Tag: Preston

Lake District 2023 18: Getting Home

The final post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District, detailing the journey home.

Welcome to the final post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. In it I talk about my journey back to King’s Lynn.

A MULTI-MODAL JOURNEY

Thursday was the only day on which I could travel home – the next non-strike day was the following Tuesday by when I was due back at work. I had been warned by thetrainline.com of trouble on the Ely-King’s Lynn portion of the journey – they had wanted to me to book a whole new journey, but I knew better – so long as I could get as far as Peterborough I could then get a bus to King’s Lynn, and there is no difference in the time taken to walk from the bus station to my home and that from the train station. Thus I was prepared for a journey using three modes of wheeled transport plus walking.

THE JOURNEY

My parents gave me a lift from Ambleside to Oxenholme the Lake District, getting me there well before my train was due. The train arrived five minutes late, which is early by Avanti’s usual standards. The train was a little crowded, but I had a reserved seat, and it was otherwise uneventful.

At Preston I had to change to another Avanti service, as the one I was on ran non-stop between Warrington and London, and my second change was at Birmingham New Street. This train was also fairly crowded.

At Birmingham New Street I boarded a service bound ultimately for Norwich. This train ran exactly according to schedule, and it turned out that I had just under a 20 minute wait at Peterborough for the bus to King’s Lynn.

ExCel proved to among the bus routes on which no single journey costs more than £2, a substantial saving on previous fares on that route (Lynx, whose buses I use to get to and from work are not as yet part of this scheme). Arriving at King’s Lynn bus station, as unappealing as that location is, was something of a relief – I knew for certain at that point that last possibility of trouble was behind me, which given the situation in which I made that journey was no small thing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my pictures from this day…

Crossing the Great Ouse by bus, the moment I regard as the end of the holiday.
You will be seeing more of this swan family in posts to come, although the eight cygnets here have been reduced in number to six.

Lake District – Getting There

Setting the scene for a series of posts about a short holiday I am enjoying in Ambleside by describing the journey there.

Welcome to what will be the first of a series of posts about a short holiday I am taking in the Lake District. My parents and I are staying in a small cottage above the town of Ambleside (for fans of Rebecca Tope think “The Ambleside Alibi”). This post sets the scene by describing my journey from King’s Lynn to Ambleside.

KINGS LYNN TO ELY

I left my bungalow, situated just north of King’s Lynn, at 9:00 yesterday morning as I had planned to do. This meant that I got to the train station with time to spare before my train, the 09:42 to Cambridge (something must have been happening south of Cambridge as the service usually runs through to London). The train set off exactly when it was supposed to and chugged into Ely at 10:15AM.

ELY TO MANCHESTER PICCADILLY

The second and longest section of my train odyssey was part of a long cross country route (the full route is Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street). The train on this route consists of two carriages and there are no reserved seats. Fortunately, although it was pretty full at times it was never seriously close to ‘sardine can on wheels’ territory. I had some familiarity with the route as far as Sheffield, but beyond Sheffield was all new to me.

MANCHESTER PICCADILLY TO PRESTON

The third leg of the journey took me into the heart of Lancashire, the the county town of Preston. This route had some features of interest, and for the third time out of three on the day it ran according to schedule. Given that the final leg of my rail journey was in the incapable hands of Avanti I did not expect to make it four out of four.

PRESTON TO OXENHOLME THE LAKE DISTRICT

The final section of my rail journey took me into the heart of the Lake District. I should have got into Oxenholme at 16:09, but the train for this last section was running 20 minutes late (which probably counts as punctual by Avanti’s unique standards). It was scenic, but I could not capture any of it with my camera because the “window” seat that I had reserved turned out to give me access to about 10% of said window, so I could see things, but not focus the camera on them. I got pictures from most of the rest of the route.

THE REST OF THE JOURNEY

After a minor confusion at Oxenholme, where my parents were collecting me in their car, having made their own way up from Cornwall, we found our way to the location given for our cottage, but the cottage was so well concealed that it took several attempts to actually locate it. There then turned out to be a few other problems with it – my parents bedroom contains a nasty hazard in that the bedroom door leads straight on to the staircase. I will go into more detail about Ambleside in my next post.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…