Trains Home

Overall impressions

wrdc60 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:07:00 GMT

UK was 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the countries I visited but had worse weather damage, potholes, on the roads than these other countries.

Cycling in the winter can be comfortable, interesting and rewarding but its a bit slower and lonely compared to the summer.

St Pancras is the best station I passed through, its beautiful, has excellent facilities, nice places to sit and is easy to use. Bromley South station had the most helpful rail information, (companies please note an informed person is at least 10 times as effective as a website). Deutche Bundesbahn has great conductors, if you like cycle touring go to Denmark.

Sweden has the most comfortable sleepers of those I used. Eurostar has the best luggage provision.

To London

wrdc60 — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:11:00 GMT

7.29 ICE train to Brussles, no convenient space for bike, racks in centre of carriage. 11.29 Eurostar to London plenty convenient space for bike close to doors. 15 mins late into a warm London. 2hrs 15mins cycling to Biggin Hill. At one point a fox strolled across the road in front of me.

Yacht maintenance

wrdc60 — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:58:00 GMT

Spent two cold but rewarding days learning what it is like to own a yacht. Drove 630km back across Germany to Heiligenhafen on the Baltic coast. The town reminds me of Whitby - fishing and commercial shipping in a holiday resort- without vampire legends, a ruined abbey or hills. We slept in a VW camper van and spent the day doing fairly routine maintenance in a cold shed. The town is nice but bleak with the cold mist weather.

Photos: Stockholm, Denmark, Rostock, Taunus

wrdc60 — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 20:03:00 GMT

Taunus

wrdc60 — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 19:54:00 GMT

Took ferry, Prinz Joachim, to Rostock, 10.55am. Arrived 12.45, terminal a nightmare for cyclists or pedestrians. Found cycle path by accident, cycled 20km using garmin navigation to Rostock main station. Caught the, delayed, 3.10pm train to Hamburg and Frankfurt, changed trainf at Gottingen, to a following but faster ICE train. Arrived 21.15, s-bahn to Uberursel arrived 21.30.

Sunday hiked the Feldberg 880m, bus to top walked back. Beautiful hike, sunny, clear but cold in powder snow.

Cycling across Denmark

wrdc60 — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 19:28:00 GMT

Spent 3 days cycling from Copenhagen to Gedser, covering 72, 98 and 36 Km. Most of the country was covered in snow, it was cold but I had a slight following breeze and the sun shone. I was the only touring cyclist. After following picturesque routes, day one, I then took the shortest routes. Both hotels I stayed in were more than comfortable. Breakfasts were excellent at both, the first had one of the nicest locations the second freshly baked bread If you like cycling Denmark is the place to go. Most of the cycle paths were free of snow and ice they had been cleared like the roads. On the third day for the middle third of the route there was fresh snow mostly just a covering but in a couple of places drifting so the progress was slower for about 10km.

Stockholm to Denmark

wrdc60 — Fri, 5 Mar 2010 02:33:00 GMT

Cycled 8km in the dark, on icy roads with snow falling to Stockholm Central station. Garmin GPS brilliant, kept rerouting me as I made wrong turnings. Got the 11.06 sleeper to Malmo. Caught the 6.42 train to Copenhagen. The bridge/tunnel is not particularly notable. Had breakfast on the station and managed to change my Chinese currency into Danish Kroner. Then cycled 80 km (should have been 65km) to Koge. In Koge library now typing this. The weather was bitingly cold but the sun shone so it was a nice ride here. The weather seems to be on the change so maybe I will have to change plans tomorrow. Copenhagen is easier to cycle in than Beijing, they have cycle paths everywhere just like Beijing but the Danes have controlled crossings so you feel safer. The paths in the country are nearly as good, I used a few back roads but mostly got here on cycle paths.

The Garmin "hoy'd a wobbler" (a traditional Geordie expression) at 60km and insisted I should cycle around what it said was a golf course and deleted the track it was navigating. I followed the signs instead, the long distance paths are mostly very well signposted.

Helsinki to Stockholm

wrdc60 — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:28:00 GMT

Took a sleeper from Moscaw to Helsinki. The ticket, prebooked, was delivered to my carriage on the Trans Mongolian. The train was similar but more modern than the previous one. Arrived in Helsinki to light rain and snow. There were puddles everywhere but no wind so I tried to cycle to Espoo managed 7km before I decided the deep slush was too much and returned to Helsinki main station. Got the 2.03 train tio Turku and arrived there at 4.00pm. I had to find an internet cafe, I'd forgotten to copy down the access code for the hotel. Eventually reached the (unmanned) hotel at 6.30 in light snow with the temperature well below freezing all the roads were either covered in hard packed snow or sheet ice. The room was two, with a spiral stair to a bedroom from a lobby with a bathroom and living area, very nice and cheaper than any of the other places around.

Left at 7.00am and cycled 4km to the ferry terminal, easy cycling over hard packed snow mostly on bike paths. Took the earlier ferry, the Silja Galaxy, from where I am writing this to the thumping of pack ice as the ship ploughs through it towards Stockholm. The weather is windy, cold and snowy, not nice. The ice keeps the sea calm, except in the brief stretches of open water, but it does look very cold and singularly uninviting.

See this for details of ice problems

http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/03/ice_still_hampering_baltic_ferry_traffic_1509929.html

Photos: Helsinki and Turku

wrdc60 — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:31:00 GMT

Photos: Trans Mongolian Train

wrdc60 — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:29:00 GMT

Moscow

wrdc60 — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 02:09:00 GMT

Had 8hrs in Moscow. An hour was spent finding a bank, getting Roubles and then putting the bike in left luggage. Braved the metro to try to get to Red Square. Failed because my Garmin GPS had the centre of Moscow east of Red Square and the Kremlin. The Europe map in the unit didn't have enough detail, neither red square or the Kremlin appeared. Moscow has traffic problems, I daren't use the bike. The Metro is all in Russian and was a little confusing, we had 4 stops on the way in and only 3 on the way out, with the same start and finish, still haven't figured out how that happened. You need to be able to read russian to figure out which direction to travel. Had a good walk and caught sight of what must have been the Kremlin just couldn't cross the street to get there because of the traffic, it was getting dark so I returned to the Leningradsky to wait for my train. Left on the Helsinki sleeper at 10.50pm.

