The Transport Game

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Your knowledge of your local area does you credit.....

Penarth is most probably better to see in the hours of daylight, but we decide not to use the train, but one of the local bus services, so after asking for directions to the nearest stop, we eventually board the 2040 Cardiff Bus 94 service that arrives at Wood Street, Cardiff at 2056 on Monday evening. (Is 16 minutes the right journey time?)

 

[ValleyLines142]

Haha, oh I hop to Penarth every day, its so tedious after a while but fun at the same time, if that's possible :P

Penarth has lots of pubs too, such as The Railway, lovely atmosphere, not too rough, and there's a widescreen TV for the footy and a dartboard! Oh a local bus! How fabulous! Yes I'd say about sixteen minutes is good for that time of night!

At Cardiff Central, we then embark back to the station and board 2Y85, the 2110 Arriva Trains Wales services to Barry Town, which has rather a good nightlife scene, where we arrive at 2134 on Monday evening.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Well, it does have a good nightlife scene and we end up with a couple, seeing we are strangers to the area, try to persuade us that they are Gavin and Stacey, but are dissuaded by another round of drinks and we cannot believe just how much travelling we have done on a Monday. We make our excuses and finally arrive at the railway station, where, totally exhausted and having no strength or motivation for more "gallivanting today", we board the 2316 ATW service to Cardiff Central arriving there at 2344 on an extremely bitter cold Monday December night.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Indeed so! What a fabulous night, touring the Valley Lines. We then check into a Travelodge, and in the morning we keep up on the Valleys (for a final day) and board 2M16, the 0926 Arriva Trains Wales service to Merthyr Tydfil, which arrives at 1031 on Tuesday morning.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This is becoming more and more like one of the Bradshaw's travelogues, so beloved by Michael Portillo.....


We are now in an area with much pre-history and of Iron Age hill forts that were built by the Celtic Silures tribe who fought valiantly against the Roman invasion...so well in fact that the Romans built an auxiliary fortress at Penydarren and we spend some time reading of this historical time. We now look for a somewhat different mode of transport, in order to see much of the area of the Heads of the Valleys towards the areas of the Welsh Marches, so after a quick snack and a drink, we head off to the bus station and board the 1200 Stagecoach in South Wales X4 service to the bus station at Abergavenny that arrives there at 1325 on Tuesday afternoon.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Oh I love his railway journeys!

We then nip to the railway station and catch 1W25, the 1443 ATW service to Manchester Piccadilly, which arrives at 1714 on Tuesday afternoon.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Whilst we are "oop North" in Cottonopolis, the thought strikes us...."Did I lock the side door?", so it is a quick change of platform to catch the 1748 Northern service to Prestbury that arrives at the unmanned lonely station at 1814 on Tuesday evening.

 

[Welshman]

Well, we find we'd locked the side door alright, but we'd left the iron on, and it's now burned itself out.

So we walk to Butley town to catch the Bakerbus 393 at 1900 to Macclesfield, and walk to Comet on Hulley Rd to buy a new iron.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We are fortunate to find that they will deliver the iron as part of their service and a time is given when it can be delivered to our most immediate neighbour in the village and we then just have time to walk the short distance downhill to Macclesfield railway station where we board the 1949 XC service to Southampton Central that arrives there at 2343 on Tuesday evening.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Let's go nocturnal and go through the night, let's jump on 1B75, the 2351 South West Trains service to Bournemouth, which arrives at 0022 in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

There are worse places than Bournemouth to spend the night hours, so we just wait for a direct train to the capital and we board the 0515 SWT service to London Waterloo that arrives there at 0724 on Wednesday morning.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Ooh we're in the capital!

After freezing our bums off waiting for five hours at Bournemouth station, we then catch the 0749 train on the Northern Line to Euston (roughly about now then!), which arrives at 0800 on the dot.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Nothing like a nice long journey to really get the chill out of our bones, so after telephoning to our neighbour (on the farm up the lane) to remind her that Argos at Macclesfield will be delivering the new iron (see a few postings back about the "saga of the iron", we board the 0910 Virgin Trains service to Bangor (Gwynedd) that passes the edifice of Conwy Castle close by and arrives out of the tunnel and into the station at 1216 on Wednesday afternoon.

 

[Welshman]

Emerging from the Virgin train at Bangor, having had time to muse on the close trading relationships of the retailers in Macclesfield, and how we can purchase a new iron from Comet and Argos will actually deliver it{!}, we realise we are just in time to catch Express Motors' Service No. 1 from outside the station[saving the walk down into town] at 1222 to Porthmadog, where we should arrive at Porthmadog Australia [the pub, not the country], at 1344, from whence it's just a short walk to Porthmadog Harbour Railway Station.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing goes right.......Firstly, we get a call from the farm where our neighbour asks if she she take the delivery from Comet, as we had told her Argos in error, so we profusely apologise and say it was in order to accept the delivery. Then we look at the Ffestiniog timetable for this week....no trains from 18th to 26th December.

Nothing for it but to make our way to Porthmadog railway station with the rather wider gauge track and are most fortunate that we are able to board the 1406 ATW service to Machynlleth that arrives there at 1551 on Wednesday afternoon.

 

[Welshman]

Well-spotted!
I'd mis-read the timetables and of course the Santa Specials to Tan-y-Bwlch from Porthmadog were last week, not this! Hey-ho. Ho-ho-ho.

