|
|
|
Welcome to the Heart of England Rover page. This was a three-day mini-tour that took place in mid January 2005 from a base in the City of Birmingham. Counties covered include Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. |
| click here to view the photo gallery |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
The map above details the extent of the Heart of England rail rover, with Birmingham New Street station forming the nucleus |
| TOUR DIARY | |
| Friday 14th January 2005 | |
| The first rail tour of 2005 kicked off at 09:14 this morning as I boarded a Southern Trains service to Southampton Central. Here I picked up the Virgin CrossCountry Wessex Scot service bound for Edinburgh, which was to take me to my destination of Birmingham New Street. Midway through the journey it became apparent that the Super Voyager train I was travelling on was operating in tilt mode - this feature has only recently been introduced and allows the train to round curves at greater speed by tilting. It was quite interesting watching the carriage move to and fro as we negotiated a series of bends north of Banbury. Welcome to 21st Century rail travel! On arrival at the concrete bunker otherwise known as Birmingham New Street station, I bought a Rail Rover ticket then headed directly for my hotel, the Briar Rose, located just off New Street's shopping precinct in the heart of the city centre. Birmingham is actually home to some very attractive buildings - it's not all concrete austerity as some may believe. New Street itself reminds me very much of Buchanan Street in Glasgow's main shopping centre - also home to some ornate architecture. I had an hour to kill before being able to check in to my room, so I headed straight to the bar and ordered a pint and a meal. My first floor room is a good size, with huge windows overlooking the street below. Without delay I left the hotel and headed to nearby Moor Street station, equipped with my newly purchased Heart of England Rail Rover ticket, and boarded a local service to Stratford-upon-Avon. This is a town that I'd not visited since childhood and had few memories of. After a fifty minute journey the train arrived at the terminus station and I set out to get a few photographs before daylight faded. The town is most famous for being the birthplace of playwright William Shakespeare, which naturally draws tourists from all over the world. Thankfully, this being January meant that there was little evidence of tourism, save for a limited number of Japanese visitors. There was plenty of time to sample a few of the town's pubs before returning to the station, so I sought out the West End on Bull Street - a comfortable brasserie-style bar with a good selection of ales. Next stop was the Golden Bee on Sheep Street - a JD Wetherspoon house in typical style, which I found to be lacking in atmosphere. Only the small front room offered any degree of intimacy. On the way back to the station I stopped off in the aptly-named Old Thatch House - a rustic timber-framed tavern and restaurant with, as the name suggests, a thatched roof. I headed out of town on the 17:27 service back to Birmingham. On arrival I decided that there was plenty of time to take another journey, so I headed east for a trip to Leicester and back, which took me via Nuneaton - a route that I'd not previously travelled over. I arrived back in Birmingham at around 9:30pm and returned to the hotel, where I set about updating these pages. On the downside, the large window in my room means that there is excessive street noise, made worse by a car alarm which is intermittently activating close by. I've a feeling that I'm not going to get much sleep tonight! |
|
Today's Rail Mileage: |
295 MILES |
| Saturday 15th January 2005 | |
| Thankfully the disturbances from the street weren't too bad last night, so I was able to get more sleep than expected. Shortly before 8am I took the short walk around the corner to New Street station to catch the 08:12 train to Derby. Until I boarded the service I was unaware that the train was to be diverted via Leicester, which meant a doubling of the journey time and the mileage. This was all due to engineering works and was a real disappointment as it meant that I was unable to travel the route via Burton-upon-Trent, which I'd not previously taken. On arrival at Derby the weather was rather overcast and threatening. The forecast of a couple of days' back spoke of fine skies and sunny spells - this was certainly no longer the case. After a brief wait at Derby Midland station I boarded a local service to Matlock, county town of Derbyshire and set within the steep wooded valley of the Derwent. After a thirty minute journey through attractive scenery the train pulled into Matlock. The tops of the hills were hidden in a thick mist. Whilst being an attractive Dales town Matlock itself has little to offer the casual tourist, save for the Peak Rail preserved steam railway that runs further up the valley from the main station. Therefore, after a brief pause for a bite to eat, I decided to follow the river to nearby Matlock Bath - a very attractive location around two miles south of the main town. The River Derwent winds its way through the village and there are cable cars crossing the valley at high level to take tourists to the scenic viewpoint of the Heights of Abraham. Sadly this feature is seasonal and therefore not operational during the Winter months. As soon as I reached Matlock Bath the rain came down heavily and I sought shelter at the deserted railway station. Thankfully within fifteen minutes the rain ceased and I was able to set off for a walk along the river to the opposite end of the village and take some photos. Before leaving Matlock Bath I stopped by at the Princess Victoria, an attractive Batemans pub overlooking the Derwent. I would have stayed longer, but my schedule for the weekend means that I need to keep travelling in order to make the most of my Rail Rover. At 12.40 I headed back south to Derby, where I took a walk into the city centre to visit the small Cathedral. Sadly, the weather was still rather poor and therefore not good for photography. The interior of the church seemed even smaller than Oxford and Birmingham cathedrals (which are apparently the country's two smallest), though it was very distinctive in its decoration and architecture. Whilst in town I sought out a venue to eat, then checked out the Alexandra Hotel, one of Derby's reknowned ale houses, which gladly lived up to its reputation. Due to the extent of the rail engineering works I was unable to travel on any line other than the one that brought me to Derby this