Early to Rise ….

Several readers of my blog threw up their hands in horror in reading of our horrid journey-from-London-to-Yorkshire-that-wasn’t yesterday. The frightfulness we and hundreds and hundreds of others encountered made the national news. So I thought I’d bring the story up to date.

Today was easy. The train company, LNER had announced that anybody affected yesterday could, for the next two days, catch any train that would reach their intended destination. We imagined that every one of these trains would be full to bursting, standing room only. Unless … we travelled early.

So….

5.00 a.m. Catch the first train of the day from Hither Green.

5.30 a.m. Arrive London Bridge tube station as entrance gates clatter open, and take escalator to Northern Line.

Wait on platform till 5.45 for train to Kings Cross., with just a few scuttling mice for company.

6.00 a.m. Catch train bound for Edinburgh, which takes us to the station nearest our home.

Near York, begin to understand what yesterday’s difficulties were about.

8.55 leave train to be met by a friend who arrives with his car to spirit us home - the long way round because of flooding. Nearing home, we see a rainbow ….

9.29: Arrive home.

Perhaps this proves the truth of that old saying about the early bird who catches the worm. I only wish I’d taken Before and After shots of the concourse at Kings Cross Station yesterday (maelstrom) and today (perfect peace). Two nervous little Country Mice are rather glad to have finally scuttled home.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

46 thoughts on “Early to Rise ….”

  6. Well the early bird(s) definitely caught the worm! Well done you, though what an exhausting couple of days. Hopefully you are warm and relaxed now, a nice little snooze this afternoon. The weather has been truly dreadful this week and more to come it seems. The water ingress into our conservatory pales into insignificance when you look at that damage caused to houses in Stalybridge!

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  8. Glad to hear you got home safely 🙂 We drove up to Newcastle today (thankfully we had tried yesterday) and saw lots of standing water in the fields. Heavy rain in places, sunshine in others, and no fewer than FOUR rainbows!

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      2. When we only come for a few days we take the train, but when we’re here a whole week, or more, we find we need/want more stuff than we can carry! We both bring laptops, we clear out the fridge and bring food and drinks, we need more clothes.

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  9. Oh my! What an adventure, Margaret. Travel during the holidays is especially fraught with the unexpected. This past summer, we spent a few weeks in the Lake District. Two days before we were to return to London to catch our flight back to Canada, we heard that there was to be a train strike. We left the next day, one day early, but the chaos that ensued was unforgettable. We were told to change at Crewe and then the powers that be changed their minds so everyone came back on the train. The platforms were full of hopeful travelers. When we reached London, there was an emergency in progress, so everyone had to leave the train station. Through it all, I was amazed and gratified by the kindness and respect that everyone displayed. There was no outbursts of disappointment, simply a calm acceptance to the situation. In the end, we took a taxi to our hotel. It was about midnight when this lovely taxi driver drove us through London with comments about the places we drove passed. We arrived in time for our flight home. In the end, going home is the best adventure of all.

    Thank you for sharing your travel exploits. Happy New Year!

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  16. What an utter nightmare as you were telling me yesterday…travel in the holidays is something to be largely avoided, methinks Your images of deserted platform and train ‘the day after’ are amazing….but we did need the busyness of the previous day for comparison!! 😳

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