Birthday Celebrations

Today, the Great Western Railway celebrated the 175th anniversary of the route between Didcot and Oxford.  And yesterday, it was my 66th birthday.  So I asked whether, for my birthday present, we could go to the celebrations.

We took advantage of the occasion to travel to Oxford from Marylebone, a route we had not done before.  It's cheaper than via Paddington, and the train was absolutely rammed!  We did manage to get seats, but many people were not so lucky.  We went on the Underground, changing at Oxford Circus, but the Bakerloo Line was crowded and there was no step-free access at Marylebone.  Still, it didn't really matter.

When we arrived at Oxford, we went out of the station to ask about buying tickets for the 175th anniversary, which the website said could be done at any GWR station.  However, the woman at the information desk had never heard of such a thing, and didn't know what we were talking about!  Fortunately, the staff at the ticket office were better informed and, armed with a ticket, we went out on the platform just in time to see the 175 Luncheon Circular Tour depart. 

Then there was a modern train heading to Paddington

and, a few minutes later, one of the regular shuttles to Didcot.  This stopped at Radley, where we tried in vain to see any trace of the branch line to Abingdon that had been such a feature of my childhood, and at Culham, from which my father had commuted to London every day over 62 years ago!  Then it arrived at Didcot, where we found the entrance to the railway centre was just a few steps from our platform.

Our tickets included entrance to the railway centre, which was good.  First port of call was the café, where we had rather dry coronation chicken sandwiches and incredibly weak coffee, and then I had a
Toblerone ice lolly and the Swan Whisperer had tiffin and his weak coffee.  Then we set out to explore.  There was lots to see, including a museum which also had a 1960s signal display being demonstatrated, locomotives in steam and hauling passengers from one end of the site to the other

to the skeletons of carriages awaiting restoration

(is that Alexei or Sergei in the first picture?).  There were replicas of the original engines and carriages that ran on the broad gauge

And so on.  After a while, we decided we had finished with the site, and caught the next train back to Oxford.  We could, perhaps, have visited a funfair in Appleford or an exhibition at the Old Ticket Office at Culham, or even a fair on the site of the original Oxford station, about a mile from the present one, but there are limits on my energy, so we caught a train back to Oxford, and had a cup of tea in the station buffet there before getting a train back to Marylebone and a no 2 bus home.

Well worth the entry fees!

Late Spring Holiday, 5 June

Up at 06:45 this morning - well, not really up, but awake enough to put the hot water on and make tea - and we were away by 08:15.  First stop was the petrol station where we could empty the grey water, although I think we did make a little more during the homeward journey.  Then straight to the check-in, where they offered us a place on the 09:20 crossing - 08:20, UK time, which we must get used to again.

This was great, as it meant we could drive the van straight to Sussex, arriving there about 11:15, just in nice time for coffee. We had lunch with my mother and sister, and then my mother went to her WI  meeting and we finished unloading the van and packing the car, and then the SW did all the bits for the van that wanted doing, like emptying the loo, sweeping it out, double-checking everything and packing it away until next time.  We left for London at about 14:45, the car feeling very strange after so long in the van, and got home about 16:30; we have unpacked, put things away and started the first of many, many loads of washing!  I have gone through my blog and added photos, where I had some nice ones, and corrected such typos as I noticed - if you see any particularly egregious ones, let me know!

Late Spring Holiday, 4 June

I didn't feel great when I got up this morning - nothing serious, just headachey, and feeling as though I hadn't slept, which was not at all true. So I was thankful that the morning required nothing more of me than to sit quietly in my seat and sleep while the SW drove! I woke up when we reached Gent and felt a lot better.

After lunch we drove on to Calais, and parked up in the Cité Europe while we had a cup of tea and then drove over to the Auchan garage to get diesel and gas. Then we drove through Calais and waved at the Bourgeois, and then back to the aire.

I then went into Carrefour to do some last-minute shopping, and was rather startled when I came out to find that it had got dark and all the car park lights were on. As I was not expecting the sun to set before 10:00 pm, I wondered how on earth long is been in there! 

