Category Archives: Travel

It’s snow joke…

18 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by in Travel, Weather, West Yorkshire

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After basking in India this time last week I’ve gone from one extreme to the other – and back again! Before I left the weather was so cold that I was cycle training in sub-zero temperatures and freezing my bits off. In the space of a few days I went from this: Snow on the ground, minus 7, bitter wind-chill and frozen reservoirs…

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to this; 30-40 degree heat and fierce sunshine!

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When I arrived back in the UK on Monday I was hoping that the thaw had set in and spring was on its way. Back in Yorkshire the snowdrops were out in force and 1000s of crocuses brightened up the grassy verges around Savile Park, creating a carpet of colour.

DG173160. Crocus carpet. Savile Park. Halifax. 9.3.14.

This weekend, we’ve slipped straight back into winter. When I threw back the bedroom curtains this morning, this was the scene that greeted me.

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Although we had snow on the ground yesterday, several inches has arrived overnight -and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Flurries are still drifting in from the West and the thermometer has plunged to minus 3 degrees. It’s bleedin’ freezing! The only consolation seems to be that yesterdays wind, which was whipping the snow off the rooftops in blizzards of tiny flakes has abated. Instead itinerant snowflakes are left drifting past my window like lost souls.

Right now it’s time for coffee, more coffee and a hearty breakfast. Later we’ll venture out and I’ll take the camera with me to get some shots and make the most of the weather. If you’ve got similar weather where you are, stay safe and warm. Me? I just wish I could wind the clock back a few days to this…

me at Taj

See you later folks!

 

Back in Blighty…

12 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by in Air Travel, Ride India, The Railway Children, Travel

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I flew into the UK from India last night after finishing the Ride India challenge for the Railway Children and I’m slowly getting used to the idea of being back. The flight from Delhi on a Jet Airways Boeing 777 was pretty good. The plane was packed but I managed to tick a few more movies off the list to keep myself occupied. Ride India was such a fantastic experience to share with a great bunch of people that it might take me a while to come down and adjust to being back. Britain seems such a grey place at the moment – and I don’t mean because of the weather.

By the time I’d been processed by the Heathrow bureaucracy and collected my bag it was too late to make the last train home so I booked a hotel in central London for the princely sum of £40. Despite the miserly price it wasn’t a flea-pit but a good hotel in Bayswater. I was even given a free upgrade from a single room to a recently refurbished Executive double! By the time I checked-in I was dog-tired. I’d been up since 06:00 Indian time and crawled into bad at 02:00 Indian time! It being a Sunday, part of the tube network was shut for engineering work, so I ended up having to take a detour and catch a bus which extended my journey even more.

Despite being ‘cream-crackered’ my body clock was stuck on Indian time so I was wide-awake before the alarm-clock went off at 08:00. Sadly, today’s weather was drab and wet. As there was no incentive to leap out of bed and run amok with the camera I used the extra waking hours to edit another tranche of Indian pictures whilst making a large hole in the rooms coffee supply and listening to the BBC news. Nothing much seems to have changed whilst I’ve been away other than the sad news about the death of Ken Dodd. The Brexitshambles continues apace – although it does seem that the scales are dropping from some people’s eyes about Comrade Corybn who seems to have made a less than well received speech where he indulged in what’s become almost a national pastime in Brexit Britain – immigrant bashing. Not that the BBC covered any of this. The real news I got through Twitter and the sources whom I follow. The BBC is fine for a few headlines and ‘fluffy’ stuff, but that’s about it nowadays. Don’t expect any real insights or analysis anymore.

Before heading North I decided to have a few hours topping up my rail archive with pictures from Kings Cross. This turned out to be a wise move as there were a few unusual workings to be seen (pix to be added shortly).

As usual, Grand Central are taking me home, this time on another of their second-hand, ex-GWR Class 180s. The train’s busy, but not overly so – even though it’s carrying some Hull Trains passengers to Doncaster as they’ve had to cancel one of their services. I’ve bagged a table seat so that I can catch up with blogging and also edit some of the thousands of pictures that I took in India. Sadly, the weather outside the train window doesn’t match that seen in the pictures, the farther North we get the grimmer it gets – and I’m not exactly dressed for it…

That said. I’m looking forward to getting home. There’s a lot of stuff for me to catch up with and pictures to get out to people – as well as a few articles to write. No doubt I’ll be getting itchy feet again once that’s done…

Day 4 of the Ride India challenge

08 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in Cycling, India, Ride India, The Railway Children, Travel

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Sorry for the lack of updates on the challenge, this has been due to too many 05:15 starts, late finishes and awful wifi, but here’s a quick look at day 4.

