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Thursday 22nd April 2004

Hinckley to Land’s End Youth Hostel

It was time to leave.  I had packed all my bags last night, so it was just a matter of loading the last few items and putting the bags on the bike.  Christine then took the compulsory “see you off” photo and it was away to Hinckley station to catch the 8.25 to Birmingham .  The weather forecast for the weekend was looking fabulous – I hope it lives up to expectations.  I wasn’t expecting anyone to come and see me off at the station – but there was Heather (a friend from church) on the other platform waiting to catch the train in the other direction to Leicester .  I don’t know what the other passengers thought as we conducted our conversation across the railway lines this morning!

Catching trains when you have a bike always gets me slightly on edge.  There is a feeling of loss of control when everything else seems to be fairly well planned and under control.  Not only is there the uncertainty of whether the train will arrive in time – because there are connections to catch and limited time for these – but there is the unknown of where the bike will be stored.  Will I have to charge along the platform in order to get to the right door, assuming I have spotted the rather small cycle sign which can be difficult to see as the train speeds into the station?  This fact didn’t bother me for first leg of the trip.  The train was a standard two carriage affair which I have used before and I knew that the door would be one of two in the centre of the train.  It (the door) stopped right in front of me!  Bike loaded we left virtually on time – a good start.

There was a good half hour to wait for my connection at Birmingham – the 9.45 for Exeter.  It was not even displayed yet on the information screens and none of the timetables show platform numbers so time to pause.  Trains leaving just a few minutes before mine where displayed so it wouldn’t be long until I knew where I had to go.  I made my way to the lift which takes you down into the depths of Birmingham and I stopped by the display screen in the underground tunnel waiting for my train to come up.  The train display also shows likely arrival time – but again bitter experience tells me that you can take this with a pinch of salt.  I have known trains which have been displayed as being “On Time” eventually arrive more than half an hour late.  As the minutes tick by, the display board shows firstly five minutes late, then ten minutes and so on, keeping pace, if you are lucky, with the actual time.  I have often wondered how a train can be on time just before it arrives but then seems to get lost just outside the platform! 

The train was a Virgin service.  It would therefore have about 6 coaches.  I had used this type before so I knew the cycle carriage in Coach F would be either right at the front or right at the back – not a lot of help, other than you can very quickly spot which is the first class or second class compartment when the train arrives.  Coach F is at the back of the second class or at the front depending on whether first or second is at the front (respectively if you see what I mean – it makes sense to me).   I asked the Virgin staff (no jokes) on the platform and for once they seemed confident that it would be at the front – they were right.  And what is this – the train arriving virtually dead on time – it really must be my lucky day.

I loaded the bike loaded and the train departed.  I had been given a seat reservation but I much prefer to sit in the “quiet coach” (Coach F) adjacent to the bike compartment.  At least there are no mobile phones to disturb you in this compartment.  Perhaps I should try asking for a seat reservation in Coach F next time I have to book tickets – do they allow this request, I wonder, or do you just have to take what is offered?  Then there is the other benefit that you can keep a watchful eye on the bike – you are not allowed to lock it to the train so in theory anyone can offload your bike at any of the intermediate stations along the way.  But I guess BR has had problems with people being unable to unlock their bike or forgetting their lock combination number and delaying trains or something.

It wasn’t long before the ticket collector arrived – so far I had used one of my eleven tickets.  Well perhaps two – because the cycle ticket for Birmingham to Exeter had been attached to the bike.  He stamped my ticket – the one for the overall journey for Hinckley to Penzance and proceeded to explain slowly and clearly how the train that I was on would arrive at the same platform as the one I needed to take from Exeter to Penzance so there would be no need to change platform.  How old does he think I am?  Do I look that old?  All very nice of him but it was the way in which he explained it made me think that he was talking to an OAP who would be hobbling along with his walking stick, having difficulty following the signs and hearing the announcements.  I apologise for having such thoughts.  He was doing his job far better than some I have met – not many would know the time of the connecting train and the platform it would leave from.

