A week of Firsts and Lasts 

Wayne Boyd • 23 May 2019

Great trip to Kent, London, Devon & Bristol - Also a grand farewell for the HST!

Now i'm back home it's time to reflect on my latest adventure. My first trip visiting Kent, visiting Angel Road, The HST farewell trip, first trip of the year for the Okehampton line.

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Kent completely surprised me, I didn't really know what to expect from Kent, one person back home called Kent Concrete County due to all the roads they said. To be honest i don't really know what they was talking about, it was beautiful, some really nice beaches and some fantastic countryside. on day one i arrived quite late, still had time to go and do the Sheerness-On-Sea line which is a short line that connects Sittingbourne with the Isle of Sheppey. It is clearly a well used commuter line with a very frequent service. After visiting the stations on this line it was back to Sittingbourne (Where i took the above photo) . I then headed down to Folkestone Central where i was booked to stay at the Grand Burstin Hotel.

The Grand Burstin Hotel is part of the Britannia Hotel chain of hotels nationwide. Now i have never stayed at a Britannia Hotel before, and at £25 per night i was quite skeptical about what the accommodation and facilities would be like. As it turned my concerns were unjustified, it was more than acceptable, to be honest the bath was better than the one i had at Travelodge later in the week. The bed was quite comfy and the sea view was to die for in the morning.

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My first full day in Kent... I headed to the east coast and worked my way around the top knocking out everything between Dover Priory and Sandwich. I then progressed to the north Kent coast where i visited every station between Dumpton Park & Faversham. Before heading down the line between Faversham and Kearsney. Unfortunately due to signalling issues in London one of my train was delayed and i missed a connection at Shepherds Well. As this point i headed back to Folkestone West. I got off at Folkestone East and headed down to seafront where i had a beautiful evening walk along the beach. Before heading to the hotel i took a little walk along the Folkestone Arm.

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On the Friday i had planned to not visit many stations and just relax. That plan changed as i was heading between Ashford International and Canterbury West I traveled through 3 little stations, Wye, Chilham & Chartham. They looked really beautiful so i decided to go and visit them stations. Manual level crossings, Old signal boxes, nice village greens. It really was beautiful.

After these three i went to Canterbury East and then to Selling and Adisham before heading into London via Gillingham, Rainham & Rochester. I soon discovered why i was nervous about London. The walk between Stratford International & Stratford (via the Olympic Park) was heaving, trying to avoid getting run over by bikes & scooters. Anyway, once i dodged all the people i was on a train heading to Angel Road.

So my original plans was to catch the very last train out of Angel Road, unfortunately the closure date was changed meaning my great big plans were in the bin. I've still done the station now, and as i write this I see that it's been delayed again... Who know's when this station will finally close, and more to the point, who knows when Meridian Water will finally open. I never actually realized how close the two stations were going to be. Quite literally a stone throw away, platform to platform anyway.

After Angel Road i made my way to my Travelodge for the night at Enfield.

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Saturday i started the day late, i didn't leave my hotel until 1145. Ticked off some stations in London before heading to Paddington for the final Great Western Railway HST.

The HST journey was amazing, I'll be doing a separate blog for this trip soon. So anyway, lets fast forward to Taunton.

So with the journey ending in Taunton/Exeter i had to find some accommodation. Prices in Exeter and Taunton are very expensive on a Saturday night. Cheapest place i could get was a guest house for £56. I stayed at the Royal Ashton Hotel just 250m from Taunton station. I was very impressed with it overall. Check it out here.

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So it was an early rise on the Sunday, time to head off to Exeter for the first service of the year to Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton.

I started with visiting Sampford Courtenay, the least used station in Devon. Since they only have trains on Summer Sundays it's no surprise really. It was so peaceful and relaxing at the station while i waited for my train back.

After this i got the train back down to Crediton where i went to get breakfast at Wetherspoons. Terrible experience, worst Wetherspoons i've been in for a very long time. 35mins i waited for my breakfast. Anyway, i made it back to the station in time, just. Anyway i then headed up the Tarka line to Kings Nympton. I then headed back to Newton St Cyres and then headed for Okehampton. What a beautiful treat Okehampton was. I mean absolutely beautiful.

After Okehampton it was time to head towards Bristol where my hotel was for the night.

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The Monday was a personal morning, in the afternoon I finally got to tick of Keynsham, a station that had eluded me on a few previous trips. I always got to tick off Bristol Temple Meads properly! Then it was homeward bound.

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Now my trip has finished i look back on this one as one of the best, felt really positive all throughout, and I've learnt things about myself as a person and learnt lots about the challenge. Got to meet several people during this trip, was good to say Hi to say hi to people. If anyone see's me about in the future, feel free to say hi, i might even grab a selfie with you for this blog.

Anyway, until next time.

Stuart

DAY 3 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 21 Sept, 2024
Day three of the walk saw me starting nice and early at Llandudno Junction. With one simple aim, to get as far along the Conwy Valley as possible! Betws-y-Coed was the minimum target for the day. On this day I was joined by KD ( @roadsignreporter over on YouTube ). Walking to Glan Conwy was easy enough for us both, I kicked myself that I hadn't pushed myself the day before! Blooming beer! After Glan Conwy it was time for the first of the many hills that Wales was going to throw at me during this walk. We had to head up the steep hills to avoid walking along the very busy footpathless A470. You can see the scale of the diversion on the Strava map at the bottom. Things improved at Tal-y-Cafn when we arrived at the lovely station. Had a good chat with the Network Rail level crossing staff there who refilled our water bottles for us. After this we headed across the fields and along the B5106 which we would follow mostly until Betws-y-Coed. Only really leaving the road to pop to the required stations to walk too. We had a nice surprise at Dalgarrog when we came across the Dolgarrog Railway Society platform where we chatted with one of the members. They told us about the work they are doing with the site. Was a really nice break from walking. Between Dolgarrog and Llanrwst our pace slowed down a fair bit, I think this was down to the heat, and it became clear Betws-y-Coed was going to be the end point for the day! We reached the village and the road kindly dropped us off at the Spar shop and bakery so was able to stock up on some essential cakes and drinks. Shout out to the TfW guard on the train back to Llandudno Junction who kindly wavered the fare for the journey. Was much appreciated!