After cycling 113km on day 3 we arrived at which was to be our base for the next two nights. Despite the fact we only had 45km to cycle on day 4 were still up at 05:15 in order to be able to visit the Ranthambore national park and Tiger reserve before we started cycling. It was a fantastic visit to a park teeming with wildlife – even if the Tigers didn’t put in an appearance.

Afterwards we returned to the hotel, picked up our bikes and set off as the mercury in the thermometer climbed steadily past 30 degrees. We retraced our steps back past the national park on the worst roads we’ve cycled on so far. Lots of our time was spent warning each other of potholes, speed-humps and sand-traps as well as the usual hazards of goats, camels and all manner of motorised mayhem.

Our destination was the village of Kutalpura where we stopped for snacks and water before exploring the village. We were invited into several local homes to see how village life was lived before setting off to a local school where we chatted to both pupils and staff. As today’s International Women’s day it was fitting that we also visited Dastkar Ranthambore, a village handicrafts centre which has revived local crafts and given employment to many local women. We had lunch there before we browsed the gift shop – which saw many of us make purchases from the large selection of handicrafts in their on site shop. Fortunately, we didn’t have to carry these back on the bikes as the team bus had followed us!

By now the heat really was something. Although the official temperature was 32 degrees it was far hotter out in the sun, with some folks personal cyclometers registering anything from 40-45 degrees.

This helped to make the next part of the challenge particularly tough. We cycled back into Ranthambore park along a road that was mostly cobbled and had the fiercest gradients we’d encountered on the whole trip. I shed blood doing it as, whilst swerving round a particularly rough stretch of road I encountered a thorn bush which ripped my arm. Don’t believe anyone who tells you these challenges are easy! We’ve already had several minor tumbles which have resulted in skinned limbs or bruised ribs…

As we were running late through spending too much time at the women’s centre our visit to the spectacular ruins of Ranthambore Fort (the 2nd largest in India) had to be cut short in order to allow us to reach home in daylight. Even so, it was worth it as it’s a stunning location with fantastic views across the national park.

Cycling back was a lot easier as it was mostly downhill, even so, after cycling at speed down that bloody cobbled road I’m amazed that I have any fillings left in my teeth! My bottle of cold beer on our return was well earned today!

Tomorrow we have a  lie-in. We don’t have an alarm call until 6am. We on the move again and cycle 80km tomorrow, I’ll update you on our adventure just as soon as I can. In the meantime, here’s some pictures from today.

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The spectacular ruined fort at Ranthambore seen from the national park, where spotted deer graze by the side of a lake

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A spotted deer seen through the long grass not long before sunrise.

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A beautiful Woodpecker spotted in the park

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Here’s Katerina Delingianni visiting families in Kutalpura

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Jo Bigland (a distant relation as it turns out!) laughing with schoolchildren at Kutalpura

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One of the many women who’ve found an outlet for their skills, making money and keeping local crafts alive at Dastkar Ranthambhore

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When swerving around potholes, try not to come into contact with Thorn bushes…

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It’s like being back in Yorkshire. OK, without the Mughal fort – obviously! This is the road we climbed up and pelted down. I was neither brave nor stupid enough to take shots of it cycling down the inclines…

Remember, you can still help me raise money for the Railway Children by donating through my JustGiving page which you can find here. Please, every bit helps me help them…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 of the Cycle India challenge

03 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by in India, Ride India, The Railway Children, Travel

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Our Jet Airways flight from London was late into Delhi due to the poor weather back home. The fact our plane needed de-icing meant that we lost our departure slot, so we were nearly an hour late landing. Most people slept on the flight as it was really hot. I’ve never been a great sleeper on planes so I took the opportunity to catch up with some Hollywood films that I’d never pay to see at the cinema -like ‘Thor, Ragnarok’ – a bit of nonsense that filled a few hours although I’m rapidly tiring of the Marvel Comics movie franchise.

We breezed through customs at the airport and our group was soon on a coach heading for our hotel in central Delhi, which is located down a narrow side street we had to walk to as the bus wouldn’t fit. It was worth it, as it’s quite a place – an old Delhi mansion

DG290948. Our hotel. Jyoti Mahal. Delhi. India. 3.3.18

Today was a day to acclimatise, get to know the local staff who’ll be escorting and assisting us during the trip – and do a bit of sightseeing.

