Michael Portillo returns with new series

[northwichcat]

As a heads up Great Continental Railway Journeys returns next Sunday at 8pm.

Episode 1 is Madrid to Gibraltar

Armed with his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo returns to his native Spain to discover what the intrepid tourists of the Belle Epoque experienced on their travels through the fading Spanish empire. Hard on their heels in Madrid, he visits the scene of a grim assassination attempt at the royal wedding of a British princess and a Spanish king.

Striking south to historic Cordoba, Michael dances with an unusual partner and enjoys all the fun of the feria. Heading further into Andalusia, Michael arrives in Seville, the city he has made his Spanish home, and where, in the city's tobacco factory, he learns about a gypsy girl named Carmen.

After sipping sherry in Jerez, he traces Winston Churchill's tense diplomatic mission to Algeciras on Spain's Costa del Sol and finishes with tales of British espionage on the Rock of Gibraltar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03glrq2

I wonder if we might see him boarding a bus in that eposide - not just any bus but one run by this company: http://portillo.avanzabus.com/web/default.aspx?lang=en

 

[Greenback]

Excellent news. I enjoyed the previous series. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[High Dyke]

Job's a gud 'un.

 

[tony6499]

I wonder what the other episodes will be ?

 

[Gordon]

I'm opening the book now on how many times the Bradshaw will be spoken - my wife and I get a bit fed up with repetitive mentions - when viewers are given the information from the word go.

 

[IanD]

I'm opening the book now on how many times the Bradshaw will be spoken - my wife and I get a bit fed up with repetitive mentions - when viewers are given the information from the word go.

Given that the series is about following a route from an old Bradshaw then the frequent mention of Bradshaw is understandable.

 

[northwichcat]

I wonder what the other episodes will be ?

Someone posted on here that they spoke to Portillo while he was filming his next UK series and he mentioned having done or doing a program in Germany. Although I don't know where in Germany.

The BBC and Radio Times sites only have details for the first episode so far. Madrid to Gibraltar was publicised by local media in Gibraltar at the time of filming.

 

[gordonthemoron]

has Portillo been on the Harz mountain railway?

 

[burns20]

Yes he went up the Brocken to see a witch and neck spirits

 

[northwichcat]

I wonder what the other episodes will be ?

Next Sunday is Turin to Venice.

 

[martinsh]

I believe the journeys in this series to be

1. Madrid - Gibraltar
2. Turin - Venice
3. Dresden - Kiel
4. Copenhagen - Oslo
5. Prague - Munich
6. Bordeaux - Bilbao (looking forward to this one)

Did anyone see yesterdays episode ? Very interesting, and a part of Spain I'd not been to. But not enough about the actual trains - andl all the trains looked exactly the same to my untutored eye !

 

[northwichcat]

and all the trains looked exactly the same to my untutored eye !

Having been on the MD class 599s between Ronda and Algeciras myself I could see the difference between the modern MD trains and the Intercity ones.

Correction: It was a 598. (A diesel version of the 599. If I'd read the train description before posting I would have noticed the error.) Although while doing that journey I did hear someone comment on the train being quiet so must have been electric - a comment which they retracted when they saw the lack of electrics.

 

[davetheguard]

Having been on the MD class 599s between Ronda and Algeciras myself I could see the difference between the modern MD trains and the Intercity ones.

Michael Portillo mentioned in the film that the line to Algeciras -and several others in Spain- are under threat because of the austerity programme.

Does anyone know what the full list is, and what sort of timescales we are talking about before a decision is made by the Spanish government.

That line through Ronda to Algeciras looked extremely scenic and worth visiting as part of a holiday in the area, but I wouldn't want to plan a trip only to find the railway closed.

Hopefully the line will survive as it seemed to be reasonably well used, and looked like it had been already modernised with new track etc. Ronda is a tourist hotspot in the area; it would surely be very short-sighted to close it's railway station?

 

[northwichcat]

That line through Ronda to Algeciras looked extremely scenic and worth visiting as part of a holiday in the area, but I wouldn't want to plan a trip only to find the railway closed.

It is extremely scenic and I personally think it's more scenic than it came across in the programme. Well actually the bit between Algeciras and San Roque isn't that scenic so if you do San Roque to Ronda you won't miss really miss anything apart from not seeing a Spanish industrial port.

When I travelled the line in April 2011 it had only recently reopened after the track apparently being relaid and new rolling stock had only recently been introduced. The running was very smooth and quiet. Obviously a few new trains could easily be cascaded elsewhere but potentially closing a line a few years after relaying track seems a waste.