DAY 2 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 21 Sept, 2024
Day two of the walk saw me walking from Bangor to Llandudno Junction. This day was a lovely walk mostly along the North Wales Coast Path. With getting ahead of schedule the day before I was able to relax a little today. So the target today was Penmaenmawr, anything after that was a bonus. On this day I was joined by friend and boss. Special mention to Ian, honestly without him keeping me on full pay while on these charity walks they simply wouldn't be able to happen! We stopped at the beach café at Penmaenmawr where comically we was counting out pennies to pay for our lunch as the café didn't accept card! While having lunch we looked at how far we would be able to walk. We set our target on Glan Conwy. We was going well following the A55 right until we arrived at Conwy where we went to a pub for a pint... After this we decided that with beer in us we wasn't going to be making it to Glan Conwy. Instead we slowly made our way to Llandudno Junction where we called it a day!

DAY 1 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 20 Sept, 2024
Day one of the walk would see me walk from Holyhead to Bangor. This was not the original plan. The original plan was to only walk to Bodorgan. But upon reaching Bodorgan and just missing a train I decided to push on and just see how far I could get! Sadly on day one I was on my own that day. But that was probably a good thing, I don't think many would of approved of walking 32 miles!

Stations to visit: KILDALE

by Stu • 28 Apr, 2024
Kildale station is located on the very scenic Esk Valley Line that runs from Middlesborough to Whitby. From the June 2024 timetable change the station will see 8 trains per day, 4 in each direction! Although this is a limited service it does give you the opportunity to do some exploring of the area.

Afternoon walk with Bailey

by Stuart • 27 Jan, 2024
I set of on a walk with my sisters dog and headed for the disused canal from Kendal. I followed along disused canal to the village of Natland. I then swapped the disused canal for the river. After following the riverside path, I came across a footbridge that I had planned to use, annoyingly it was closed! Annoyingly I was planning to use this footbridge, due to this there was a lenghty diversion. Thankfully the diversion wasn't a total waste of time, I was able to walk through the beautiful Sizergh Castle and then head back up to my original route plan and headed to Helsington church and view point. After spending a little time chatting with my Dad (who's ashs was scattered there) me and Bailey then headed up to Scout Scar before setting of back down towards Kendal. Upon reaching the River Kent I decided that my feet was still feeling good and I headed back along the river to Hawes Bridge. I then headed up into the village of Natland and then up to Oxenholme where my walk came to an end!

The Northumberland Line

by Stuart • 21 Jan, 2024
A blog about the new Northumberland Line that is scheduled to start opening in the Summer of 2024.

Walking the Great Western Railway - Day 4

by Stu • 06 Sept, 2023
This walk was a tail of two halves! The day started with walking through Reading suburbs and then through the city centre. Things mid morning took a positive turn as we headed to the The Kennet and Avon Canal which I then followed for the remaineder of the day. Only hopping away from the canal to go on to station platforms. A very enjoyable walk, even in the scorching heat! Stations visted today was: Reading, Reading West, Theale, Aldermaston & ended the day at Midgham. By walking between Aldermaston and Midgham I actually have managed to get a station ahead on my plan which can only be a good thing as I head down to the more difficult reagions of Somerset & Devon next week. Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 3

by Stu • 04 Sept, 2023
Todays walk was a little bit of a tough one, mainly due to the excessive heat which is only going to get worse as the week goes on. Thinking there will be some early starts coming up to try and miss the worst of the heat! Today was a mixture of roads and walks across fields. Discovered there is some beautiful countryside between Maidenhead and Twyford. I strongly encourage you to take this walk! Stations visited today: Burnham, Taplow, Maidenhead and ended at Twyford. Was great to have Nick Badley along with me today. Make sure to check out and subscribe to his YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@NickBadley . After the walk myself and Nick headed to Windsor where we met up with Coastway Will and had a Nandos dinner where the unlimited refils was very much used again and again! Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 2

by Stu • 03 Sept, 2023
Todays walk saw me starting at Southall and heading straight to The Grand Union Canal. We followed this for most of the walk today. Stations called at today was: Hayes & Harlington, West Drayton, Iver, Langley before finishing the walk at Slough. Was great to have pals Jack and Dave with me today. Laughed for the most part, especially when we got the wrong place for the London/Buckinghamshire borders. That video on twitter got filmed twice lol. Massive thank you to everyone supporting the event via donations to either/both: Donate to Samaritans: https://justgiving.com/page/greatwesternwalk Support me with the challenge: https://www.gofundme.com/f/GreatWesternWalk My photos from today are below. Daves photos from today can be found here on his Flickr photostream: https://flic.kr/ps/3ppCTV Until tomorrow :)

Gallery: Weekend Walking around Windermere & Oxenholme

by Stu • 20 Aug, 2023
Walk around Windermere:
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