Three Amazing Trains, Three Amazing Destinations ...

Three more two-night breaks in quick succession

or How Many "Trips of a Lifetime" Can You Have?

Great Rail Journeys do like to try new offers to tempt people to book. Their latest venture is to offer "Luxury" independent tours and so a growing list of possibilities is available. Last autumn's short break in Venice, returning on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express was one of these. Among the offers we received early in the new year 2025 was a brochure advertising more of them. There was a small discount, but so small it would not really be a decision-maker, unlike the two hotel offers in England that I have already described, and the "Rail Sale" that was available at the same time, making those two holidays irresistible. One of the offered tours, however, stood out as worth considering, so we considered it. It involved three destinations which we had visited before, but two of them, Zermatt and St Moritz we last saw in winter eleven years ago, our first Great Rail Journeys escorted tour, and the third, Venice, we had visited recently and wished we had stayed longer - and had had better weather. The trains to be used included the Glacier Express between the two Swiss towns, the Bernina Express as part of the transfer to Venice, and the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (again) as part of the journey home. It was expensive, there is no getting away from that, and we should have to pay the whole amount up front because of our desire to go in winter, which meant quite soon, but we were able to shuffle our money about and make enough available just in time.

Our adventure started on a Monday afternoon, taking the 16:54 from Stamford to Peterborough. It was on time and although busy we managed to get seats ... and then it was held up by congestion in Peterborough (there had been earlier disruption which resulted in too many trains in the wrong places) and a freight train with problems so we arrived in Peterborough with just four minutes to go until our connection to London ... which, with some planning and effort we achieved. It's not that we were in any hurry, but our reserved seats were on that train and our Advance tickets would have to have been validated for a later one so altogether it was better to catch it if we could, and we did. The included light meal aboard, served by a fantastic Geordie crew, meant we'd need no dinner in London before sleep. We stayed in our usual Premier Inn opposite St Pancras station. This time our Eurostar train was not due out until 09:31, so we did not have to hurry as much as we sometimes do, especially as this was an independent tour and there was no tour manager to go and meet: we just went straight to the International Departures gates when we got to the station.

There was no queue for the ticket gates, which came as a bit of a surprise and we didn't have our tickets ready because we'd planned to sort them out in the queue! But it was easy to get them from my pocket and through we went, luggage scan, passport check, both UK and EU, all in record time. Next time we may not allow quite as much time for check in.

After coffee it was time to ascend the travellator to the platform board our train; this time we were in Coach 1, which we knew would mean a long walk in Paris to leave the platform, but it also meant it would be a peaceful journey with no passengers walking through. This was the first time we had experienced Eurostar service since they changed their travel classes. We were in Eurostar Plus, the equivalent of the old Standard Premier, and there was an included breakfast but now there was a sweet option (pain au chocolate) and a savoury option (a Danish pastry whirl with spinach and leek), and the juice and water no longer came in disposable containers but were poured out by the staff - a big improvement environmentally. We had been used to having bread as well, but this seems to have been dropped. It was a light breakfast, but that was fine: there would be plenty of eating to come later in the tour.

We spent most of the rest of the journey to Paris trying to establish an account with IDF (Île de France) Mobilités to allow us to buy Metro tickets in Paris - the carnets we used to buy from the Eurostar buffet bar having been withdrawn. Fortunately this worked and we used our smartphones to get through Paris when we arrived. Rather than the RER to Gare de Lyon, we took Metro Line 5 to Quai de la Rapée which was nearby and far more pleasant a journey. By the time we had had our lunch at Gare de Lyon our TGV Lyria to Basel was announced and we made our way to the platform, boarded and took our reserved seats.

The journey to Basel was comfortable and pleasant, and uneventful apart from a couple of visits to the buffet counter for wine and for coffee, and by the time we arrived in Basel it was early evening. Our hotel, the Gaia, was right opposite the station and when we checked in the clerk asked, "Are you here for the carnival?". we replied that we were just en route to Zermatt, but we decided to investigate what this carnival entailed, and we needed some supper anyway, so we set off into the streets. we found a stall outside a church selling crêpes and decided to have these with the gluhwein they were also selling (with dried fruit and sliced apple in it as well as the usual spices!) and then went for a stroll and stumbled upon an amazing series of informal processions. Apparently the Basel Carnival, for some reason in the first week of Lent rather than in the days before as you would expect, is such an historic institution that it is registered as a UNESCO non-physical world heritage institution.

