the sockets at all the seats I was at did not work. Fortunately, it was not vital for me, but I would have liked to have landed with some more charge!

On the way to the facilities, I somehow managed to lose my wireless earphones! Thankfully they were only £10 from B&M, so not a big loss, but still annoying! I did look at buying new ones at the airport, but to be honest that's not a major issue today, and I was not paying those prices. I came across a Huel vending machine, £3.99 for a 500ml bottle so not cheap, but I would be wanting that later in the evening so I decided to get one to try while I had the chance. After getting a Pret coffee next to gates A8/9, I discovered my flight was from A9, happy days!

Boarding of group 9 finally began, and in Ryanair-style we were boarding down the airbridge. 1403 I was finally through, as the biometric thing at security had issues with me it seems. I had walked through with my mask on, but given with having it on while boarding through the automatic gate it didn't like it. After 3 times, the staff didn't like having extra work to do and suggested indirectly I may have tried to board with it down. I tried both on, off and even fully removed, nothing worked. Eventually, at 1412, I was in seat 7F and right next to the engine. I was therefore very pleased! With the coffee consumed, I was now ready to take off and we were waiting on security staff sorting out someone else's biometric issue, so departure was slightly delayed. We finally got going on BA1468 1420 London Heathrow to Inverness at 1444, 24 minutes late, and it was into the air at 1505.

Today's craft was an Airbus A320, registration G-EUYL. I think this was a winner, but curiously I left my planes book at base, so I have no idea as of typing, but this will be edited once confirmed (happily, I can confirm it was a winner). I have to say, I love flying but I also grab the armrests and tense up once off the ground. When things settle down, then it's relax time! I never used to be so nervous when flying, so that's a bit weird for me.

Power sockets were available, so I took advantage of that. Given I was down to 39% charge, this was essential, I had a busy evening ahead of me! Having flicked through the High Life shop, I found nothing of particular interest, this could be my first flight in some time where I've not bought anything. I did take the complimentary 330ml bottle of Harrogate spring water, but happily declined the complimentary sour cream and chive pretzels.

My hotel, the Marriott Bonvoy at Inverness Airport, offered check-in through their app, and I could have done that at 9am on Day 4 if I had wanted to. The app also offers a mobile key, which works through Bluetooth, in the app and I am keen to try that out. Part of the reason for booking that hotel was that it is a 3 minute walk from the terminal at Inverness airport, which on Day 8 will be important as I have an early flight to Heathrow. Another part of the reason for booking it was that it has a fitness centre at the hotel, which I was also keen to use. I first wanted to go into Inverness itself after dropping off my case, to get supplies as what I had with me would not be sufficient.

I had very little to do on the flight, truth be told, so I proof-read Day 5's trip report (not very well, as it turned out a month later). With that done, it was 1554 and so it wasn't long until the descent to the capital of the Highlands. I could not ask for better weather to fly in, it was smooth for the entire way. How I would deal with the nerves of take-off for the New Zealand trip, or indeed the Grand Canyon trip and yes that is a Spoiler Alert, I have no idea. How I would avoid severe boredom on those long flights, well I would have to find out!

It was back on the ground at 1620 and parked up at the terminal at 1623. Baggage claim was all cleared by 1640, and I was in the slow check-in process at the Courtyard by Marriot hotel just the other side of the car park. Even though I'd done mobile check-in, I still had to wait for my mobile key and key card, so it wasn't any faster. I was going into Inverness city centre, but decided to make a coffee and hit up the fitness suite instead. I'll save you most of the detail, but the LifeFitness LifeCycle sure got a lot of use! The interactive video course, and I'd chosen the Ireland one, well the video feed crashed before the end of my first hour. I didn't particularly enjoy that anyway, and for hour 2 I found I could use YouTube on the screen. With some basic but complimentary earphones, I got some cheesy music playing and that helped no end.

49.93km done in the first 2 hours, and I was ready for food as it had been well over 6 hours since lunch at that point. 20 minutes later, I was back on the LifeCycle and it was some nightcore music for hours 3 and 4. 76km cleared by the end of the third hour, and I took advantage of the 24 hour snack market next to reception to get some sugary drinks and some snacks for the post-exercise feed. The last hour started off well, but the motivation was suffering halfway through. If it hadn't been for the music, I'd have quit! However, at 2241, I finished and my grand total came in at 103.6km. The winter weather is proving to make outdoor cycling tough at the moment, so while I prefer to ride outdoors this was the only realistic way I'd get January's Gran Fondo done. The final 10km did push me a bit, and the legs really took a beating on it, but victory!

Of course, I could have done with a mighty big meal after that, but a 50g packet of salted peanuts, 45g packet of Skittles, a can of Irn Bru and a 60g pack of vegan-friendly prawn crackers had to do! Oh and a green tea! A thorough shower was also had, which helped no end, I'd had to peel my shirt off! Around 0030 I hit the hay, exhausted but satisfied with the evening.

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Again, the forum has failed to attach the photos in the order I asked for I can't be bothered putting captions here, I would hope they're mostly self-explanatory. There's plenty more photos from Day 6, but those and plenty more for the entire trip will go into the WordPress blog entries when I finally get around to doing that. Spoiler Alert, you will definitely want to view that for a fuller selection of photos!

Days 7 and 8 I'm going to edit after lunch, but due to the forum's software playing silly with me, I'm not going to add photos.

