It’s been a very busy day since I left Newcastle this morning. I’ve visited many of the North’s major cities and seen first-hand the effect Covid-19 is having on people’s lives as I’ve visited York, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool before ending up back at home for a night in order to pick up some clean clothes. Hopefully, people will find my experiences and interesting read in RAIL magazine next month. There’s certainly been plenty to write about!
Right now I’m going to call it a day as I have to be on my first train at 05:39 in the morning, so It’s time for bed. But before I go – here’s the picture of the day, which was taken at York station at this morning. The tourists are missing – and so’s everyone else…
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Today’s been a fascinating one that’s taken me across a lot of lowland Scotland, from Kilmarnock to Girvan, to Stranraer, to Ayr and on to Glasgow before heading across to Edinburgh where I had a short time meeting up with an old friend. Times being what they are it’s not as if the pair of us could even go for a pint somewhere. Instead we stood chatting on the footbridge at Edinburgh Waverley station whilst putting the world to rights and watching the world go by. Not that much of the world was going by, well, not in comparison to pre Covid days. In fact, the station was still quiet – but then Scotland’s been stricter than England when it comes to trying to control Covid.
You’ll be able to read about all my adventures in future editions of RAIL magazine, but I can spill a couple of stories. If you ever need to socially Isolate, I know the perfect place, which is the picture of the day – and I never thought I’d end up saying that!…
Stranraer Harbour station. One slight problem – the last ferry left in 2011 and the stations nowhere near the town…
Sadly, I’ve had to say goodbye to Scotland as I’ve the whole of the country to criss-cross in the next five days. I’d loved to have stayed longer, but here’s where I am tonight. The railways built some brilliant station hotels. Some of them (including one I visited earlier today) have fallen on hard times. Mine’s come back from that era…
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Wow! It’s only the first day and it’s already proving to be a fascinating trip! I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail but I’m already going to venture a couple of guesses. One is that passenger numbers are going to show quite an increase in the next set of stats if my experiences are anything to go by. Now that schools and colleges are back and the rail companies are running 90% of normal services passengers are returning. I’m not the only one to notice this either. I was amazed how busy some Trans-Pennine Express and Northern services have been today. That said, some stations (like Preston) resemble ghost towns because all the retail units are closed. Of course, quite a few of the retail staff will commute to work by train…
The only thing that put a damper on the day has been the weather, which has been bloody awful! I ventured up the scenic Cumbrian coast earlier but many of its charms were hidden in the murk!
I’m currently back at Lancaster in between trains, so I’ll update this from my Avanti West Coast service to Carlisle shortly…
19:38.
I’ve now crossed over the border into civilisation, making my way up the old Glasgow and South-Western Railway line to Kilmarnock via Dumfries. Sadly, the weather this side of the border’s no better. It’s akin to a post nuclear holocaust half-light and lousy for photography – especially when you’re on the move and don’t have time to play around with camera settings.
Even so, I’m happy with what I’ve seen and done so far, which makes me think my RAIL articles will be worth reading. The only think I’m missing is the interaction with people – like the train-crews, which just isn’t possible right now. Still, we’ll see how it goes. Anyways, here’s the picture of the day…
This historic plaque is on Preston station, where it marks a step-change on the railways. One that some people feel nostalgic for but one that had to happen – even if you can argue about the timing and management of it!
21:32.
I’m currently wandering around the centre of Kilmarnock, in search of sustenance. I fear I nay be disappointed as the whole town appears to be closed. Thank God for my wonderful other half! Dawn made me some pork rolls to bring with me and they’ve kept me going as all the catering outlets on the stations I’ve visited are all closed. Luckily, I picked up some cereal bars earlier – and I’ve a breakfast booked at my lovely B&B, so that might have to suffice…
Oh, by the way, the lighting under the railway arches is probably the coolest thing about Kilmarnock right now.
My last day at home for some time’s been occupied with prepping for my round Britain trip and having quality time with Dawn. The pair of us were trying to work out just how many nights away I might have had this year and neither of us can think of any! We didn’t have our usual winter holiday, all my jobs were day trips and the only trip we had planned (a few days in Berlin with friends) was cancelled due to Covid. So, this is my ‘big escape’ – which is really weird and totally unique! My packing list reflects this. Once upon a time it’d be focused on the electronics that I need for work, plus track atlases and timetables. Now it has masks and hand sanitisers high up on the list.
To say I’m looking forward to it is an understatement. I’ve never had my wings so clipped before. I’ll blog when I can and each day the picture of the day will be of somewhere from my next 8 days of travelling. I won’t be doing any rolling blogs as my writing’s commissioned by RAIL magazine and you’ll be able to read about my trip in three editions starting in October. Even so, I’ll try and give you a few teasers…
Meanwhile, here’s the last old picture of the day – which isn’t something I’ll be seeing on this trip! This is the amazing Buddhist temple at Borobudur, in Java, Indonesia. I took this photo in November 1998.