Basel's Carnival - well worth seeing, the week after Ash Wednesday each year

Two Nights in Zermatt

After a good night's sleep and breakfast at the hotel we left for the Alps. The hotel gave us each a bottle of water for the journey and a chocolate bar, all very civilised, and for a one-night transit stop we actually had a really good time in Basel and it made a real contribution to the holiday. We were so glad we opted for the rail option: if we had flown in and gone straight to Zermatt we'd have missed all that.

It was raining as we left the hotel Gaia and crossed the road to the station. Although we had never stayed in Basel before we had changed trains there several times and even had lunch and a walk a couple of times on our way through, so we knew our way around the station and made our way to the platform for our next train which was a Swiss Federal Railways train heading for Brig, which we were to leave at Visp, two hours away. We were now travelling on a Swiss First Class Travel Pass which gave us all the travel we needed while in Switzerland: the train fares for the trains included in our itinerary, but also any further journeys we wanted to take by train or bus during our stay. I am sure it is possible to travel direct to Venice from Basel and Brig via the Simplon Tunnel but this was to be a tour, not just a way of getting to Venice! We left the main-line train at Visp and made our way across to the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn platforms just as the metre-gauge train arrived to take us on to Zermatt for our first two-night stay of this trip. First Class travel on the MGB is very comfortable and the views of the Alpine scenery were superb as we climbed up to Zermatt. This is a rack railway and now and again the train slowed for the cogwheel to engage the rack for the steepest climbs. Gradually we saw more and more snow, but there was far less of it then when we first came to Zermatt eleven years earlier in February when the train at times was travelling between walls of snow on each side, higher than the coaches.

We walked slowly through the streets of Zermatt because of the altitude and arrived at our next hotel, the Daniela, named after an influential member of the Julen family who founded and still own and run a small chain of hotels and other hospitality venues in Zermatt. We checked in and for some reason which I never grasped we were given a room upgrade, which was lovely. We had a great room from which there was, so we were assured, a view of the Matterhorn, but it was so misty and cloudy we had to take the receptionist's word for it. We had a traditional Swiss balcony and, unusual for Switzerland, a coffee maker. The hotel provided an afternoon snack (but not tea, just water) which we enjoyed and then later we walked into the centre of Zermatt, wrapped up against the sub-zero evening air, and visited the Matterhorn Museum, free admission with our Swiss Travel Pass, and then enjoyed a traditional Swiss fondue in a restaurant attached to another hotel. Zermatt is a small town, not much more than a village, but its main industry is winter sports and tourism, so it is packed with hotels, bars, cafés and restaurants, but this one was recommended to us by the receptionist at ours and lived up that recommendation so much that as we left we booked a table for the following evening to try their rösti.

After a good night's sleep we took our one full day in Zermatt easy. We had travelled a lot already and had more journeys to come and thought a lazy day might be good; the altitude was high and the air thin, so rushing about would have been unwise anyway. I say lazy, but we did take a bus (they are all electric, no internal combustion engines are normally permitted in Zermatt) to a place we had visited once before for a cool, refreshing beer: this time we had a warming hot chocolate! And this time there was no view of the Matterhorn, although it was beginning to clear a bit ... and kept teasing us like a dance of several veils but never quite revealing itself in full! We walked and we rode the buses again, but we did not this time take the GornergratBahn rack railway up the mountain as we had done on two previous visits, thinking that for my health's sake Zermatt was quite high enough. We had the use of the swimming pool at a sister hotel along the road, and spent a very pleasant half-hour there in the afternoon. After our rösti we packed and had a reasonably early night because we had to leave early in the morning to take the first of the three special trains on this tour, the Glacier Express. The hotel gave us an early breakfast, and some to take away, and their electric shuttle took us to the station where the beautiful Glacier Express train was waiting.

Two Nights in St Moritz

A trip on the Glacier Express is one of those experiences that I would recommend to anyone. If you want to see the world, this is one way to see some amazing scenery, taking you across the Alps. There was snow in Zermatt when we left, and snow in St Moritz when we arrived, but although there was no snow in Brig or Chur, there was A LOT OF SNOW in between them, high up on the Oberalp Pass. The train is operated jointly by Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn and Rhätische Bahn, with a locomotive change en route when it is handed over from one to the other.

The sun shone most of the way, and there were times in the snowiest stretches when one just could not see for the dazzling light off the snow. We could not tell land from sky and there were no visible landmarks except the railway itself and the occasional lines of poles showing where a road was.

We had pre-ordered lunch on this train from the menu published online and once on board we arranged with the crew when the lunch would be served, to suit our convenience and theirs. Dining, or lunching, on a train is always a great pleasure, and on the Glacier Express lunch is served at ones seat, so there was no need to move along to a restaurant car, although there is also a buffet car for those who wish to use it. The meal was a really good beef pasta dish and for a meal on a train, in Switzerland, was a reasonable price. 

