An Adventure to the North East

First Time with Grand Central; First Time with Cross Country on the East Coast Main Line

A mixed experience

We had a pressing invitation from friends we had been wanting to visit for ages, to their "new" home in Berwick-upon-Tweed - they'd actually lived there for five years but somehow we'd never made it. We did try to combine it with visiting other people on the way there and/or back but this did not come off and by the time we decided to give up on these complications it was becoming rather late to book our Advance tickets. I presume, who really knows, that this was why we had such a curious adventure getting there and back. This is how it went, and this is why it turned out to be an adventure of new experiences ...

There are through LNER trains between Peterborough and Berwick-upon-Tweed, but when I looked for available Advance First Class tickets, the only affordable ones required a change of train in each direction, with the first each way being provided by a different operator: it would be interesting to see what their First Class offer was like, especially on Grand Central with whom I had never travelled before: they have only quite recently begun to stop at Peterborough, where I generally begin or end my East Coast Main Line journeys.

So we started on a Grand Central train from Peterborough to York, and this left Peterborough at 09:18, a time that meant we'd have had to wait an hour there between the arrival of a train from Stamford and the departure to York, so we booked a taxi instead: getting a taxi at that time of the morning is not a cinch, but we booked one with Peterborough Cars who came out and fetched us in good time for our train. We had coffee at the station while awaiting departure, then the moment came and we boarded Coach A and found our allocated seats. The ambiance in the coach was OK and the leather seats were quite comfortable. We watched the scenery slip by at high speed as the train made its way non-stop to York en route for Sunderland. I have to say that although the ride on the track was smooth, the throb of the underfloor engines was rather intrusive. Food and drink could be delivered to seats in First Class but there was no included catering; having had our coffee we did not order anything from the on-board buffet on this leg of the journey.

Before we knew it we were in York (several minutes early) where we were to change into the LNER service bound for Edinburgh which would deliver us to Berwick. This was to depart from the same platform to which Grand Central had brought us, so no walking or navigation were required, but we had about twenty minutes to spare so we set off to explore the station a bit (and get some exercise - the big downside of having been picked up by taxi was that we did not get the walk to the station), finishing up in the new First Class lounge. We arrived back on our platform just as the train was pulling in. We had seats side-by-side at a table for four in a carriage fairly full, and now that we were with LNER the refreshments soon came around and I had my lunch before arrival in Berwick, the splendid LNER bacon roll.

We had a couple of hours before we were due to arrive at our friends' home, and spent the time exploring, or, rather, reacquainting ourselves with, Berwick town centre, noting changes since we had last visited, maybe twenty or more years ago.

We spent a happy couple of days with our friends, both at their home and out and about and returned home on a Saturday afternoon, again with a change of train I had not expected when first thinking of the trip, and again with an operator with whom I had not travelled before on the East Coast Main Line, Cross Country Trains. Both trains on the way out had arrived early: would those on the return be as timely?

The little First Class lounge at Berwick

We have travelled with Cross Country a lot. They provide our local train service with little three-car Turbostars, and we use their Voyagers from Birmingham down to the southwest and to Bournemouth, but I had never had cause to venture north of Birmingham with them before. The train we caught was from Edinburgh to Bristol, and we would be travelling as far as Doncaster. The train left Berwick-upon-Tweed on time and there was plenty of space in the First Class coach. The seats were comfortable and we had plenty of space on the tables. Ominously, but fortunately, a lady in a nearby seat came over and said that she was Cross Country staff off duty and would be pleased to get us all a drink. We asked for tea and she nipped off to the galley and brought tea, coffee or soft drinks to anyone who wanted it. I hoped that there might be an on-duty First Class host on board after the crew change at Newcastle, but the new Train Manager announced that there would never be no catering all the way to Bristol Temple Meads. Now I don't expect a feast on Cross Country but I was glad I was only going to Doncaster and not Bristol, or even Birmingham. Not good. It was, however, a smooth and fast ride, although again the motor vibration was very noticeable, and we arrived on time at Doncaster. Cross Country do have a way of not quite getting it right, and this is far from the first time that we have suffered a lack of catering on their services: they just do not seem to employ enough staff. Still, at least they had a driver and train manager, so the train could run this time.