DG290960. First meal and meet the staff. Jyoti Mahal. Delhi. India. 3.3.18

Enjoying lunch in the Hotel’s rooftop restaurant whilst listening to a brief from the local staff.

Our tourist moment was an afternoon visit to Humayun’s tomb, a precursor to the Taj Mahal.

DG291020. Humayun's Tomb. Delhi. India. 3.3.18

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Now jet-lag and lack of sleep’s catching up with me. We’ve a 6am start tomorrow as we’re off visiting some Railway Children projects in Delhi before heading off to Agra, ready to start the main event – the cycling…

Day 2: Morning in Delhi as seen from the roof of our hotel.

The adventure begins…

02 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in Calder Valley, Ride India, The 'Beast from the East', The Railway Children, Travel, Weather

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– just not quite the way I was hoping! The bad weather’s still causing havoc on road and rail. Yesterday Grand Central announced the first train they’d be running today would be the 10.34 from Halifax. I’d planned to catch it and Dawn had given me a lift to the station, but it was cancelled at the very last moment as we waited in the warmth of the car. I’d already thought of a plan B (just in case) so put ot into action. VTEC were running a sparse service from Leeds but Virgin West Coast were running every 20 mins from Manchester. I figured that – even if one or two were cancelled – the odds of success were still far better! So, that’s where i’m en-route to now.

Calder Valley services are running with a few cancellations and delays. I’m on the delayed 10:27 which left Halifax at 10:50. The irony of taking this route is that I’m following my cycle training course to Rochdale. I’m glad i’m in a warm DMU as it looks perishing outside!

I’ll update you on my progress from Manchester…

UPDATE: 12.01

Well, that fell OK, I don’t need to be at Heathrow until 17.40. Time spent browsing the Virgin Trains website threw up a train at 13.15 for the bargain price of £39.50 instead of the normal £85.90! I’m now booked on that and *should* arrive in London at 15.39, giving me plenty of time to get to Heathrow.

Whilst passing through Manchester Victoria I was rather taken aback to see an old friend from my days in London – 150129.

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150129 has been about a bit. Centro to Silverlink to First Great Western to Northern…

This old BR built Class 150 was one of the local workhorses on the ‘Goblin’ (AKA the Gospel Oak – Barking line) in North London. I’ve travelled on it many times but never realised it was one of the units which has been transferred up North from GWR.

Taking my leave of Victoria I decided discretion was the better part of valour so instead of walking to Piccadilly as I normally do I caught a nice warm tram. I’m not exactly dressed for the freezing weather we’re experiencing and contracting hypothermia wouldn’t be a great start to this odyssey…

13:34.

We’ve left Manchester 13 late, not because of the weather (although the set was late in from Euston) but because of human error. Our train Manager confessed she’d been waiting on the wrong platform due to a last minute set swap!

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I’m currently between Stone and Norton Bridge in Staffordshire. We’ve been diverted this way rather than our normal route via Colwich due to the snow drifts. The fields are bare as all the white stuff’s blown off them onto the track! Hopefully, once we’re on the 4 track main line the situation will ease. The train’s packed as we’re carrying passengers who were on an earlier service that was cancelled before departure. Everyone seems stoic – people are just happy to be on the move. Mind you, the coach is warm as toast as the heating’s on full – so quite a few folk have drifted off to sleep!

15:19

For a change, the closer we get to London the worse the weather is getting. The skies darkened South of Rugby, then the snow arrived. We’ve just passed Wolverton and the snow’s blowing in at a rate of knots. I’ve had a call from a friend at Euston to tell me that it’s snowing in London.

The benefits of hindsight

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in The 'Beast from the East', Travel, Weather

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Like many people, I took the mickey out of the ‘beast from the East’ as this weather front’s been called. It didn’t affect me travelling down to London yesterday and whilst it provided some spectacular clouds and snow showers, it didn’t really cause much disruption.

It’s had the last laugh.

When I was wandering through central London with a colleague after the Bradshaw address I went flying on an icy pavement. Apart from the loss of dignity it caused a minor sprain to my left wrist – just days before I start a 450km cycle ride around India.