morning. I therefore took the decision to journey to Leicester and change for Nuneaton. From Nuneaton I would normally have been able to pick up the West Coast Main Line for services towards Stafford and Crewe, but, would you beleive, there also appeared to be a blockade on the WCML, so the only available route was the return to Birmingham! I didn't see any notification of these works when I checked on the internet last week. As it was still only late afternoon I decided to take a trip along one of the local lines that I'd not travelled over before. The train I boarded for Rugeley Town was packed to the gills with shoppers returning home to Walsall, Cannock and Bloxwich. Only late into the hour-long journey did it thin out to a comfortable level. I didn't stick around in Rugeley, as there is little here to do - therefore I caught a return train to New Street and spent the remainder of the evening at the hotel. Overall, not a bad day, but disappointing in as much that there are so many closed lines across the region this weekend. |
|
Today's Rail Mileage: |
224 Miles |
Cumulative Rail Mileage: |
519 Miles |
| Sunday 16th January 2005 | |
| After a rather restless night due to the noise from the street (including a ridiculously noisy delivery to the Sainsbury's Local store at 6am) I was glad to be heading off at 9am to catch the train to Lichfield - one of my favourite locations in the Midlands. The trains that operate over this line are the first in the country to be fitted with television screens in all carriages. These show a mixture of archive news reels and current news bulletins and it was actually better than I'd expected - so long as you don't mind watching the same programme more than once! In a contrast to yesterday, the skies were mostly clear and the sun was shining as I arrived in town. I took a walk into the city centre - a mixture of both modern and historic buildings - and set about taking some photographs around the cathedral and its surrounding gardens. The lake that is set in the centre of town is a great place from which to view the cathedral and is popular as a spot to feed the dozens of ducks that can be found here. I decided not to enter the church, as being Sunday morning there was a service in progress, which would curtail any hope of having a good look around. After leaving the city centre I headed off on a walk of around a mile or so to Lichfield Trent Valley station, to see if there were any trains operating on the West Coast Main Line towards Crewe today. The answer was "no", so the only choice was to head back to New Street station. On arrival back in Birmingham there was just enough time to change platforms and jump aboard a Virgin Trains service bound for Manchester. My destination was Stafford - a journey of around thirty minutes or so. Stafford has a compact town centre and I was surprised to find a number of Elizabethan timber framed buildings dotted around. The Ancient High House was particularly impressive. I had lunch in an ornate converted cinema - still complete with its screen et al, then moved on to check out a couple of local pubs - the Lamb and the excellent Stafford Arms. For many years I'd passed by on the train and had seen The Stafford proudly advertising the Titanic Ales that it stocks, but have never had the chance to visit. At long last I got the opportunity today and I certainly wasn't disappointed! A warm welcome awaited and I was served the best pint of beer since visiting Wells in August of last year. The bar is furnished with a selection of modest tables and chairs and a small number of comfortable sofas. A number of ales are available including a good selection from the Titanic Brewery. Accommodation is also available according to the signs outside. I was very pleased that I'd decided to stop by. Next stop on the tour took me to my most notherly destination of the weekend - the Cheshire railway town of Crewe (which I always feel is a gateway to the north of England). I was hoping that I may have been able to travel to Stoke-on-Trent from here, but again, engineering works put paid to that idea. I sought out the Crown Hotel and Borough Arms whilst in town - sadly the latter had just called last Orders so I had to just make do with a visit to the Crown - a Robinsons pub and apparently one of the places to drink in Crewe if good beer is your thing. As I left Crewe the sun was beginning to set and made for a good photo opportunity from the window of the train. The journey took me back to my starting point at Birmingham, but as it was only around 5pm I still had time to head off to another town I'd not visited before. This time I was travelling south to Worcestershire - to the town of Redditch. There was no reason to go here other than to cover another railway line that I'd not travelled over before. The journey took around 45 minutes and, as it was now dark, there was little to see en route (except the Cadbury chocolate factory at Bournville!) On arrival at Redditch I sought out the town's Wetherspoon pub, the Rising Sun, where I had a bite to eat before heading back to base and concluding my travels around the Midlands. |
|
Today's Rail Mileage: |
172 Miles |
Cumulative Rail Mileage: |
691 Miles |
| Monday 17th January 2005 | |
| It was nice to have a bit of a lay in this morning, as I didn't need to leave the hotel until around 9:45. I stepped out into the drizzly weather to make my way to New Street station for the 10:03 service back south. There was time to grab a sandwich for the journey before boarding the train, which was already running a little late by the time it arrived in Birmingham. It was a busy service, though not unpleasantly so and time passed fairly quickly, despite making slow progress towards Coventry. The further south we progressed the mistier it became and there was patchy rain throughout the trip. On arrival at Reading I was left with two seats to myself, so took the opportunity to do some work on the website using my laptop. By the time we arrived in Winchester the service was running thirty minutes late, so I opted to leave the train there instead of continuing to Southampton (as I'd already missed my connection). The half-hour wait meant that there was time for a pint in the Albion before boarding the final train to take me to Cosham. Thus ended an interesting long weekend. It was a shame about the engineering work that disrupted my plans throughout the last couple of days, but all in all it was a pretty good trip. Next tour takes place later in the Spring - the North East of England revisited. |
|
Today's Rail Mileage: |
157 Miles |
Total Rail Mileage: |
848 Miles |
| sign the guestbook | |
