Slow ride to Luxembourg

Wednesday 28 August/Thursday 29 Aug 2024

JC drove to Luxembourg mid August and, as I often do, I planned to join him for a week and then we'd drive back.  This time, however, I decided to travel the slow way, eschewing a flight and opting for a ferry.  I was also trying to avoid using a car.  So the plan was bus to Honiton - train to Portsmouth - walk to ferry - overnight ferry to Caen - bus to Caen station - train to Paris - walk across Paris - train to Metz - train to Bettembourg - walk to JC's parents front door.  Here's how it went...

My experience of travelling by train in the UK is one third planning and two thirds luck.  The long and the short of it is that the trains were pretty topsy turvy and I got lucky by catching a delayed train (so set off on an earlier one than planned) meaning that the other delays/cancellations which happened on route didn't adversely affect my arrival time in Portsmouth.

So I had plenty of time to walk to the ferry terminal and spotted my first England Coast Path sign.  I had time to enjoy a glass of wine in a maritime/naval historic pub I found.

I was very excited to be on a ferry again.  I haven’t yet tired of stepping afloat and casting off.  Portsmouth slipped past in a blaze of lights and I kept an eye out for the Mary Rose buoy where we’d scattered Mum’s ashes last month.

I had a reserved seat in a room of about 40 others.  It wasn’t that full so we all stretched out on at least two seats each.  The chairs, astonishingly, didn’t recline!  It’s like flying short haul on a boat designed for overnight trips.  I couldn’t get comfy so, like many others, slept on the floor.  However, because I was a foot passenger, I didn’t have a sleeping bag or blanket which most others did.  It was a chilly night.

We were resoundly woken at 0615 (0515 UK time) by a loud tannoy - which even I heard without my hearing aids - and Brittany Ferries flicking on the bright lights.  Day was just breaking as we walked off the ferry in Caen.

I somehow missed the signs for the shuttle bus and walked towards the terminal entrance eventually encountering a locked gate.  After a minute or two a security guard appeared and although my French is poor, I clearly got the impression I shouldn’t be there.  He found someone to escort me into the terminal building and I was in.  Hello France indeed.

At 0700 there are few options for coffee in Caen but, as expected, the ferry terminal was up and running so had my first coffee of the day there.  I loitered to the bus stop and for €1.80 caught a bus to Caen SNCF station.  As I had a flexible ticket I caught an earlier train than planned and am looking surprisingly unruffled considering my lack of sleep ;-)

The line criss-crossed the Seine as it neared Paris.  I arrived into Gare St Lazare then meandered over to Gare de l’Est.

Paris was hot and my back was sore from sitting too much and rucksac carrying so, even though I was tempted to pop down to see the Louvre, it wasn’t worth the extra few km it would have cost me.

Lunch was salad at the station then onto train number 4 of the trip, Paris to Metz.  Not such a fancy train compared to the SNCF one, but shortly after leaving we were moved into first class as the air con had failed in our carriage.  Arrived into Metz easily and caught my final train to Bettembourg.  A short stroll to JC's parent's house and ta dah - done!

The timings were (all times local)

Wed 28 Aug

1430: left home

1440-1500: bus to Honiton

1510-1820: train to Portsmouth changing at Salisbury

1820-1850: walk to Ferry terminal

1850-2100: stooge around (pub, coffee shop etc)

2100-0645: ferry to Caen

Thu 29 Aug

0645-0810: stooge around (morning coffee and crossword)

0810-0850: bus to Caen station

0905-1100: train to Paris Gare St Lazare

1100-1200: walk to Gare de l'Est

1200-1340: hang around Gare de l'Est (lunch and book)

1340-1505: train to Metz

1530-1610: train to Bettembourg

1610-1630: walk to house

25 hours door to door :-)

Seaton Wetlands

Bearing in mind I live so close to this, it's amazing I've never been to visit the wonderful Seaton Wetlands.  JC is away and I needed a Bank Holiday distraction - this was perfect.  It even had a kiddies trail where you use the map to find where the hidden letters were.  No-one minded I didn't have a kid with me ;-)

I started with Black Hole Marsh, the Island Hide, then walked to the Discovery Hut.  This was not only next to the Seaton Tramway, but at a dual length of railway where the trams crossed.  I hadn't realised that the trams' colour signifies which timetable it is - but then I've not yet ridden on it.  This little tramline tractor was funny - it was following along behind the pink tram.  Keeping the rails clean perhaps?