This morning, when I threw back the curtains of my hotel I found Finsbury Park coated with a fresh dusting of snow. I wasn’t worried as the sky was a deep blue, so I took my time getting out and caught up with some work. What I hadn’t seen was the skies to the South…

It was only when I checked out that I saw the vast build-up of leaden clouds. Thinking “Oh well, this might be good for some snow shots” I headed over to some old photographic haunts on the East Coast Main Line and arrived at Alexandra Palace just in time for the blizzard! Now, I lived in London for 25 years and it’s not the first time I’ve taken snow scenes around there, but this was some of the fiercest weather I can remember. The wind was whipping the snow almost horizontally, so much so that I had to give up and retreat to Harringay station which is a little more sheltered. The Fast lines gave the game away, the line-speed is 90mph there, so the 4 foot was pretty clear of snow because it’s whipped away by fast moving trains. The snow was so heavy that they filled up again within minutes. Admittedly, It made for some good shots but it also made me start wondering if I might have problems getting home…

DG290844. 700052. Harringay. 28.2.18

A Siemens Class 700 powers through the snow as it passes Harringay station, heading for Peterborough.

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91107 pushes a VTEC service towards Kings Cross through a snowstorm at Harringay

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After the snow came the sun. Here’s 365503 arriving at Kings Cross.

What reassured me was the sight of Grand Central’s 1148 Kings Cross – Bradford flashing past me on its way North. It was a false sense of security. When I got back to Kings Cross after doing some cycle kit shopping I found that both following services (the 14.48 and the 16.03) were cancelled, leaving me with the option of hoping the last one at 19.52 was running, or coming up with plan B.

I’m currently sitting on Plan B, the late running 16.50 Kings Cross-Sunderland!

The idea is to bail out at York and catch the 19.18 Northern service to Halifax, which is the last through train of the day. After that I have to change at Leeds. If I do get back to Halifax at 20.38 as planned there’s a couple more obstacles.

It’s minus 5.

There’s no taxis running.

I’ve a mile and a half to walk home.

I’m carrying several bags (including a f**k-off 14kg camera bag).

The last part of the walk home is either down a steep cobbled hill (suicide), or an almost as steep tarmac road.

This is going to be fun…

The icing on the cake is that I’m in a rush to be back as Dawn and I have made new wills and we’ve got an early morning appointment to sign them tomorrow as I’m off to India on Friday.

I can hear the ‘Beast from the East’ laughing now!

20:38 update.

As with most plans, it never survived first contact. We were signal checked for several minutes outside York, which meant that we passed my connection on the way. Tbe good news is Trans-Pennine Express were running a 19:40 to Liverpool, which I caught (mid blizzard) instead.

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The railhead conditions weren’t great and the unit struggled, but it got me Leexs in time to catch Northern’s 20:19 to Brighouse via Halifax. I needn’t have rushed. It was 10 late leaving due to the driver being delayed on their way in on another service. There’s a lot of snow on the ground here and more’s falling, so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when I get to Halifax…

23.00 update.

Well, I finally made it home!

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One of the Class 155s built for the Calder Valley services brought me home…

The snow persisted all the way which actually worked in my favour as it’s a damned sight easier to walk across fresh snow than the icy, compacted stuff. I even made it down the infamous hill without going arse over tit.

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The ‘Beast from the East’ has arrived…

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

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This morning we woke up to a covering of snow across the Calder Valley, whilst the media have been going into overdrive about the ‘Beast from the East’ as the weather front’s been christened, the effects are no more serious than anything we’re usually used to seeing in Yorkshire. Here’s the view from our bedroom, looking across the valley.

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Not too beastly (yet)…

I’ve had a quick look at real-times for our local train services where (apart form a couple of very early cancellations) everything seems to be running normally and to time. Of course, the forecast reckons that there’s more snow on the way, so we’ll have to see how things pan out.

I’m heading down to London today to attend tonight’s George Bradshaw address at the IMechE where Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy will be speaking. I’ll be staying down tonight and coming back tomorrow so this blog will get updated as I travel. The contrast between North and South should be interesting. The South tends to go into a panic over a bit of snow, whilst up here you can tell when it’s bad – the posties stop wearing their shorts.

I’ve a lot of travelling to do this week as I’ll be heading back to London on Friday to fly out to India for the Railway Children ‘Ride India’ charity cycle challenge (it’s a wonderful cause, so please help me to help them by sponsoring me via this link). I’ll be blogging from India when I can.

Meanwhile, enjoy the snow!

Whilst walking to the station I spotted this and wondered what story it tells…

A Yorkshire Cinderella?