In the background is one of the many active volcanos that dominate this part of the world. Although Indonesia is now the worlds most populous Muslim country it has a rich history of religions and religious sites. Borobudur is just one of the most spectacular.
I’m looking forward to 2021 when I’m determined to het out to Indonesia again. In the meantime – I hope you enjoy my next week’s meanderings. If you’re on Twitter you’ll be able to find regular updates by following me at @PaulMBigland….
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It’s been an odd day. So many things I wanted to get done never happened whilst others did. Hey ho…
On the bright side I’m almost packed and prepared for the start of my round Britain trip on Monday – I even know where I’m going now, mostly, ish… The struggle of these trips is that when you’re planning to visit odd locations they’re fixed events. You can’t just pitch up on the next train, so the rest of the timetable has to be written around them – as you’ll see next week! Obviously I can’t go into the level of detail that I will in the magazine articles but I hope to pique your interest. I can certainly blog about my experiences that won’t form part of the three articles anyway – such as my impressions of the various towns I’ll be staying in, such as Kilmarnock, which I’ve only ever passed through. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever left the station before!
That said, here’s today’s picture from a place I have explored in the past. This is a view across Lake Hawea on the South Island, New Zealand, which I took on the 18th January 2019.
As much as I love living in the Pennines…
Covid and having my wings clipped is really starting to get to me. I miss the opportunity to travel so I’m really looking forward to next week. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep readers of this blog entertained as I wend my way around the UK…
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Today’s been full of planning for next week’s around Britain rail trip, mainly because of the Covid restrictions which mean I’ve got to be much more structured this year – especially when it come to some long-distance services where reservations are compulsory. The ability to ‘turn up and go’ has been restricted so I’ve got to be careful what I plan otherwise I could find myself stuck miles from where I’ve booked hotels. Of course, that’s unlikely, but I’m not going to risk it.
So, for once I’ve had to go to the station in advance to buy my ticket in order to book certain reservations in order to ensure the trip I’ve planned doesn’t fall apart in the first couple of days.
So much has changed on the railways since 2018 (and that’s without Covid) that I’m really looking forward to the adventure. I also get to travel on a couple of lines I’ve never travelled on before – and there aren’t many of those!
Of course, the ability to lean out of train windows to take pictures has (almost) disappeared, which means I won’t be recreating the picture of the day…
I took this shot on the 12th August 2003 whilst I was on a press trip with Virgin Trains on what was (and still is) the UK’s longest single train trip – from Aberdeen to Penzance. It was a hugely enjoyable (if marathon) event as we’d got to get to Aberdeen – and then get back from Penzance! The journey took us over three of the most iconic railway bridges in the UK. The Tay, Forth and Tamar bridges. I was lucky enough to experience two of them from the cab of the trains.
On the way through Cornwall we were presented with the most amazing sunset, which resulted in this picture, which I snapped from the window of the HST as we snaked around the Cornish curves.
The picture was such a hit that Virgin Trains used it in their in-house magazine and RAIL magazine used it as part of an article I wrote about the trip.
Sadly, there’s no chance of recreating it next week…
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Today’s been a fairly relaxing day as the pair of us have been out for a (socially distanced) lunch with Dee’s parents at a garden centre. Rather ironic when you think that the Government’s current Covid rules allow us to do that – but not meet them in their own garden! The current state of play with Government policy doing so many U-turns is they look like the fabled Oozlum bird. Any minute now they’re going to disappear up their own backsides.
The brain-ache set in when I got home and tried to reconcile the irreconcilable. I’ve a wish list of places that RAIL and I want to visit on my round Britain trip next week, but it’s impossible to fit everything in – no matter how hard I try and how many timetable permutations I look at. Somethings going to have to give, but I’m not sure what that’s going to be yet. Seven days continuous travelling around the the UK’s rail network sounds like a lot – until you look at the geographical spread of the places I’m attempting to reach – and get back home on a Sunday…
Still, this leads me neatly into the picture of the day. These are conditions I don’t expect to find on my travels next week.
This picture was taken in India on the 26th March 2011. I was on a solo trip exploring old haunts (and a few new ones) in India and checking out some of the rail network in the Indian state of Gujarat. I’d been photographing the narrow gauge railway system at Miyagam Karjan Junction an hour or so away from the town of Baroda (or Vadodara as it’s now named). I’d no idea what time I was going to come back, so I bought a 3rd Class (unreserved) ticket for a few rupees and boarded a late afternoon train. If you’ve ever travelled on Indian railways this is the point where you’re probably thinking “that’s brave”. Here’s what it was like in the compartment of the coach I managed to squeeze into.