One of the most dramatic parts of the route is the Albula Line between Chur and Samedan, which we explored thoroughly a few years ago while researching for my Swiss-themed model railway. There was not as much snow as on the Oberalp pass, but the railway itself had some marvellous sights, notably spiral tunnels, and the famous Landwasser Viaduct.

We arrived mid-afternoon in Sankt Moritz and caught a bus from the railway station to our hotel, as we knew it was a steep uphill climb and we had our luggage. The bus, of course, was included in our travel pass. After checking-in at the Crystal Hotel we went for a walk down to the lake shore. When we had stayed in St Moritz in summer we had walked right round the lake, and when we had visited briefly in winter the lake was frozen and horse-racing had been taking place on it. This time it was frozen; the race track had gone but a path across the lake was marked out with stakes and there were public seats, like park benches, in several places along the path. We thought that perhaps the following day we might have a go at walking along part of the path: I have never walked on water before!

But for now we had some hot chocolate at the station, took the pedestrian route into the town centre that we had learnt while staying here on a Great Rail Journeys group tour, had a snack in our room and retired to bed.

Exploring the Lower Engadin Valley

On our complete day staying at St Moritz we had decided to travel to Scuol, at the other end of the Engadin Valley railway line, this being one of the two short branches of the Rhätischebahn that we had never travelled and a town we had never visited. We took a train there after breakfast, needing to change trains at Samedan, just a slick cross-platform change as we have come to expect from Swiss timetabling. All this travel was included in our Swiss Travel Pass, and all was First Class. We explored Scuol and had coffee there, not a lot to get excited about but we did enjoy the walk. 

From Scuol we took a train just a few stops along the line to Guarda, a tiny village high in the hills. The station was some distance from the village but, of course, this being Switzerland, there was a frequent PostBus service between the village and the station. The little bus was almost full as it zig-zagged its way up to the village, in low gear nearly all the way, and took us to the village square. We knew nothing about the place, but the bus timetable at the stop did reveal that this otherwise half-hourly service would be taking a break for 90 minutes, presumably to allow the driver and the vehicle to take a well-earned rest ... so we either left immediately or determined to spend an hour an a half in this little place. 

We opted to stay and were well-rewarded. This was supposed to be an adventure, and so it was; in fact, we left without seeing everything and may have to return, for the restaurant looked excellent but all we had time for was a beer and a snack. We discovered a museum dedicated to Ursli, the boy hero of a children's book, "A Bell For Ursli," which has been translated into many languages and which we have seen on sale in bookshops all over Switzerland. You need to read it in your chosen language to understand the appeal, but it centres around the tradition of bringing the cows down into the villages for winter and then celebrating the return of the warmth when they are returned to the Alpine pastures for the spring and summer when their improved diet of Alpine meadow grass produces the wonderful Swiss cheeses.

We decided, given that we had travel passes and could go anywhere, that we should not return to St Moritz the way we had come, the short way, but take the even more scenic route via Klosters, Davos and Filisur, just because we could! The first bit is not quite so scenic, involving the Vereina Tunnel almost all the way to Kosters Platz where we changed trains, again, a quick, simple change, to take the winding mountain route to Davos. There are trains that run right through to Filisur from Klosters, but the first one went only as far as Davos and we decided to take that and change there, so we would have half an hour there rather than at Klosters, and then the exciting bit, another ride from Filisur to St Moritz over the Albula Line.

Our extended journey back meant that it was becoming dark before we arrived in St Moritz, so our planned walk on the frozen lake was in jeopardy and we power-walked as fast as we could go to the end of the way-marked path (it was too late in the season to dare to go on the ice anywhere else) and although we could not see well enough to go far we did walk on water and stand on the lake. By this time we definitely needed dinner, and walked  back to the town centre and settled for a simple one-course meal in the restaurant of the Schweizerhof hotel, the place we had used last time we stayed in in St Moritz. Then once more we packed our cases because we were moving on again in the morning for our third two-night stay ...

Two Nights in Venice

In some ways Sunday was a challenging day. It was the day we were to travel to Venice using the Bernina Express to cross the Alps to Tirano in Italy via the Bernina Pass, and I was aware in advance that the railway line onward from Tirano to our change-of-train in Milan was partially closed due to building work and that we would have use a replacement bus (those dreaded words for rail travellers!) and then later connections onward meaning a late arrival in Venice ... but these things cannot be helped. In the event these things turned out very well and we were in Venice on the original schedule ... but let me describe the day ...

