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Stuart Boyd • 26 July 2019
Monday 22nd July 2019: North East - It was a pleasure.
Well today was my final day in the North East and it was looking like it was going to be a scorcher. Thankfully i didn't have many stations planned today, that is partly to allow time to travel to Manchester to meet up with my partner, but also so i could have time to visit Locomotion which is a 5 minuet walk from Shildon station.
My day started with a quick trip to Allens West then went back on myself to Eaglescliffe. At Eaglescliff I got my first sighting of a Grand Central train. Up until now i'd only ever see them on pictures on social media. I think their units looked rather slick and stylish. In addition to this, when at Hartlepool the previous day i noticed that they were offering fares from as little as £14.50 from Hartlepool to London which i thought was remarkably cheap!
After a short wait at Eaglescliffe i waited for the service that would take me to Doncaster. On arrival at Doncaster i decided to save myself some time and do a sneaky taxi maneuver. I hopped into a taxi and asked him to take me to North Road station, to say he was a bit perplexed was an understatement. Anyway he took me as i requested. I arrived at North Road and found a single platform that was located next to some old sidings with some very rusty old units sat in the yard. There was also what looked like to be the old platform further up which is now disused. All in all it was a very interesting station that i definitely wasn't expecting.
After a short wait at North Road my train arrived in the form of 142091 which i traveled on up to Shildon. My last station on the Bishop Line. Also Shildon is the home to railway museum "Locomotion'. After some advice on twitter from Jan (@AvfcSquirrel) that i must allow some time to visit the museum i did just that.
Now i will add all my photo's from my visit to my gallery page (which hopes to be launching this weekend). After a lovely walk around the museum i headed back to Shildon station to catch the train southbound, and back to Middlesbrough where another taxi move was in the waiting.
I hoped in a taxi to take me to Marton station. A taxi was always in mind for the upcoming three stations due to the frequency of services it was a lot easier to start in the middle of the three. On the way in the taxi the driver asked me what i was doing so i explained my challenge to him and he told me loads of things about how there used to be more stations in the area many years ago, how he lives near to Great Ayton, but when he catches the train to Whitby he goes into Middlesbrough first as its only way of guaranteeing a seat. Local knowledge is priceless to hear about.
Marton station is a single platform station that serves the Middlesbrough suburb Marton. I was surpriced as the station had a slight rural feel to it up on the platform. Although when i was travelling in the taxi it certainly didn't feel rural, funny what a few bushes and trees can do the mind.
Time for the short hop up the line to Gypsy Lane. While on the short hop i chatted to the guard who had dropped me off earlier in the day at Darlington so was a little puzzled to be picking me up at Marton only a few hours later. Anyway after the quick explanation we arrived at Gypsy Lane where I alighted. Gypsy Lane is a single platform station on the outskirts of Nunthorpe. I had a 5 minuet connection here for my train that would take me to my final station.
Heading back south through Marton i arrived at my final station of the trip. James Cook, Or James Cook University Hospital Station as some people might know it as. Or you might even know it as James Cool depending on which sign you read [See picture below].
After alighting at James Cook i headed towards the main road where i caught the first bus heading into Middlesbrough.
And that was it, that's the end of my North East Adventure for now. I hope to be back by the end of the year to finish off Newcastle/Middlesbrough area.
Until my next blog update.
Happy travels
Stu.
P.S:
On a slight side note, the following day i was at hospital with my partner near Wigan. While travelling to our appointment I was able to tick off another station, Appley Bridge was the one. We can both confirm that the pub (The Boathouse Pub & Kitchen) by the canal near Appley Bridge station serves a fantastic pint! Strongly recommended!
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 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 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!
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.
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!
A blog about the new Northumberland Line that is scheduled to start opening in the Summer of 2024.
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 :)
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 :)
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 :)
The first day of the walk from London Paddington to Southall saw me call at Acton Mainline, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing & Hanwell. On the way we saw unexpected viaducts, fancy McDonalds, pretty gardens & nice market squares. Today I was joined by a couple of friends who can be found online at the following places, Please do check their accounts out. Jack All Station: twitter.com/JackAllStations Midland London: youtube.com/@MidlandLondon Below is a selection of photos from today.