It was hot and crowded, but it was absolutely fine. My fellow passengers were a bit bemused at what a Westerner was doing there but we soon struck up conversations and people were happy to have their picture taken – and in this situation digital cameras are brilliant – as they allow you to share your photographs with the subjects.
This sort of interaction is why I’ve always loved travelling by the less expensive class of train in India. OK, maybe not when you’re doing 48 hours solid (although I’ve done that in may younger days) but on journey’s like this of a couple of hours it’s well worth it.
If you want to see more pictures from my Indian odyssey (including the one of me when I gave one of these fellow travellers my camera to get a picture of me) follow this link.
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Funny, isn’t it? No matter how many hours in the day you make use of – it’s never enough to accomplish everything you desire to do. Today I was out early in order to finish the fascia at the back of the house and put the guttering back before the weather changed. It was just as well that I did as the forecast was bang on, with the afternoon being wet, wet, wet…
Outdoor chores done I had plenty to keep me occupied indoors, even if it did mean spending the rest of the day staring at a computer screen as I cleared emails, scanned old slides and loaded more old pictures and railway memorabilia onto eBay for others delight and my profit – as well as freeing up a lot of cupboard space!
Dawn’s been a busy bee too as she’s got stuck into renovating and redecorating the porch – and an excellent job she’s done too. Afterwards, whilst I sat (boggle-eyed) in the office Dee cooked industrial quantities of dairy free lasagne for us and her parents – some of which we scoffed tonight.
Such a busy day ahs left me little time to think about today’s picture so it’s been a bit random, with no particular theme. Even so, I hope you like it. Today’s picture is of Mt Kilimanjaro as seen from a British Airways flight from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania back to Heathrow. I took it on the 12th May 2001 as we were (literally) lucky enough to be sat on the right side of the plane.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy any
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…
Hang on a minute. September? Already? Where the hell’s the year gone! Considering most of 2020 has been cancelled the time has flown by – it doesn’t seem like yesterday since we were staring lockdown in the face, now we’re just a few weeks away from autumn.
To be honest, my day’s flown by. I’ve continued working on the house, replacing a rotten weatherboard at the rear of the cottage and getting the place ready for the change of seasons. I’ve also been busy online, loading my next batch of old slides, railway badges and memoribilia for sale on to eBay. Here’s a sample. It won’t mean much to people who aren’t interested in railways, but those who are will know how rare an image of a Virgin Voyager at St Pancras is…
OK, that *isn’t* the picture of the day. This is – although I’m hoping the winter won’t be similar. I took this shot by Copenhagen Central station on the 28th December 2001.
At that time Lynn and I were regular visitors to Denmark as many years before we’d met Didi and her daughter Amalia, in Bali. We’d become firm friends and we’d regularly see each other. Either we’d go to Copenhagen or Didi would come over to stay with us in London. One memorable year we spent Christmas with Didi’s extended family out in Hunsland. Sadly, Didi died of throat cancer in 2005 and Amalia moved to Sweden with her partner and their children. I’ve not been back since Didi’s funeral, which was an amazing event as she was a well-known personality in Denmark. It wouldn’t be the same now without that wonderful community in Christianshavn. I just feel lucky to have been part of those times and treasure the memories. So, here they are. Lynn (left) and Didi (right) that Christmas in Hunsland in 2004. Rest in peace, the pair of you…
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So much for the August bank holiday! It’s been the most subdued of all of them this year. Not that we’ve exactly been painting the town red – but we have ventured out and walked up to one of our favorite pubs/eateries a couple of times this weekend – the fabulous Moorcock Inn. The restaurant area’s been rejigged to allow for social distancing and the menu has been adapted too, but it’s so good to see them back.
The restaurant area.Walking up to the Moorcock and looking down on Sowerby Bridge.
To be honest, the weather’s been pretty disappointing over the holiday. The temperature’s dropped so much we actually had the heating on one morning, just to take the chill off the place – how bizarre for what’s supposedly the height of summer!
Although it’s the holiday season the pair of us have spent most of our time working rather than relaxing. There’s so much to do and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. I’m preparing for my round Britain train trip for RAIL magazine which I’ll be starting on the 7th September. There’s a lot of preparation involved this year due to Covid, so it’s taking up a lot of time. I’ve also been trying to get work done to the cottage, which has meant I’ve spent most of the day up on the roof doing a few repairs whilst the weather stays fine. I’ve really enjoyed it as it makes a change from staring at computer screens and the the old skills have come back to me. Oh, the simple life! The weird thing? I’ve spent seveal hours flossing the roof by digging out soil between the stone slabs (this is Yorkshire, we didn’t use skate). Soil, On a roof? Where the hell does that come from? You could grow potatoes between some of the slabs! I only had the roof relaid 10 years ago – so what’s that all about?
Talking of simple lives brings me onto today’s picture of the day, which is also simple, but colourful. I took it in Old Havana, Cuba on the 15th January 2006.
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Paul Bigland 