After the usual hotel breakfast we checked out and the hotel shuttle took us in very good time to the station in St Moritz from where we took a local train to the junction station at Pontresina to await the Bernina Express which was coming in from Chur. It all went smoothly, as we have come to expect, and we took our allocated seats in First Class, our tickets were checked and we were assured that the refreshment trolley would come along after the stop at Alp Grum.

The stop at Alp Grum - not much to see through the freezing fog, and no pedestrian traffic on this foot crossing, either!

We had a few moments at Alp Grum to look around, and it was fascinating to stand in metre-deep snow (the platforms had been cleared!) and freezing fog where everything was white. We reboarded the train and I spent the rest of the trip vainly looking along the train for the refreshment trolley to arrive. On-board catering on the Bernina Express is not the full meal service of the Glacier Express (it is a shorter route) but we had planned to have a snack on this train to see us through until we could join the Frecciarossa for Venice in Milan and then supper either in Venice or, if we had to wait an hour in Milan, at Milano Centrale station. We never did see the trolley and left the train at its terminus in Tirano rather hungry. Water had been distributed free of charge, and there had been a gift of a rather cute little carriage-shaped tin of Lindt chocolates, but no meal at all. We had seen the menu online, we had seen it in the "Infot(r)ainment" app, but we never had a chance to buy anything. That did not spoil the journey, for the scenery and the experience of travelling "from glaciers to palms" through the deep snow and freezing fog was fantastic, but the local cheese and meat snack tray which was supposedly on offer would have made the trip even more special.

So, in Tirano, the station where I had been advised that my tickets for the next stage, clearly marked, "Not valid for travel" would have to be exchanged, was all under scaffolding, but an enquiry office was open where I was advised that I could use those tickets ... so we crossed via the subway to the bus terminal where we awaited the replacement bus and indeed the ticket inspectors standing at the bus doors accepted the tickets and on we climbed, luggage stowed in the luggage compartment. It was a decent, comfortable coach and we set off to a place called Morbegno where, an hour later, we joined a Trenord local train for Milano Centrale. 

Nothing very exciting about a Frecciarossa interior

Now, when the disruption on the line had become known to Great Rail Journeys we had been given new train times and I had ensured that we had tickets for the new trains so that we had seat reservations on them, but I had been advised that the original Milan-Venice Frecciarossa tickets remained valid and could be used in the event that we were able to catch the originally-planned train at Milano Centrale. So ... I found the Italian state railway's live departures list for Milano Centrale to find out which platform we needed and I read The Man In Seat 61's advice on changing trains there and I hoped that the Trenord local train driver was able to make up the five minutes by which we were late leaving Morbegno - probably owing to awaiting passengers from the substitute buses with all their luggage. The First Class section was right at the front of the local train and as the train approached Milan we stood by the door with our luggage, ready to exit quickly and as it pulled in I noticed that the train standing in the very next platform was the one we needed. We caught it with time to spare, even having the time to walk along the platform to join the correct coach. All had gone well and we were back on course to arrive in Venice for dinner. A complimentary snack was served in due course on the way to Venice, very welcome in view of the lack of one on the Bernina Express, and meanwhile I bought coffee from the buffet car and rediscovered how cheap coffee is in Italy.

We arrived on time in Venice and made our way to the waterbus stop where we bought 24-hour passes: no need for longer provided we dined locally on the second evening. We took the waterbus to Accademia stop which was a five-minute walk to the hotel, although in Venice "crossing the road" usually involves a flight of steps up and then down to get over the canal, so with wheeled luggage it takes a little longer. We checked into the Hotel American Dinesen (I never did find our how to say that) and then went to a little trattoria, Ai Cugnai that we had passed between the bus stop and the hotel and had a good meal for about fifty Euros, including wine: it is not only the coffee that is cheap in Italy!

For our full day in Venice we had decided to return to Burano island which we visited last time but in poor weather and which we left hurriedly when heavy rain made it impossible to enjoy the visit. Before then my wife needed another new hat, so we returned to the hat shop we visited in November, then walked across to the waterbus terminal for route 12 to Burano - it is quite a long way across the lagoon to Burano and the service is only half-hourly. The weather this time was really good. We visited a lace shop, Martina Vidal, and came out with a new table runner to bring home as a souvenir: today we were really filling up our homeward bound luggage (we had already bought a bag of pasta in Switzerland!).

The café we visited last time was not open on Mondays but in any case we found a great place with outdoor seating by the waterfront on the far side of the island and enjoyed a light lunch there (and limoncello ...) before further exploration and the waterbus back to the city centre, route 14 the long way round via Lido, a quick walk around the Piazza San Marco and then to our hotel. Dinner was at the same little trattoria as the first night, for our waterbus passes had by then expired, and then we packed once more for the following day's exciting journey home.