Officially there was 25 minutes connection time at Exeter St. Davids.  The Virgin train was running about 15 minutes late towards the latter part of its journey so I was glad of this extra information that the change would be fairly painless.  And the situation improved further when I reached Exeter as the First Great Western train which would take me on the last leg of the journey was also running about 10 minutes late.  The platform staff were able to tell me that the bike compartment would be at the front of the train – again they got it right – so why was I worrying about this train journey?  Why was I raising my blood pressure?  I was about to find out!  It was the first time that I have used First Great Western.  The train came in – late as I have said so they were anxious to get it under way as soon as possible.  The bike was loaded on into standard bike stands – the sort you see outside the supermarket – and consequently I didn’t get the impression that it would still be held after the jolting of the train along the track.  I proceeded to take off the saddlebag (taking my time) and was about to offload the panniers when an anxious guard informed me that I was holding up the train.  I hadn’t realised that there was no way to exit from the cycle compartment into the passenger coaches without leaving the train via the platform and then entering through a normal door.  The next few minutes (perhaps only seconds) were a little hectic.  What a blessing that the train terminated at Penzance and I more or less had all the time in the world to offload the bike and bags.  And incidentally, the bike was still held secure when we reached there.

It was now getting on for 4pm and I only had about 10 miles to go to the Youth Hostel at Land’s End .  Plenty of time - even time for me to make a small diversion to a National Trust property at Trengwainton just outside Penzance .  I went but I didn’t stop.  I was already finding that they make the hills down here different to how they make them in the midlands.  I had booked an evening meal at the hostel and wanted to arrive in plenty of time.  My total mileage for the day had been 14 miles – allowing for the fact that I forgotten to reset my mileometer until I had reached Hinckley station.  The average speed for the day was 7.4 mph – but please allow me something for the fact that I had spent time pushing the bike at various stages of the train journey – along platforms and through tunnels.  Perhaps I will achieve a better average tomorrow?   

I was greeted at the hostel by a fairly large lady warden.  Her accent had puzzled me on the phone and I was still puzzled when I met her.  There was a bit of Public school in there somewhere but that was not all.  It turned out later that she was brought up in Australia and had attended a Roman Catholic school for girls.  Perhaps this explains my difficulty in recognising the accent.  As she greeted me by name I soon cottoned on to the fact that there weren’t going to be many people staying tonight – just me and one other couple – a middle aged husband and wife who would not be arriving until later.  No problem in being disturbed at night in my 6 berth bunk bedroom which I had all to myself and, probably more relevant, no problem in disturbing others as I took my normal stroll to the toilet in the middle of the night.

There was time to go for a walk before dinner – down to the sea which was less than ½ mile away.  There were no clouds in the sky, it was warm, birds were singing, the waves were breaking over the rocks, everything was perfect.  In the distance I could see Land’s End and just beyond it the Longships Lighthouse.  There were Chiffchaffs chiff chaffing, chaffinches doing what they do, blackbirds and wrens singing loudly, gulls of some description squawking and there were swallows – the first I have seen of the season.  Summer must have arrived.  I wondered if there would be a sunset later, to make a perfect ending to the day.

I got back to the hostel at 7pm , just in time for dinner, having slightly lost my way on the way back from the sea by trying to be clever and taking an alternative route based on what I remembered from the map.  The memory must be failing in old age!  Evening meal was Minestrone soup followed by Pasta Bolognaise, which tasted very similar to the soup, followed by chocolate pudding and ice cream all for £5.20.  I was the only one eating – the other two people who arrived by car were doing their own thing.

Unfortunately a bank of cloud appeared on the horizon – so there was no sunset tonight.  I will have to be content with watching the rabbits playing on the lawn outside – five of them.  I haven’t cycled far but the fresh air is affecting me – it will be an early night to bed.

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