At Doncaster we had a few minutes in the First Class lounge, small but more than adequate, then boarded our LNER train for Peterborough. Again this train was on time, and as usual with LNER the catering was provided and although we only had a relatively basic menu it was very welcome and we arrived at Peterborough well-fed. We were expecting a fairly long wait for our train home to Stamford and had arrived at Peterborough several minutes early which would have made the wait even longer, so we decided to call a taxi instead, and using Peterborough Cars app we had a cab waiting for us in the time it took us to leave the station! This cost a lot more than the train but we were in our home before we'd even have left Peterborough on a train.

So we experienced four trains which were all on time or early, but when it came to catering only LNER was what we really wanted. Cross Country had no catering at all, a disgrace for a long distance inter-city service, and Grand Central had only a buffet, which we did not need at the time we were travelling with them, but if I'd been going all the way to Sunderland I might have wanted more. The ride on LNER's electric trains was smoother and quieter than the two diesels, but on the other hand it was more "bouncy" on the rails. On the whole I have not found another company that comes near LNER in terms of service, but I cannot complain about punctuality with any of the trains we used on this trip.

The Return of a Decent Train Service ...

Hourly Cross Country Trains Between Birmingham and Stansted Airport Once More

The summer timetable for my local train service, the Birmingham-Stansted Cross Country route, brought the surprise return of the full hourly timetable, not seen since the start of the first pandemic lockdowns. No gap in service morning and afternoon, and the the regular trains now work through to and from the airport again, not some of them terminating at Cambridge. So far, so good, but ... anyone can publish a timetable! Will the trains actually run and will they be reliable? 

Well, for several reasons I have had to make a few trips to and from Peterborough recently, and so far I have to say I have been impressed. Most of the trains have run precisely to time (and here in Stamford there is plenty of scope for something to upset them before they get to us), an improvement over recent performance. None of the trains I have needed has so far been cancelled: that should not be remarkable, but it is remarkable because cancellations had become very frequent. A couple of eastbound trains were running a few minutes late, but only a few minutes and my plans were unaffected. Other people may have had different experiences but for me this has been a welcome return to the good standard of service that we used to have a few years ago, better in fact because exact on-time running was always a rarity whereas now it has become the norm.

Things will always go wrong, of course: trains can break down, crew can suddenly be off sick, signals can fail, but so far it has been excellent for me and is encouraging me to want to take a few more trips ....

One of the boldest little trips I have done lately which required great faith in four trains working together well was when I took one of my granddaughters to Peterborough where her mother was arriving from London to take her on home to London. Also meeting us in Peterborough was another grandchild who lives there and was joining her cousin for a few days, so child 2's parents got her to Peterborough station where child 1's mother met her on the concourse after arriving by LNER from London, while I travelled with child 1 from Stamford to meet them both. Unfortunately this was the train that had a few minutes' delay. It was tight, but worked: child 2 with child 1's mother came to our arrival platform and once the two girls had greeted each other with their classic hugs the four of us made our was to the platform where the girls' train to London was due to depart. It arrived at the platform just as we walked on to it, five minutes before it was due to leave and in plenty of time for me to bid them all farewell and for them to find their seats. I then wandered back to platform 7 for my train home to Stamford, and this one was on time. The whole operation worked flawlessly in spite of the delay my outgoing train.

As an aside, travelling with the children is interesting. I have five grandchildren in three households and while all of them have 25% of their genetic input from me (and a fair bit of nurture, too, some direct and some via one parent!), their attitude to travel differs considerably. One child once declared as soon as we had sat on a train, "I'm bored!", while the one I took to Peterborough that day engaged me in interesting conversation about the crops in the fields that we passed on the way and much else that we saw from the window. Not once did I have to find something to entertain her. It is not an age thing, for they are of a similar age. Interesting.

Update: Having said all of this, in my opinion we still need a half-hourly service to and from Peterborough. Hourly to and from Leicester and Birmingham is OK, but a lot of connections at Peterborough are quite poor and require far too long a wait and/or a very early departure to ensure a connection. See, for example An Adventure to the North East when we used taxis to avoid enormous waits at Peterborough.