Usually the journey home is a bit of an anti-climax, but not when it starts with the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

An Unexpected Delight on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Our Venice Simplon-Orient-Express representative was due to meet us at our hotel at 10:00 on Tuesday morning, so we had a little time to do one last thing before going home, and that was to go and buy some zabaglione from a shop we had visited on our last trip, only a 15-minute walk from our hotel. It was a lovely morning for a walk in Venice: sunshine and blue sky, although a little cold. Regrettably the shop had no zabaglione in stock so we bought a pistachio paste instead, not to have wasted the journey! Briefly back to our room we were soon in the little lobby awaiting the VSOE lady, along with another couple. She arrived early and gave us our boarding pass and told us that we had been upgraded to better compartment with en-suite facilities, and although I was pleased that we had done the historic "classic" compartment with bunk beds - much like a modern sleeper - on our first trip on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, I was pleased to have a chance to try the modern innovation of an en-suite compartment (and at the usual classic fare!).

The water-taxi arrived and we were taken through canals great and small to Santa Lucia railway station where this time the train was already waiting at the platform. Our hostess introduced us to the attendants for our coach and we boarded, our luggage having already been taken straight from the water-taxi to our compartment. The compartment had a name, "Les Montagnes" (they are all named after a landscape type!), rather than a number and waiting on the table was a wine cooler and a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Champagne and some nibbles (with caviar). And the space was enormous because instead of the sofa being able to be converted into bunks overnight it was clearly going to become a double bed! In the corner where you might expect a wash hand-basin there was an small wardrobe and a curved door leading into the shower and toilet compartment. Although very much a twenty-first century train compartment with all modern conveniences including several power sockets and USB and USB-C charging ports, it was still in the classic art-deco style like the rest of the train. The marquetry and the glassware were all of the familiar style which I have always loved. Unlike the classic compartments, this one had a large window onto the corridor so we were able to watch the scenery go by on both sides without having to squint through the open door on the corridor side, and we had two windows on the other side. It was exquisite and I was amazed to have been granted the opportunity to travel this way, and grateful!

Our attendant came and poured our (first) glasses of Champagne and came back after departure to explain the lighting, heating and locks, and then a man from Belmond came and asked with a grin if we were "disappointed not to have our classic 'cabin'." He explained that these suites were a new idea and they would be asking for our feedback at the end of the trip. I was more than happy to perform this little service for them in exchange for this superb experience. To anyone thinking of taking the VSOE I would say that if you want the authentic Hercule Poirot experience* (hopefully without the murder) then you absolutely must take a classic compartment, which also has the advantage of being the least expensive, but the suites really are superb and still exude art-deco glamour but with all you could ask from a good, if compact, hotel room. There are also Grand Suites which are so large that they include their own living and dining space, but I cannot imagine that they are worth the fare being asked for a journey which is only about 25 hours, unless you are the sort of person, like a rock star, who needs the privacy.

* James Bond, of course, also took this train in From Russia With Love, but by then the train was less glamorous and there was little appreciation of the décor and style. And you would not want his experience with Red Grant and the red wine with fish ...

Our next visitor was the maître d who wanted to know our options for lunch and dinner timings, and we opted for the earlier sitting for both. We had boarded just before the 11:01 departure time for the train, so the early lunch sitting was quite soon, and by the time we'd finished the nibbles and a couple of glasses of Champagne it was time to lock our compartment and make our way to the Côte d'Azur restaurant car for the first exquisite meal of the trip, with more Champagne included. This restaurant car was decorated with mirrors and Lalique glass and the food was really good. I am not used to this Champagne and caviar lifestyle!

As with our experience last time, a light afternoon tea was served after a couple of hours, during which time I wrote postcards to the family which would eventually be posted from Belmond's Italian office bearing a special postmark: this time I wrote one to myself, too, so that I could see what they'd be getting, and when.

The tea was great, and our Champagne had been removed to the attendant's refrigerator to keep it cool, to be returned to us on request, which was just before dinner, of course.

We walked the length of the train, partly to see what all the coaches were like, and partly for exercise, because really we had not walked much that day at all. The train stopped for a while in several places, and at Innsbruck the locomotives were run round it because the train had to change direction there, and we were invited to step on the platform for exercise and fresh air, so we walked briskly up and down until it was time to re-board for the next stage.

This train is not in a hurry! The whole point is the experience of the journey, not to get to the destination in the shortest possible time. It goes a fairly long way round and has many pauses in its progress.