So, having missed the opportunity to visit the grand old man in the red coat, we have a brief look round the lovely historical town of Machynlleth before making our way to the Cloc to board the excellent Arriva Traws-Cambria service X32 at 1630, to alight at Sgwar Eldon in Dollgellau at 1705.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dollgellau is a place we have never visited before, but we remember that it once had a railway station which was closed in 1965 and all vestiges of it were totally obliterated by the building of the A470 Dollgellau bypass in the late 1970's. We take a light meal and walk to Eldon Square where we board the 1915 X94 Arriva Cymru service to Wrexham and disembark at 2116 at B & Q on Berse Road, Plas Coch.

 

[Welshman]

Having spent the previous night under the pier in Bournemouth, we are, quite understandably, very tired by the time we reach Wrecsam, and as we don't need to buy any more irons, wonder why we did not stay on to Wrecsam Bus Station.
However, we are very fortunate in getting a room at the Lemon Tree Hotel in Wrecsam for only £50, and sleep soundly.
The morning after, Thursday the 22nd December, we rise quite early, and after a full Welsh Breakfast [Q. - What's the difference between a Full Welsh and a Full English breakfast? - A. - The accent with which it is served.], we debate whether to catch the GHA X50 Service at 0925 from Wrecsam Bus Station to Bwlchgwyn, to visit our old friend, Merlodlliw.

However, it would be unfair to call without notice, so we instead board Bryn Melin's No. 5 service at 0900 to Llangollen, arriving at 0933. This gives us ample time to take photographs of the river Dee as we walk to Llangollen station, to fulfill an ambition frustrated the previous day, i.e. catch the 1100 steam train to Lapland [Carrog], where we eventually catch up with the red-coated gentleman [in his Grotto] on the station. Ho! Ho! Ho!

 

[ValleyLines142]

Having spent the previous night under the pier in Bournemouth, we are, quite understandably, very tired by the time we reach Wrecsam, and as we don't need to buy any more irons, wonder why we did not stay on to Wrecsam Bus Station.
However, we are very fortunate in getting a room at the Lemon Tree Hotel in Wrecsam for only £50, and sleep soundly.
The morning after, Thursday the 22nd December, we rise quite early, and after a full Welsh Breakfast [Q. - What's the difference between a Full Welsh and a Full English breakfast? - A. - The accent with which it is served.], we debate whether to catch the GHA X50 Service at 0925 from Wrecsam Bus Station to Bwlchgwyn, to visit our old friend, Merlodlliw.

However, it would be unfair to call without notice, so we instead board Bryn Melin's No. 5 service at 0900 to Llangollen, arriving at 0933. This gives us ample time to take photographs of the river Dee as we walk to Llangollen station, to fulfill an ambition frustrated the previous day, i.e. catch the 1100 steam train to Lapland [Carrog], where we eventually catch up with the red-coated gentleman [in his Grotto] on the station. Ho! Ho! Ho!

WREXHAM!!! not Wrecsam haha.

 

[Welshman]

Some Welsh people would call it Wrecsam!

 

[ValleyLines142]

Some Welsh people would call it Wrecsam!

I'm Welsh, and I certainly don't :P

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The former name for Carrog is rather difficult for non-Welsh visitors to pronounce (similar to the Welsh version of Mold)....Llanganffraid-glyn Dyfrdwy

Having told the current reincarnation of St Nicholas our wishes for the coming year (a staffed station at Prestbury), it is time to enjoy the winter beauty of Carrog. However, all good things come to an end and we stand at the stop area at Parc House where we board the 1413 GHA service to Wrexham that arrives at the bus station at 1504.

 

[Welshman]

From where it is only a short walk to Central Railway station.
We've never been on the Borderlands Line before, so we catch the 1530 ATW service to Bidston, arriving there at 1630.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bidston station at tea time on a cold Thursday in December is something akin to a scene from "Paradise Lost", so fortunately there is not long to wait so we can board the 1651 Merseyrail service to Birkenhead Hamilton Square that arrives at 1701 on Thursday evening.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I'm back!

After a short stop in Birkenhead we then jump on 2C44 1736 Merseyrail to Liverpool Lime Street arriving at 1743 on Thursday evening.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Not much time to spare as we make our way to the surface platforms where we board the 1752 EMT service to Norwich that arrives at 2318 on Thursday night.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Ooh cutting it short there! hehe!

Upon arrival at Norwich, it's rather late, so we check into a hotel and in the morning jump on 1P01, the 0500 National Express East Anglia service to London Liverpool Street, which arrives at 0654 on Friday morning.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Just a "short hop" now and we note how busy London mainline stations are with commuters well to the fore , so we board the 0713 NXEA service to Romford that arrives at 0728 on Friday morning.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Have always wanted to travel on the Romford to Upminster Line, so let's take either 2V10, the 0754 National Express East Anglia to Upminster, which arrives at 0802 on Friday morning. (I think we'd miss 2V08 the 0730, with your train arriving at 0728 from London).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We have a look at the station but find nothing really of note to keep us there for any length of time, so we join the later commuters back to the capital city in the bright morning sunshine as we board the 0826 c2c service to London Fenchurch Street arriving at 0855 on Friday morning.