Catalonia, Paris, London and Home

Tapas At Last!

 Barcelona

The last city of our tour was Barcelona, on the Catalan coast of north-eastern Spain. This is Spain's second-largest city and again has an interesting history, although rather different from the Andalusian cities we had visited in the past few days. Barcelona was a city hardly known in Britain until 1992 when it hosted the Olympic Games which propelled it into the spotlight, but it is a fantastic place and this is the one we shall have to visit again. We barely scratched the surface of this fascinating place. Before 1992 it had no beach, just docks and quayside, and tourists all went to the Costa Brava a few kilometres south. For many of us, Barcelona is just a football team and the most amazing Christian Church ever designed which has been under construction for well over a century, the Basilica of the Holy Family, Sagrada Familia.

On the Tuesday morning in Córdoba our coach transferred us to the railway station where we boarded a through RENFE high-speed train direct to Barcelona Sants. Another coach took us to our hotel ... while our luggage made its way slowly by van and arrived several hours later. Fortunately, although the weather was not quite as hot and sunny as it had been in Andalusia, it was warm enough and we could manage without our luggage for the afternoon and evening. Once checked in, our rooms being ready incredibly early, we set off for a walk down to the beach: this was about a mile or so and not undertaken lightly, but it was very good exercise after sitting on a train all morning and several days of guided tours involving shuffling around from place to place. Like, say, London, Roman Barcelona occupied a small walled site, and the medieval city broke through the Roman wall and occupied a rather larger walled site. Population growth and regional prosperity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to an enormous planned expansion into the surrounding countryside, planned on a grid street pattern and with a large variety of modernist archtitecture, almost all of high quality and excellent design. 

Our walk to the sea was therefore dead straight until we reached the marina full of expensive "yachts" (some of them I'd have called "ships"!), when we made our way around its rim until we came to the beach. There were many people sitting on the soft sand: people were handing our blankets for the purpose - I assume there was a charge but it was not obvious - but we were not staying and declined the offer. After that long walk we were in search of sangria and after declining it at a bar on the beach we went to another nearby where it was half as expensive ... in tourist resorts one does have to be careful!

The route back, of course, was slightly uphill and we decided to try the Metro for much of the way back to our hotel. Always fun to try these things in new places: we'd used a bus in Madrid and would try the Metro here. We walked to the nearest stop, Barceloneta, which happened to be on a direct line to one of the nearest stops to the hotel. Now, how to buy a ticket ... I had brought some cash with me but intended to pay contactless using my Apple Watch, having left my credit card and most of the cash in the safe in our hotel room in order to minimise loss in case of pick-pockets. The ticket machine had a variety of language interfaces and charges a flat fare for a single trip, so choosing a couple of these was straightforward and simple, but paying was more problematic. A member of staff appeared out of nowhere like a fairy godfather and advised that we'd have to insert a card; the machines could not read contactless. So I started again and inserted cash, and behold: two tickets were printed! Taking care to get the correct platform for where we were going we made our way down and boarded a jam-packed train bound for the city centre and beyond. Of all the underground railways I have used this one was the most similar to London, with frequent long trains and with crowds! We had to stand the whole way but younger passengers took pity on us and moved so that we could lean against the side: there were fewer poles than in London and no hanging straps. This was a quick and efficient way of travelling and we were soon back at our room for a quick freshen-up before setting off for our evening meal. 

We had tried all the Spanish specialities that had come to mind, and that we had thought we might like, but had yet to try tapas (or "tapes" in Catalan - we found that Spanish was not a lot of use here when it came to reading signs, although the people understand and can speak Spanish). We had asked for advice at the hotel reception and had been recommended La Pepita, just along and across the street, and that was where we tried. It was great: English-speaking staff and some wonderful food to share, and the prices were very reasonable. Customers were encouraged to write graffiti on the walls and we were given pens to make our mark - not that I really expect anyone to read it among the thousands and thousands of others! 