We soon dressed for dinner, with much more space than we'd had last time in the classic compartment, and could even shower this time! Once ready we reopened the shutters over the corridor window and called our steward to bring our Champagne bottle back for pre-dinner drinks, obviating the "need" to visit the cocktail bar this time.

Dinner was in l'Oriental restaurant car - the schedule is so arranged that everyone gets to eat in all three restaurants during the journey - and was once more of the usual standard. We declined the offer of more Champagne this time, instead choosing a wine which went with the food we had chosen from the table d'hôte menu.

This restaurant car was decorated with lacquered illustrations, mostly from nature, another typical art deco treatment, and again the food was delicious. The portions look small, but are very filling, and, of course, there are so very many meals.

On this train the staff are very pleasant and attentive and nothing it too much trouble for them. And there are enough of them to cope with everything without being rushed, probably the main reason why a trip on this train is so expensive. But once the fare is paid, everything is included except extra bar drinks and very special wines and extra caviar (which we are quite able to live without!).

During dinner two or three other passengers in this restaurant clearly were celebrating birthdays, and a wandering guitarist and singer from among the crew came through entertaining the diners - apparently a new idea this season.

When we returned to our compartment we found the sofa had become a bed and the table had disappeared and all was ready for us to go to sleep, although I must admit that neither of us slept very well. I don't think it was just the movement of the train - and it did stop for extended periods at times - but also the amount of food and drink. The bed was extremely comfortable, one of the best I've known, but nothing can alter the fact that it moves, sometimes, unexpectedly ... and I did sleep: I was not awake all night by any means.

A continental breakfast was to be served in our compartment in the morning, followed by a brunch before arrival in Paris, so as soon as we were dressed and ready I rang for the attendant who came along to convert our compartment into daytime mode. It was fascinating to watch: under the bed was a box into which the pillows and mattress (which was remarkably thin considering how comfortable it had been) were placed and out or which came the cushions for the sofa. The box, which had formed the bed base, was then pushed under the rest of the bed et voilà, a sofa. The table top was in two parts in the wardrobe (we had been warned not to use that section of the wardrobe so as to allow the table to be stored), bed linen was taken away and a clean tablecloth placed on the table and everything was neat and tidy, ready for breakfast.

We had chosen fruit salad and bread for breakfast with fruit juice and coffee and this was efficiently brought to us, with a lovely selection of jam, honey and marmalade. 

After breakfast we made preparations for leaving the train, packing away our clothes from the evening before and dressing for the rest of the journey home, and soon it was time to make our way to the restaurant car Toile du Nord for brunch, our last meal aboard, before which we finished our Champagne and then were told that we were entitled to a second bottle, did we want to take it home rather than open it now? So, our luggage already bulked out with a few things bought in Switzerland and Italy now acquired the biggest and heaviest of all, a bottle of Veuve Cliquot! Never mind, we should not have to walk far.

To accommodate time for brunch, the train took a circuitous route into Gare d'Austerlitz and at one point had to reverse, requiring the locomotives to run round. This took some time while awaiting line clearance, delaying the train by about fifteen minutes. Belmond's way of dealing with the delay was ... a round of Champagne!

And so into Paris and fond farewells to all those who had looked after us so well over the last day or so. The suite had been a really brilliant way to travel, but we had it at the price of a classic compartment. While it was great, can we afford to pay for it if we come this way again? Well, we'll have to see, but the question is really how often we can have "The Trip of a Lifetime." We have already had several! Shall we use the Orient Express again? Who knows? But we have great memories now of two journeys on it and it has been fabulous. There are other trains and other places to see: very little of this adventure has been new, but our next planned trip is almost all new! Watch this space, as they say, or, perhaps just subscribe to this blog to be made aware of the next posts. You may like to subscribe to my YouTube channel, too, @Marks_Trains where I sometimes post video reports of selected trips.

We crossed Paris by Metro line 5 straight to Gare du Nord and were in plenty of time for the next Eurostar to London St Pancras which left a few minutes late after coming late from its previous trip but arrived in London on time after a faultless run from Paris. The light meal was served, which we regarded as a late lunch after the VSOE brunch, and then we went across the road to Kings Cross station for our penultimate train, LNER's 18:30 to Edinburgh, which took us as far as Peterborough on time. Another light meal, this one we called dinner, although they didn't quite manage to get the sweet course in before we had to leave the train. Our local train to Stamford was also on time and who waiting for it at Peterborough station I downloaded and installed the app for the Premier Starline taxi company in Stamford and arranged for a taxi to take us home from the station, so as not to have to lug that spare bottle of Champagne all the way home!

Cheers! Santé! Cin-Cin!

