We’re back staying near Polstead. Sunday Lunch was a short walk through the woods to the local pub, The Cock:
Followed by a slightly longer walk back to our cottage at Sprotts Farm:
Rocco was around, but more interested in his stick than getting his photo taken…
I had a free day today, so it was off to West London to explore some of the railway routes and places I’d not visited before. I got the train to Waterloo where one of the old Class 455 units has been painted in a new livery:
A bit more elegant than the bright red that these trains normally have. Next stop was Wimbledon Station, looking suitably posh:
Then caught a train to Southfields, looking quite unmodernised:
From there, another train to Earls Court, with its classic indicator boards:
Next stop was Ealing Broadway, with a surprisingly nice park by the station:
Then Greenford, and time to find somewhere nice to have lunch:
I’d spotted a green space on the map nearby, but disappointed that the route seemed to be blocked by metal gates:
As I was now walking on the Capital Ring route (last visited in 2018, see Capital Ring Section 9), I investigated further and found that they could actually be opened. On the other side was an information board that explained why:
This certainly wasn’t here when I last visited. Didn’t see any beavers, but did see a small dam:
After going through another gate, the path crossed the Grand Union Canal:
On the other side was a peaceful sports field, ideal for a lunch break:
Walking back to the station, I spotted the Capital Ring signpost by the shopping centre:
There was a new battery powered Class 230 train at Greenford that will eventually replace the diesel trains on this route:
The other end of this branch is West Ealing; this is one of the charging rails for the new trains:
West Ealing has been smartened up for the Elizabeth Line Trains:
Next stop was Paddington – I do like the “clouds” painted on the ceiling of the Elizabeth Line entrance:
Nearby was a clock that a friend had recommended I look out for:
The “man” inside continually wipes out and redraws the hands!
Next stop was Hammersmith, where I changed lines:
From there, I headed home via Edgware Road, Farringdon and London Bridge. A nice day out in the sunshine.
Yet another early start, but I did have time for a short walk to say goodbye to the Rhine:
Our coach to Cologne started off with a ferry crossing across the Rhine:
We were delayed by roadworks and only just made it to Cologne station on time for our train to Brussels:
Much nicer in a 1st class seat on the train than on a coach!
We arrived at Brussels only 15 minutes late (quite good for German Railways at the moment) but didn’t have time for our usual beer before our Eurostar back to London (which was also 45 minutes late).
Nevertheless, a good holiday!
Another early (and rather damp) start today. Our coach took us down the Rhine to Boppard, including a ferry crossing.We got a coffee and picked up some lunch in Boppard:
Then waited for our boat:
We then headed upstream to St Goar:
We had a bit of time before our next boat, so had our lunch and a short walk along the river:
Once on the next boat, we continued upstream past the famous Lorelei Rocks:
A few beers later, we reached Assmannshausen and walked back to the hotel.
We had an English language tour booked here this afternoon – after a bit of confusion where we went to the wrong museum…
A very interesting tour of various mechanical musical instruments collected over the years:
A very interesting tour. Afterwards, we caught a little bus back to Assmannshausen which wound through the hills. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain by now, but at least the bus stop was right by the hotel.
We had a free day today, so decided to go to Rüdesheim, the next town along the River Rhine.
There is a chair lift right opposite the hotel, so that saved a lot of climbing!
It was quite surreal floating over back gardens and vineyards before heading into forest.
From the top, we followed a semi-guided walk through the forest.
At several points, the were viewpoints over the Rhine:
We found a geocache and failed to find a second one as it seemed to be down in a quarry.
Then we came to a large monument erected overlooking the Rhine:
and a temple:
Now it was time to go down to Rüdesheim, this time by gondola.
After all that, it was time for a beer and some lunch:
We were close to the railway line and it was encouraging to see so much freight.
A travelling day today. A bit of an early start as our coach driver was concerned about roadworks delaying us. It turned out that he was late instead due to other roadworks…
Anyway we reached Hildesheim in plenty of time to find our train was an hour late.
Nearer the time, the delay increased and our train eventually arrived over 2 hours late. All our seat reservations seemed to have mysteriously disappeared as well, but we did find some seats OK.
We spotted what we think was a hydrogen powered train at Frankfurt:
At least the train from Frankfurt to Assmannshausen ran every half an hour, so we were soon on our way.
Then a short walk to the hotel:
The town is on the Rhine, and we watched the boats going past as we enjoyed a beer:
After lunch we, walked to Wernigerode Model Village, but ended up taking a rather long route there.
Interesting models of various buildings in the area, and several model railways to make things more interesting:
We had a free day today so climbed up though the woods to Wernigerode Schlossberg.
You can see it in the background of the photo above. A bit of a climb but great views:
The inside was interesting, but few English explanations.
From there we carried on up the hill through the woods to Agnesberg and found a geocache disguised as a bird box:
From there, we descended back down to Wernigerode and found a bar for lunch.
After we’d finished eating, they asked us to move as they needed the table, so we enjoyed a complimentary beer in a rocking sofa instead!
Time to head for the hills today. We walked to the local station and caught a narrow guage steam train to Brocken:
The first bit was through the town, then a brief pause at a station before we started climbing through the forest.
Many of the trees are dead due to a beetle infestation, but new conifers have been planted.
After circling the summit, we finally arrived, and found beer and bockwurst for lunch:
We then had a walk along a nice path that went around the summit:
And all too soon, it was time to catch our train home:
After changing trains part way down, we were back in Wernigerode with a short walk back through the town.
