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09:30.

Sorry for the delay in starting this but I was up before 06:00 and I’ve been on the move ever since. Now, on the line from Paddock Wood to Strood along the Medway valley I’ve finally found a train with wifi, tables and power sockets!

It’s been a busy morning, so far I’ve travelled from Surbiton (and not a bowler hat or pinstripe suit in sight) to Clapham Junction, Waterloo, Tonbridge and now I’m heading North along a very pretty railway. I’ll add a few pictures shortly, but the weather’s not at its best. We have lots of mist and low cloud haunting us after yesterdays torrential rain. This sun’s struggling to break through on this warm, humid day.

Here’s a couple of surprises from Paddock Wood, showing how old railway identities hang on.

This wonderful double sided South Eastern Railway (SER) clock is attached to the main station building.
In the rubbish-strewn bay platform by the bufferstops you can still find chairs bearing the initials of the Southeastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) which means they predate the 1923 railway grouping.

15:00.

Phew! I’ve got around a bit. Right now I’m stood on a packed LNER service heading for Doncaster. How did I get here when I was last in Kent. It’s a long story, but it involves traversing the Medway Valley line to Strood where I joined a high-speed ‘Javelin’ service which took me back West to Ebbsfleet, where we ran onto ‘high speed 1’ under the Thames and through Essex to Stratford in East London. That’s the start of a whole new story I can’t fit in here. Stratford was very much an old stomping ground, so getting the train from there onwards through the Lea valley was quite an eye-opener. Then i realised my train was going to Hertford East, a line I’d never written about before, so I changed my plans and ended up there.

A tale of two stations. Here’s Hertford East, a fine building dating from 1888, but lacking much life.
Here’s Hertford North. It celebrated its 100th birthday in June. It’s full of life.

After a half hour walk across the pretty but busy town I was catching a train from the North station to Stevenage, then heading North. So here I am…

22:30.

Time to bring this blog to a close. I’m in Newcastle for the night, enjoying my suite in the Station Hotel. No, really – I got it for the price of a normal room around here and had no idea what they were going to give me! On my way up North I called in at the Mallard, a pub in the restored station building at Moorthorpe in South Yorkshire. It must be the only station bar which also hold the constituency office for the local MP!

Here’s a few pictures.

The bar in the Mallard, Moorthorpe.
As you can see, I’m slumming it here in the station hotel, Newcastle. That’s a sitting room next door. Not bad for £89 eh?
Victorian elegance…

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