Trans Mongolian Train

wrdc60 — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 01:57:00 GMT

6 days on the train through China (1 day), blanketed by smog, mostly agricultural once through the mountains North of Beijing. Looked dry and the dominant colour was a dirty light brown. In Norther china light covering of snow. Mongolia , (1 day) mostly treeless plains until North of Ulan Bator where the mountains had forests. These looked like a bigger version of Strath Spey. Cold in Ulan Bator. Siberia possibly 10 to 20 degrees colder the water tanks and the toilet kept freezing at night. Up to 3 ft of snow, all the rivers frozen over with snow lying on top. The Russian restraunt car (for last 4 days)wouldnt take Yuan. I hadn't found a bank in Seoul or in Beijing that would sell roubles. Fortunately had laid in some supplies but I'm not keen on Snickers bars for breakfast. Crossed what I think must be the Urals, a bit bigger than the South Downs but not mountains, and the temperature was then around or above freezing, woken up by being too hot for the first time since Beijing.

Arrived in Moscow exactly on time and was met with a delivery of my Ticket to Helsinki.

The first 4 days were interesting if sometimes cold, lots to see, Baikal was impressive frozen. The last two days dragged a bit, its all flat and mostly the same sort of landscape. The trains we passed all seemed to be carrying coal, only one train with a few cars. The last time, 2 years ago, many trains carried cars.

To the Great Wall

wrdc60 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:46:00 GMT

Took the subway from Chongwenmen, walked there,huge queues at Beijing Railway Station, to Xizhimen. Then walked about 100m to Beijing North Railway Station, a huge new polished granite and glass station, with no automatic ticket machines. Waited 75 mins for the first available train to Badaling, 11.08.

(You should be at a Chinese railway station 20 mins before the train leaves, the trains are boarded like aircraft, you sit in a waiting area until your train is called. The train is filled and the station door closed 5 mins or more before the train leaves.)

Arrived there about an hour later. The journey on its own was good. The mountains suddenly appear out of the gloom and then bits of the wall appear. The wall is remarkable and I got a nice sunny day. There were a lot of tourists I was surprised by how many but it is a nice outing, I guess some local people have been many times. Got the train back at 15.22 and arrived back at my hotel at 17.15. A really nice day.

Photos: Beijing

wrdc60 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:23:00 GMT

To Beijing

wrdc60 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:41:00 GMT

Cycled from the Hotel in Tianjin to Tanggu station, 14 km with many detours because of cycling prohibited roads, and thundering juggernauts. Weather a bit on the warm side, 10-12 degrees. It was a bit like, I imagine, a cross between Los Angeles and Seoul. Sprawling, with the occasional startling building and smog. I couldn't follow the planned track but navigated along parallel roads and reached the station, where a crowd watched me fold and pack up.

High Speed Train to Beijing. Ticket from an automatic machine in English, X-ray check into station waiting area, then 40 mins wait until called for train. We were on the train 15 mins before it left, it was full. No space for the bike, there is no large luggage space, it ended up in front of my legs, and the half the space of the poor lad next to me. I was very apologetic. The train took 45mins and reached 302km/hr. Beijing South didn't seem as big as it looks on google earth. I unpacked the bike downstairs again to the great curiosity of people around. A large number of 20year old lads crowded around me as I left the top of the escalator and fitted and switched on the GPS got a great deal of encouragement, ironic?, as I left. Cycled 12 km to the hotel mostly along the track plotted on Google Earth, I went along the West of the Temple of Heaven rather than the East. Cycled around one of the older Hutongs on the way. Checked into Hotel also in a Hutong district, am typing this on a hired computer in my room, I can't believe it is one pound per day. Cycling in Beijing is relatively easy, bike lanes and cyclists everywhere, big junctions can be a bit of an ordeal but I wait until a group of cyclists are moving and follow. The weather was far too hot the train was recording 15 degrees and it was at least that in Beijing that's 15 degrees hotter than I expected, needed a T-shirt and trainers.

Walked almost to Tianmin square this afternoon, its Sunday so maybe that accounts for it being markedly quieter than I expected or maybe its the holiday not quite over. Surprised by the subway, its small, looks like its for Newcastle or Glasgow not Beijing, perhaps they looked at London Underground or the car makers had a hand in designing it. I guess each train holds about half what a Seoul subway set does.

To Tianjin

wrdc60 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:22:00 GMT

Most crowded subway train in 3 years to Incheon, 2km cycling amongst juggernauts at docks, recycled city buses for transport to and from ship, ship good, 2hrs to disembark through immigration, no taxis at terminal, 1/2 km walk across a deserted car park at 9.30pm, then have to navigate taxi to my hotel (Holiday Inn Express), I had loaded a GPS track on my Garmin. Hotel friendly and very good.

Photos: Ferry to China

wrdc60 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:08:00 GMT

Packing etc.

wrdc60 — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:58:00 GMT

Keeping the weight down to can carry a bike in my luggage needs attention. Planning the trip, I loaded the bike, travelled about 20km, everything mostly worked. Now I have to make sure I can load and unload the bike. The pictures are of preparations.

First leg is to Bejing for 3 days, then trains onwards to Europe.

Photos: Starting out

wrdc60 — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:52:00 GMT