Ronda is a tourist hotspot in the area; it would surely be very short-sighted to close it's railway station?

The services from Algeciras to Ronda trains continue to either Granada (MD services) or Madrid (Intercity) so closing Algeciras to Ronda doesn't necessarily mean closing Ronda station.

 

[Hellfire]

Second programme on BBC 2 now. Turin to Venice. It's a bit more of a travelogue than the UK programmes but it is an hour long. Pendolinos got a mention.

 

[GodAtum]

Enjoying the programme so far. Europe has much nicer looking trains then ours!

 

[BlythPower]

Good job it goes out after the watershed. What was Michael doing asking the young Aussie if he was up for some 'Forbidden Love'?

 

[northwichcat]

Good job it goes out after the watershed. What was Michael doing asking the young Aussie if he was up for some 'Forbidden Love'?

It was on at 8pm the first week but 9pm the second week. I imagine that's down to scheduling more than anything else. The Simpsons contains references similar to that and BBC were happy to show those at 6pm until they lost the rights to Channel 4.

 

[hughesfowler]

Really enjoyed last nights episode, very factual yet entertaining at the same time. A great series.

 

[GodAtum]

the trains in Europe looks much more comfier the ours and the station much larger and nicer!

 

[northwichcat]

the trains in Europe looks much more comfier the ours and the station much larger and nicer!

If you go on some of the S-Bahn trains in Germany they certainly are not comfortable, while some of the local trains in Italy are very old and covered in graffiti.

 

[ianhr]

Germany has a lot of impressive stations e.g. Leipzig Hbf, but they have lost much of their 'railway' ambience since DB started to pursue its present policy of turning them into shopping malls (just like the UK!). In recent years I have found it can be quite difficult to buy a ticket. The best times in Germany were just after re-unification.

 

[northwichcat]

In recent years I have found it can be quite difficult to buy a ticket.

If you select the English option on DB ticket machines now it gives you a 10 step process to find the ticket you want even if you already know the exact ticket you wish to buy!

 

[tony6499]

Enjoyed last nights show but it jumped a bit, showed him getting on an ICE and then on board a loco hauled train.

Will be interesting next week as he is in Scandinavia and that is a journey I'd like to make

 

[WatcherZero]

My parents did the Scandinavian trip last year (loved the trains), theyve also done the Italian journey he took but wernt impressed with the trains (too hot and crowded) and Venice (far too many tourists). Was amusing because while watching the episode they recalled the Club di Giulietta from their visit before Portillo went on to visit them, Lake Como is their favourite holiday destination.

 

[stut]

I really really must visit that trolley cycling place outside Lund. Looks rather wonderful.

As a frequent visitor to the Øresund region, I can tell you that the continuity folks also thoroughly mixed up the trains again - even across countries! But it was a very entertaining programme. And he seemed particularly taken with his blonde Swedish hostess for the cycle-bound smorgasbord...

 

[northwichcat]

Usually they seem to pick the quieter trains for Portillo to travel on but yesterday the Copenhagen to Malmo train he was on was very busy. Is that normally crowded?

 

[stut]

Yeah, the section from Copenhagen Airport to Hyllie and Triangeln is often rammed, particularly in the shoulder-peak when they run the single unit sets and they only run every 20 minutes (they run double units every 10 minutes in the full peak, which is normally OK, but people tend to congregate at one end). A lot of people now commute from Sweden to Copenhagen, as living costs are significantly lower, and there's a lot more employment on the Danish side (Malmo is recovering from a long decline).

However, you can generally quite easily get a seat if you board at either Copenhagen H or Malmo C, and can normally get one when people leave at either the airport or Hyllie (the stations on either side of the bridge).

 

[tony6499]

Another interesting show, that bridge is something else

 

[stut]

The disappointing thing about the bridge is that you don't get the best view when you're travelling across it by train. Like many such crossings, the railway line is held underneath the road, so you are rather boxed in. That said, it still manages to be pretty stunning (and rather reminiscent of the railways from the offshore airports at Incheon and Kansai).

I'd actually say that crossing the Great Belt is a more impressive journey in Denmark. The causeways and bridges are more open, and you get a sense of the scale of it. If you ever get the sleeper to Copenhagen, it's a wonderful sight to have your breakfast to! (You usually wake up somewhere round Odense, I find...)