 

[Techniquest]

14/01/23 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 7

The penultimate day of the 8 day adventure was already here, wow this was going by fast! With so much water consumed during the evening of Day 6, it was a disrupted night so when the alarm went off at 0730 I was not too keen to get out of bed! A coffee and shower had me back alive again, just about, and I was soon ready for the 0827 bus into Inverness. This was a Route 11A bus, operated by Stagecoach, and it is a very slow and around-the-houses route, but on the bright side it was a very modern 72-plate electric bus. A Zone 2 Dayrider was £7.70, which I had bought on Day 6 and activated a few minutes before the bus was due. We left about 3 minutes late, and the speed was just lacking for much of the way. Outside the village of Balloch (not to be confused with the Balloch near Glasgow!) we had a long wait for reasons unknown, and a shorter one at the turning circle at the top of the village. There must have been some serious slack in the timetable!

Even with stopping at nearly every single stop, I arrived pretty much on time near the railway station around 0928. Meeting up with RailUK Forums legend Kite159 for the day, our first stop was Morrisons. With good quality food sourced, I tucked into some of it for breakfast and wow that felt better. Mind you, at more than 700kcal you'd expect the pasty to be well received! It's worth noting that my knees were suffering somewhat from the epic exercise bike sessions the night before, so a casual day for Day 7 was crucial. Spoiler Alert, I didn't hit up the fitness suite at the end of the day, as much as I had wanted to make use of the facility. Even on the morning of Day 8, the discomfort felt in certain muscle groups further down than the back was still occuring, the seat on the exercise bike was not comfortable!

We had a bit of a walkabout in Inverness, as we had plenty of time before our intended train was due to leave. The weather was very agreeable, with plenty of sunshine and not too much wind, fantastic weather for January in Scotland! Once back in the city centre, I popped into The Red Pepper for a coffee, and after buying a £23 return we were soon on the 1056 to Kyle of Lochalsh with winner 158711. Two more 158s to get, and they were both well outside of the Highlands so not doable on this trip. Next time, next time, they will be mine! It was a rather nice social journey, but I was disappointed that ScotRail had sent out a 158 with filthy windows as it made it much less pleasant to watch the scenery on one of the world's most beautiful railway lines!

Our destination today was the request stop at Achnashellach. It is a rather remote station, but as we discovered there are some rather appealing hiking routes from there. Unfortunately, there was not enough time for that, and perhaps it's just as well as it started to rain! Dud 158719 was in charge of taking us back east, and we had a walking expedition in Dingwall ahead of us. I must add too that all of the traincrew we had on our journeys with ScotRail were really friendly, and a credit to ScotRail. We were in Dingwall in no time, and after some more photos we set off for the Round Dingwall Walk.

This is a circular route that takes in a riverside walk along the River Peffrie, and that led us to a much larger body of water. Passing by a picnic site, which in the summer must be quite popular, we carried on around to Pitsgerrie, crossing the railway once more before we joined the main road. Conon Bridge was only a couple of miles away, but we decided it was better to go into Dingwall instead. I've got the Conon Bridge to Dingwall route lined up for a speedwalk session when I am next up that way, I think from one station to the other it's less than 3 miles.

158711 was back from Kyle of Lochalsh, and we took it to Inverness. The option to alight elsewhere, then get one of the following trains, was considered but a combination of tiredness, a lack of coffee and the desire to get a proper meal led us to say 'no thanks' to that idea. After Kite had checked into Travelodge, and I had sourced some supplies from Co-Op, we went to the Wetherspoon for a meal. There, I chose the new katsu Quorn nuggets curry meal. £7.45 with a glass of fizzy drink, I was rather hungry so the portion size was not big enough personally, but it was incredibly tasty! After the meal, we had another walkabout, and with the rain stopping near the end (how typical is that!) we parted ways at Inverness Bus Station. Myself going for the 1836 on Route 11, Kite to his much needed night in Travelodge.

I got a very pleasant surprise for my journey back to Inverness Airport, as there was a coach in use! This was discovered to be due to our driver having hurt his back recently, and it was a case of take a coach out with its superior suspension or cancel the journey. Which would have left the option to be the 2036 bus instead, and given it was by now rather chilly I was glad to be on board the rather modern and comfortable coach, not to mention grateful to the driver for still turning up for work!

Once back at the 4 star hotel, which was very busy compared to the previous night, I made my way upstairs to begin packing and have some more food. Around 2200, I was fast asleep with alarms set for 0445 and 0500.

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Photos are in order:

1) Somewhere in flight over the scenery
2) Approach to Inverness Airport
3) Loganair craft at Inverness Airport
4) My BA Airbus 320 at Inverness Airport
5, 6 and 7) Interior photos of room 205 at Marriott Bonvoy, Inverness Airport
8) Fitness suite at the hotel

I know I said I'd not include more photos, but this lot from Day 6 actually uploaded in the same order as I asked for, and it felt wrong not to share them. Of course, I have way too photos from Day 7, so I'll keep them as a nice bonus on the blog. That should be done some day soon!

 

[telstarbox]

14/01/23 - The Tri-City Trip, Day 7

This was a Route 11A bus, operated by Stagecoach, and it is a very slow and around-the-houses route, but on the bright side it was a very modern 72-plate electric bus. A Zone 2 Dayrider was £7.70, which I had bought on Day 6 and activated a few minutes before the bus was due. We left about 3 minutes late, and the speed was just lacking for much of the way.

Double digital!