The following morning we had our final guided tour of our holiday, by coach and on foot around the historic core of Barcelona, including a quick look at the outside of the Cathedral and of St Mary of the Sea, and of the little streets where craftspeople's shops have largely given way to expensive boutiques and gift shops as people have retired. We passed some modern art galleries, notably the Picasso Museum - a return to Barcelona is going to be necessary! We were taken  by coach through the modernist grid-iron extension of the city. Very little art deco there, but quite a lot of art nouveau. We drove round the Sagrada Familia which has a definite art nouveau feel to it but whole contraction began much earlier. It is as much a monument and museum to its architect Antoni Gaudí as it is a place of prayer and worship. There is no point in attempting to describe this building, you simply have to see it for yourself: I hope to publish a video on YouTube soon to tide you over until you get there. Meanwhile here are some stills. Most of the sculptures which tell the story of Jesus (as well as Mary and Joseph - his family), are on the outside and we spect a lot of time looking at the Nativity façade before entering and at the Passion façade after leaving the building. But inside the light through the windows was breathtaking, as was the interior design.

Back at our hotel room we prepared for the last dinner of the tour, which was included, with all drinks, at a farmhouse restaurant, Can Travi Nou, on the edge of the city, to which we were taken and brought back by a small coach. As ever, like all the included dinners on this tour it was excellent. This time we were all at one table and we had a chance to say farewell to our three American friends who had joined us in Madrid and would be leaving the hotel early in the morning for their flight home. 

The meal consisted of a shared first course, a sort of tapas, and it was vital to be disciplined and bear in mind that the main course and dessert were still to come!

It was a great "last supper" and, still being in Spain, meant we were late to bed again!

Homeward via Paris

The following morning after breakfast we completed our packing, checked out and started the long journey home, starting with one enormous leap on a French TGV all the way from Barcelona to Paris. Again the security checks but this time no request for passports even though it was an international train. There was a bit of a delay at one intermediate stop while the police removed someone who was travelling without a ticket, but the run after that was very fast, especially the last stretch towards Gare de Lyon where a coach met us for the transfer to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar train home.

After an uneventful transfer across Paris, the quickest I think I have experience by coach, we arrived at Gare du Nord too soon to go the the Eurostar departures but we went up to the "Hall 2" deck anyway and waited until we were allowed to pass the tickets gates - our Tour Manager negotiated a ten-minute early check-in for the group. For some reason I was taken straight to the manual passport check, and my wife with me, and sped through: usually I have an unsuccessful five-minute attempt to get through the electronic check before I am allowed to go through the manual check and I lose track of my wife in the process. No-one seems to understand why, insisting that there is nothing wrong with my passport, and indeed, I have never been questioned about it. Ah well, maybe there is a criminal with my name or likeness somewhere ... 

And so we waited together. The wait was easy in the company of people we had come to know over almost two weeks, and so we said our farewells on the last leg as we crossed Kent on our way to St Pancras International, having been served our light meal as soon as we had left Paris.

On arrival at St Pancras International we all gathered on the platform for the last time and then went our own ways, most of us to a variety of Premier Inns around the area; in our case this was the Euston one, adjacent to St Pancras Church. Of the three Premier Inns we have used in this area, this is not one to which we shall wish to return; while the bed was as comfortable as ever, there was no air-conditioning (or, rather, there had been but it failed to"years" ago) and so it was too warm to sleep well. I think Kings Cross will be the one to use in future! The following morning we met our son for breakfast on his way to work and then parted ways so that I could get back for a baptism and a wedding while my wife awaited the end of school to collect some grandchildren to bring home later. So I waited in the lounge at Kings Cross for the 13:03 for Bradford Forster Square which I was taking as far as Peterborough. It would be a tight connection at Peterborough so I did not buy my tickets onward to Stamford until I had got there and could be confident of catching the train - otherwise I'd have a taxi home from there. However, the train from London was in good time and I bought my ticket to Stamford as it drew into the platform; I was straight in the lift and as I made my way across the footbridge the Cross Country train to Stamford was just coming in. Luggage stowed I sat down and booked my taxi home from Stamford station.

As you might imagine, it is going to be a busy weekend, so I am completing this on the train home so I hope you can manage with the description of my arrival in Stamford and my taxi ride home because I must upload this as soon as I get there!

Adiós!