Heading South on the trains has been fun, whilst there was a lot of snow around home, the more Easterly I got the thinner the snow was! By the time I arrived at Doncaster there was hardly anything on the ground and the station was bathed in bright sunshine. A pair of snowploughs sat, forlornly, in the sidings as they clearly weren’t needed. All changed by the time we reached Newark because then we started hitting the blizzards. The rest of the journey has been a real mix and match: Blue skies and fields with fresh dusting of snow contrasting with leaden skies and almost white-out conditions as the tendrils of snow sweep in. Then just as rapidly as it arrives, it clears and we hit a patch where houses and fields are untouched, they’re little green oasis in an otherwise monotone landscape. It’s lovely to watch from my grandstand seat in a nice, warm train!

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Fields North of Peterborough after a fresh coating of snow.

UPDATE: 16:40.

Now I’m in Central London before heading off to the Bradshaw address. The capital’s had a dusting of snow but nothing like many places which is hardly surprising as the capital’s always a degree or two warmer. On thing I did notice was this lovely ‘tiger-stripe’ pattern on the roof of St Pancras station a few minutes ago.

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I’ll see if I can add a couple of pictures from tonight’s address later…

 

 

There and back again – by Eurostar to Amsterdam in a day

20 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by in Eurostar, Travel, Uncategorized

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Today I was fortunate enough to be part of the press corps sampling the first Eurostar service from London to Amsterdam and I have to say – it was a great trip.

We left St Pancras at 08:31 and our Siemens built e320 managed to set a new speed record between London and Brussels by completing the journey in 1 hour 46 mins – two minutes ahead of schedule.

I’ll write in more detail at a later date, but for now, here’s a few pictures from the day.

 

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Eurostar staff waiting to welcome us aboard train 9114 to Amsterdam.

 

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To celebrate the record run from London to Brussels Eurostar provided champagne and Belgian chocolates.

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Guests were treated to a selection of Dutch speciality food and drink, including cheeses, meats, stroopwafels and gin!

Here’s part of the new Eurostar lounge and customs post on platform 15a of Amsterdam Centraal

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4032 stands at platform 15 at Amsterdam Centraal. This is where the new Eurostar lounge is situated so it will become the normal platform for the service to use.

If you want to sample the service yourselves, the new service starts running on the 4th April and tickets start at £35 one-way. Tickets are on sale now.

 

Welcome to the week

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Grand Central trains, Travel

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The long spell of wet weather’s continued its run this morning so for the first time in a long while I was left with no option but to get a taxi to the station. Normally I walk the mile and a half as it’s good exercise – and it saves me a fiver! There is an upside to the rain. It’s not snow, so the weather’s obviously warming up…

Right now I’m en-route to London aboard the first Grand Central train of the day from Halifax, the 07.08. Today it’s being worked by one of the ex-GWR Class 180s that transferred to GC after being displaced by the new Hitachi Class 800s. The GWR 180s aren’t bad but they need a little TLC and a refresh to bring them up to GC standards. Whatever type of set used, what remains unchanged is the friendliness of the GC staff running them. One of the beauties of being a regular traveller on a small company like GC is that you soon get to know the staff, some of the old hands have been with the company since it started the West Riding service from Bradford back in 2010.

Now it’s time for me to sit back and enjoy the trip. I have coffee, porridge for breakfast and wifi, plus ever changing scenery outside the window. See you later!

Eurostar announce the start of their New London-Amsterdam train service

09 Friday Feb 2018

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Eurostar have confirmed that their new service from London’s St Pancras International to Amsterdam Centraal will start on Wednesday 4th April. Tickets will go on sale from 20 February, priced from £35 one way.

The service, using Eurostar’s fleet of Siemens built e320 trains, will consist of two daily London-Amsterdam services (calling at Rotterdam) departing the capital at 08.31 and 17.31. Journey times will be 3hr41 (London-Amsterdam) and 3hr01 (London- Rotterdam), this will result in a record London to Brussels journey time of 1hr48 – a saving of 17 minutes

Direct  Amsterdam – London services won’t start until 2019,  Eurostar explained this was “a temporary measure whilst the governments in the UK and The Netherlands complete an agreement which will enable passport checks to be conducted on departure in The Netherlands as in other key Eurostar destinations. The governments have committed to putting this agreement in place by the end of 2019 so that Eurostar travellers can then enjoy a direct service in both directions”

In the meantime, passengers will catch Thalys services from Amsterdam to Brussels  where passport controls and security screening will be carried out before boarding a Eurostar to London. The company’s published a list of suggested Thalys services with connections for London

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I’ll look forward to being able to catch one of these trains from London to Amsterdam soon!

DG270543. 4025. 4023. St Pancras International. 23.5.17