After this I walked across Colyford Common to the Hide there, and around a reed path.  I don't think I walked every path at the wetlands, but I gave it a good shot.  Lots of flora and fauna to enjoy.  There was a  50/50 mix of either families with kamakeze kids on push bikes or photographers with serious zoom lenses. I fell into neither bracket but just enjoyed pottering around (and finding the letters of course).  

There was also a cafe - hurrah - so I sat in the sun with my coffee and a book.  I then found a leaflet which showed more areas of wetland to walk explore, and a path down into Seaton town centre.   So off I trotted, first to Borrow Pit then to Seaton Marshes Hide.

Then I walked down into Seaton and found myself a quirky cafe with gluten free panini on the menu and a super sunny garden.  A quick jaunt to check the sea was still there (very windy!) and back to the car.  

All in a lovely 12.6 km ramble.

Barbie Barbie!

Saturday 17 August 2024

Caitlin had asked for tickets to the Design Museum's Barbie exhibition for her July birthday.  And what sort of mother was I to turn her down?  Wonderfully, it worked out that Riona could also join us: she came down early to London as she and Caitlin are attending a Swifty concert on Monday.

So off to see Barbies we did, via the Natural History Museum.

Confession time, I had a Sindy as a kid, not Barbie.  I suspect I had a Sindy as it was British made, not American produced - in the same way Dad adhered to buying British Leyland cars as long as he could.  We didn't have much spare money so my Mum made me all my Sindy clothes which was kind of cute as we ended up with matching dressing gowns.  

I was always of the impression that Barbie was a blonde haired impossibly-figured doll.  It turns out she evolved with the times and has had work wear and even an astronaut suit for the past few decades.  I should pay more attention.

Oooh, Barbie box!

I then had a quick 10 minutes in other parts of the Design Museum. I am always drawn to map things (sigh) and typography.  And I found both.  Don't you just love a well designed road sign?

Amazingly, not only was Riona in town, but Mark was on his way back from France via London to Cardiff.  So we caught up with him too - I haven't seen him for ages!  Had a super meal in the cute Mali Vegan Thai before going our separate ways.  Lovely day, thanks everyone x

Portugal - More high scary things

Saturday 29 June 2024

We left Batalha and visited Tomar today.  Our main aim being the Convento de Cristo, another UNESCO site.  It was massive!

We started with some decorated rooms and cloisters.  This convent had more tiling than the previous two monasteries we’d visited.

Another cloister and view onto the ruined castle.

The central chapel was quite an eye popper.  It has a huge free standing octagonal structure in the centre of the room surrounded by colourful Biblical friezes.  I liked the fact that the painting on one side (left side of archway, below) reflected the 3D version on the right side of the archway.

It went on and we kept coming across cloisters.  I suppose with so many nuns you need space to walk and get fresh air.

On the east end of the church is an amazing stone mural.  This facade was executed between 1510 and 1513 by Diogo de Arruga. It is one of the most singular examples of the late Gothic 'Manueline' style.  Subsequent owners built a second floor onto the cloister in front of it was latterly removed as it hid the bottom third of the mural!  Lovely stone work everywhere.

Once we’d had two hours of visit, we headed down into the centre of Tomar for a drink.

The river was interesting with its water wheel, weirs and lovely bridge. 

The town was pleasant to stroll around.

We then hauled ourselves back up the hill (still not yet back to normal strength) and quickly trotted around the castle behind the convent.  Lovely views despite the grey clouds.

The convent was fed by the 6 km Aqueduct Pegões.  We'd spotted a sign to part of it, so we decided to explore.

 

Wow. Didn’t expect to find this!  And didn’t expect to be able to climb up and walk along it!  It has 58 arches and is 30 m above the road at its highest point.

Again, no safety rails and a 20 cm wall which was fine(ish); but being so high up bothered me after a while and once we were 30 m high I needed to return.

We returned the hire car to the airport and checked into our hotel which was a few stops down on the metro.  After supper it was nice to swing by the river to say farewell.

We shall be back.  Lisbon/Portugal is certainly worth a re-visit.  And I'll hopefully stay a bit fitter this time.