Another Couple of Nights Away

A Short Break at Studland Bay by Train and Bus

As I mentioned in A Couple of Nights Away, we received a really good offer for a two-night stay at the Knoll House Hotel on Studland Bay in Dorset, quickly snapped up along with reduced-price rail tickets during the "Rail Sale". Last time we stayed there it was more of an adventure than we bargained-for when the heathland between the ferry and the hotel caught fire and our return from a day out took a lot longer than planned owing to a road closure to avoid the fire. This time we just had the adventure we had planned, and weather which was better than we had dared to hope.

The weather did not start well, with light drizzle as we packed our cases, and steady rain by the time we left for Stamford rail station. Umbrellas raised we arrived at the station and caught our 09:56 Cross Country train, a few minutes late this time, to Peterborough where we popped round to Waitrose to buy a packed lunch before catching the connecting LNER train to London at 10:50. We were travelling with First Class tickets to London and complimentary coffee and brunch were served on the way. From Kings Cross we took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and the Bakerloo Line thence to Waterloo - all using our through train tickets booked from Peterborough to Bournemouth: nothing extra to pay for the Underground. At Waterloo we browsed Foyles bookshop while awaiting our train - not a cheap option as we bought three books between us that we had known we needed until we happened to see them in the bookshop!

The train from Waterloo to Bournemouth was comfortable, smooth and quite fast but there is no longer any catering on board South Western Railway trains, which is why we had brought a packed lunch with us. By the time we had boarded the train at Waterloo it was lunchtime and so we set our table and enjoyed a lunch of prepared salad, fruit salad and chilled peach tea. Super, and probably much like we'd have bought on the train had there been a trolley or a buffet. First Class on Southwestern Railway is not like First Class on LNER, but it was comfortable and it got us to Bournemouth in time to get our bus onward to the hotel.

The bus ride to Studland on the number 50 "Purbeck Breezer" is what makes this journey an adventure: it is normally operated with open-top buses and although in summer these sometimes have just a windscreen at the front of the top deck, in winter they tend to use the versions with the first few rows of seats under cover, and we arrived at Bournemouth in nice time to stroll over and board one of these, taking our seats just a few rows back to get the best views while remaining remaining sheltered from the wind. By now the sun was beginning to break through and the rain had completely stopped. The bus wound its way through Bournemouth town centre and the western districts of the town and the leafy pine woods of Canford Cliffs then along the southern edge of Poole Harbour and the most expensive residential land in the UK at Sandbanks before waiting for the ferry across to Studland. We had to wait for a ship to leave the harbour before our ferry could arrive from the other side but were entertained by a Royal Navy Chinook helicopter practising with the Special Boat Service off The Foreland while we waited and the sun gradually showed more of itself through the thinning cloud cover. From the urban townscapes and arcadia of Bournemouth and Poole we were now into the carefully maintained (by the National Trust) semi-wilderness of Studland Heath and very soon we were stopping the bus outside the Knoll House Hotel.

The stunning view from our room, through the hotel grounds to Studland Bay

After checking in we unpacked the smarter clothes we had brought for evenings at the hotel so that the creases would drop out by dinner time, donned our walking boots and set off for a walk down to the beach and along it. The walk down through the hotel grounds and through the woods onto the beach was something we had many times - in summer! It was different this time and our progress was halted by water too deep to wade through in just walking gear, so we had to make a bit of a detour but got there just a few moments later. By now it was past tea time and the National Trust café and shop at Knoll Beach had just closed for the night and Trust staff were busy with their conservation work. We just walked along the beach in glorious sunshine and back again in drizzle! Shower, change and dinner. Dinner was included in our package but we did avail ourselves of the cocktail bar in preparation for dinner, and this was definitely not included. We found ourselves chatting to a local couple who were there simply having an after-work drink - what a lovely place for that! They recommended a whisky bar in Bath which we shall have to try next time we are there.

After a good night's sleep we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day and after breakfast set off for a day out, beginning with a bus to Swanage, too early for our senior citizens' concessionary passes so we had to pay our fares. We had a little stroll around Swanage for old times' sake and then boarded a bus to Wareham which we had only briefly visited, by car, in the past. There we explored, had coffee in a place once apparently frequented by Lawrence of Arabia, and discovered a really ancient St Martin's Church, the same dedication as our church at home in Stamford but very, very different. 

It remained sunny all day with very little wind, and temperatures were good for February (up to around 10 degrees C), and in the sun it was quite warm when walking and we removed our coats and gloves very early on. When we caught the bus back to Swanage I also removed my jumper, for the top deck was like a greenhouse! From Swanage we travelled as far as Studland village and then went down to the beach there and walked along to Knoll Beach for a snack lunch at the National Trust café. Sitting there in the sun it was just like the summer (except for the number of people in coats) - indeed it was better weather than we had in the summer of 2020 when we came here with all our family.