The darkness, needles to say, was the prelude to a huge storm, which lasted a good hour, but eventually cleared off and the sun has reappeared. I was glad if got back to the van before the storm started in earnest - one poor man wasn't so lucky and was soaked to the skin before he got his shopping put away! I have just seen him walking past in a quite different pair of shorts! I am really watching the wind turbines, not the people, but...

Late Spring Holiday, 3 June

I wanted to do a Last Shop in Germany this morning, so after breakfast I headed up into the Old Town to find an ATM, and then up outside the walls to the supermarket, which was a Tegut. There was also a Kik, and I'd thought I'd go in there if I couldn't get ice packs in the supermarket, but as it turned out, they had exactly what I wanted.

So I took my time over the shopping, as the SW was coming to get beer from the off-licence across the car park, and to return dead bottles. By the time I'd got back to the van, he had programmed the Sat-nav for the day's drive.

Well, neither of us has any real idea where we went; basically it was south of Kassel and east  of Dortmund, but full of places we'd never heard of. And it was lovely, despite a massive thunderstorm! Next holiday we will head straight for the area and explore it properly - there were hills and rivers, pretty little towns, most with a factory, mine or quarry to account for their existence, lakes, woods, all sorts. Really lovely and just waiting to be explored.

Why don't the British go to Germany more? In the camp site outside Brno we were the majority, and there were loads in Prague, too, but I don't think we've seen another British vehicle, never mind motor home, since we left Czechia! And it has been the same on most of our recent holidays here. Yet it really is the most beautiful country, with loads of varied scenery. I love the South of France, especially the Pyrenees and points west, and I love the Alps no matter which country I'm in, but Germany just has so much to explore.

However, it will have to wait for another time, as we must head home. We eventually hit the motorway and now we are in a camp site in the south of Holland which seems to be about half way between Fritzlar and Cité Europe, and which I chose primarily because it is on the edge of a nature reserve and I thought it would be nice for the SW to have his run there in the morning. He has gone out to explore. It's not nearly so hot this evening; the earlier storm seems to have cooled everywhere down.

Late Spring Holiday, 2 June

It being Sunday, we wondered about going to the English church in Leipzig but, alas, the church was in the Umweltzone and we do not have, nor should we, a green sticker. We could have undoubtedly gone there on public transport, but that would have taken time and we had a long drive today, so we sadly  abandoned the idea and set off shortly after 10:00 am.

It was all motorway, very dull, but we listened to From our Own Correspondent and The News Quiz and random music, stopping once for coffee and then again for lunch. We arrived in Fritzlar about 3, only to discover that our favourite aire only had emptying facilities, no refilling, and although we could have got water this morning, we didn't. So we went to the other aire, seeing far more of the town than we had done before, and got water. The other aire  was very nice, but we do rather love this one by the city walls, so came back to it and then had a drink before flaking out for a couple of hours.

I decided it made more sense to get supper up and running before we went out for a walk, so I did that and then we went out for our walk round the old town, and then back to the van where we had supper sitting outside - it has been very, very hot - and are now sitting and relaxing which I suppose we shall do until dark. We have finished the wine, which was probably unwise of us, but I hope it means we shall sleep well.

Late Spring Holiday, 1 June

Having exhausted myself in Prague on Thursday, and further depleted my resources in Terezin yesterday, today has, of necessity, been a rest day.

We were delighted to discover there was a parkrun less than a mile from where we spent the night, but, alas, a prolonged search did not turn up the Swan Whisperer's barcode, and he is 99% certain it's in his skate bag, in the middle of our living-room floor. We didn't think he ought to use mine, so no parkrun today.  The SW compensated by going for a walk to visit the Old Town and the Frauenkirche instead, before we headed off. 

First stop was a supermarket where I did a massive shop - we were out of almost everything except milk, eggs and fruit juice, which I had bought in Prague. I could have cobbled together a delicious meal with lentils, but had no fresh fruit or veg. And tomorrow is Sunday and German supermarkets will not be open, although we can probably get bread for lunch.

Anyway, we drove up the B6 - and very much up the Elbe - to Meißen, where we stopped on the banks of the river for lunch,

and then drove on to Leipzig, where I thought we were going to a car park but turns out to be, like Prague, an aire in someone's back yard and very nice, too. The SW has gone to explore and will be back soon. And tomorrow we seriously start home.