We strolled along the beach in the direction of Poole Harbour - with no intention of going that far, of course - and along part of the naturist beach where, not surprisingly in February, I suppose, everyone seemed to be wearing clothes. A few horses, a few dogs (they're allowed here from 1st October to 1st March, and then forbidden for the sake of the wildlife for the rest of the year).

It was time to walk back now, time to rest and recover from what had been quite an energetic day for us. Bath and change (and a brief unintentional sleep!) and ready for dinner again. No cocktail this time but we did have Prosecco with our meal, and pudding. We were hungry after such a day, and we slept even better than the night before.

Our last day was a Friday and we packed and paid our bill and checked out straight after breakfast, leaving our luggage at the hotel to set of, suitably booted, to walk to the Old Harry Rocks. These rocks (see heading photograph), vertical chalk stacks at the end of a headland, are a constant sight and landmark along this section of the coast and have been a distant companion on many of our holidays and especially of our walks along the beaches but we have never before visited them and seen them at close quarters. It was a walk of about a mile and a half from Studland village and rather than walk along the road we took a route out of the back of the hotel grounds and over the heath - which took us through more mud than we really wanted to encounter - the last time we went this way was in summer and there had been some mud but not so much. We returned along the road from the village! The walk between the village and the rocks was all good off-road walking and all very easy. On the way back we had coffee at a beach café at Studland Middle Beach before returning to the hotel, recovering our luggage and taking the Breezer bus one last time back to Bournemouth. This time it was a closed-top bus, which is fine in winter, but we always travel on the top deck here for the views of Studland Heath, of the ferry crossing, of the trees of Canford Cliffs. In Bournemouth we had lunch at a town centre café  and then walked down to the seafront to "say goodbye" to the sea before taking the next bus to the railway station and await our train home. 

It had been a short break but I think we had made the most of every moment.

We boarded our train at Bournemouth and had a smooth and pleasant ride to London Waterloo, then easy interchange to Kings Cross via the Underground. At Kings Cross it all began to fall apart. Our train, on which we had reservations in Coach L, turned out only to have five coaches owing to trains being out of place following earlier disruption due to a fire somewhere else. It was jam-packed in Standard Class and overfull in First. We did not have seats until someone took pity on a couple of pensioners and gave us a seat; refreshments could not be brought through on the usual trolley but we could visit the galley and pick up our sandwiches and drinks. Then it unravelled even further when the train stopped at Stevenage owing to problems further along the line. It eventually transpired that it would be held for some time and our kind train manager suggested that those heading to Peterborough might like to get off and take the next train to Cambridge, which would soon stop at the adjacent platform, where we could get a connection to Peterborough. For us, of course, that would provide us with a connection home, albeit two hours late but we were already missing the planned connection and were by no means sure that we might make the next at Peterborough. So we baled out of the overcrowded train, beer cans in hand along with our luggage, and caught a Thameslink train to Cambridge. Once there we made our way across to the platform where a Cross Country unit was waiting to form the next departure for Birmingham which would take us home. To my surprise it was a newly-painted refurbished class 170 Turbostar. I think they only had one, possibly two, in the fleet at that time, so it was a bit of a silver lining to have the chance to travel on one. New seats with slightly more legroom and bigger seat-back table which comfortably took my large MacBook Pro (on which I am writing this article now).

The lovely day then unravelled further still when a very disruptive passenger boarded and racially abused a couple of other passengers, threatening one of them and generally causing mayhem. We could all have done without that and some of us texted British Transport Police as we are always being urged to "say it" when we "see it" so that it can be "sorted". He was leaving the train at Peterborough anyway and was taken care of by the BTP, but as time went on it became clear that he was ill rather than criminal and I think he was well known by the police as someone in need of support.

And so into Stamford and the usual walk home across the meadows and through the town, two hours later than planned but I understand from LNER that the train we had abandoned at Stevenage did not reach Peterborough until very much later. We await our Delay Repay compensation, but I have to say that none of this disruption really affected our enjoyment of a really great couple of days away. We had packed in so much and so many new things, and we were still home before our usual bedtime. The train staff coped brilliantly and the thinking-on-their-feet action of the LNER train manager who suggested the detour via Cambridge certainly saved the day for us - and for those left on the stranded train there were now more seats available, vacated by those like us who had taken the alternative.

Arrival at Stamford on the newly-refurbished Cross Country Turbostar, with brighter paintwork and much smarter interior. We love arriving at Stamford station on our way home and being welcomed by all the church towers as we cross The Meadows.