A short but lovely trip to London

This is a wordy, overly detailed diary like entry of a long-weekend trip for a wedding of an old school friend, made even easier by Monday being German reunification day which I (Matt) hadn’t even noticed. Due to bad planning and high costs/low seat-availability I took slower trains in various places. It's as much for my benefit to remember where I was as anyone elses.

On the way out an IC to Karlsruhe then regional trains (Karlsruhe-Appenweier, Appenweier-Strasbourg) to Strasbourg, then a TGV to Paris followed by Eurostar. Between Karlsruhe and Paris none of this was pleasant, and I bent my knee completely the wrong way trying to get into my cramped TGV seat which limited my mobility a tiny bit for the next 24hrs or so. It recovered fully after about a week. My kind friend who was putting me up on a blow-up mattress near Southwark Cathedral (very central) picked me up (what a service!) outside a rainy St Pancras.

We had time the next morning for a lovely breakfast with another friend. We’d arranged to meet at Picturehouse Central near Piccadilly Circus, which looked lovely, but due to some weird knock-on affect of a power cut, there was no breakfast/brunch. So we plodded on into Soho, and discovered L’ETO, which did a great breakfast. We were then just a short walk from Tottenham Court Road. We went through Soho Square Gardens (never been there as far as I can remember, there’s a funny small wooden-beamed house in the middle) and stopped off at Foyle’s book shop on Charing Cross road to pick up the latest Harry Potter we want to read and a couple of cards.

It was then time for us to go our separate ways, and I had a chance to try out the new Elizabeth Line to White Chapel and then go a few stops on the District/Hammersmith & City line to Mile End, where I needed to get to for the wedding reception. We had a great time. The food highlight was probably the toastie van outside late in the evening. Outside the venue (the Art Pavilion) there was a small pond with loads of swans who seemed to be feasting on the complete covering of algae or finding something just beneath. The chorus of them all slurping/nibbling (or whatever swans do when they eat and drink like that) was really odd. Late and the evening I took the simple route back with the Central and Bakerloo line to Lambeth North tube.

The next day (Sunday) there was a need for only a modest breakfast after all the eating the night before and the unknown lunch ahead in the afternoon. My host tracked down Terry’s, which he’d been wanting to visit. Good porridge (something I wish was available to buy in Germany) and we were surrounded with 1950s/Queen Elizabeth paraphernalia which was certainly entertaining. We managed to fit in a flying visit to the Imperial War Museum (will have to go back properly some time) and then a walk to Waterloo station via the well hidden London Graffiti Tunnel. We didn’t have a chance this time, but I’d love to check out Draughts London with a board games library next time I’m there with the rest of us.

A long underground walk took me to the Jubilee line to go round the south side of London (it was Marathon Sunday, so that seemed sensible) to Stratford and then 1 stop on the overground to Hackney Wick, where I was due at Barge East alongside the River Lee Navigation/Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for lunch and drinks. The sun came out and there was a lot more time to talk to the groom than the day before. Later in the afternoon it was time to move on and there was time to do some UK shopping in the Westfield centre on the way back. This was exhausting but successful all round. I then tried out for the first time the Javelin/South Eastern High Speed directly to St Pancras. 6 minute trip, quite impressive. Then with Thameslink to Blackfriars, beautiful view out along the Thames and longer than usual walk back to base camp. We went straight out again (in less fancy shoes, thank goodness) and had a wonderful evening taking in Honest Burgers near Waterloo (gluten free beer, and a gluten free, plant based burger… incredible), a long stop at Brew Dog Waterloo (it’s a bar, but somehow has a big slide, podcasting studios, a coffee shop, table tennis and a small bowling alley inside) which included a game of chess (I lost). The chess boards were being run by this group, the main guy stopped by to talk.

Somehow, although it was getting late, we were still not done. We strolled along, past IBM and Shell’s fancy offices, saw the core of a quantum computer (!?) and walked over the Thames and back right along Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and so on. I saw Lambeth Palace, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Finally it was time to sleep, and soon time to get up again at about 4:30 (UK time) to get the first Eurostar to Brussels. Again I was kindly whisked there by car. On the way home, beyond Brussels, the route is cheap and complicated - slow trains to Aachen and then Cologne, and then ICs back down to Munich. At least it's nice scenery with castles and the river and so on. It was nice to get home again.

A tale of three bikes

As some of you might know, I'm (Matt) working at the moment for a company in Dublin. Most of the time the job doesn't take me further than my bedroom office desk near Munich, but I've just made the second trip to be on-site. I wasn't willing to risk train travel there the first time round (new job, turn up late and/or exhausted? ...no thanks). I did go back by bus and train, which was interesting enough, but didn't really warrant a post. As I was commenting recently whilst owning up to this blog, there's only so many blog posts you can write about train travel from Germany to Ireland.

Or so I thought.

This one isn't so much about the trains but the bikes and their riders that I met along the way. In fact my journey planning included some very serious consideration of investing in a folding bike. Through various incidents we're down to one bike from four in the Fullerton house, so I could use one. But the main motivation was a close connection in London. Only 30m between arriving on Eurostar and needing to head for Holyhead from Euston in order to make it to Dublin in the evening and get a good nights sleep. I had to pick up the ticket from a machine as well. I also considered borrowing Ronja's scooter, till I thought about riding it on busy London footpaths. In the end though I thought what's the point in lugging such a large object for what is a 12m walk. I'm on my own this time with one little backpack. It'll be fine. And it was fine, as I said, there's little to report here about trains.

It was raining in London. But I'd brought my coat. In fact I even had waterproof trousers with me thanks to the downpour near Munich at 5am. I arrived at Euston and the platform hadn't even been announced yet. I couldn't help but notice though a couple of wet and exhausted souls at the entrance. One of them having a bit of a meltdown. They didn't have a small backback like me. They had two giant, and I mean giant cardboard boxes. With straps attached by duck tape. Despite them talking in German (hurrah,  I'm not the only crazy one!), this was clearly not the time to enquire about their health or plans.

In Chester though, they were still there, and looking pretty chirpy, and I introduced myself and my common destination. We were all heading to Dublin, beyond that they wanted to get to Donegal, and bike to Galway. That's right, in those boxes were dismantled bikes. Because you can't take bikes on fast German trains. From then on I helped with the struggle of moving one of the monstrous boxes where it needed to go, all the way via a taxi to a hostel. We found a great taxi driver who was willing to drive with his boot ajar (and stop and get out and close it again once after a speed bump!) and give us an introductory tour of Dublin. Fantastic. As were my two days in Dublin and one day up "home" in Lisburn. Too short of course, but there are children on holiday at home to be looked after so back I go on the night boat to Liverpool.

Liverpool in the early morning light

We arrived on time... they have their bus shuttle to Birkenhead truly perfected these days. Although they overdid it, we were there around 7.00 and the station doesn't open till 7.36am on a Sunday. Yes, 7.36, on the dot*. This meant however that I finally got to see the actual Hamilton Square and not just the train station. I seem to remember first becoming aware that there was a lovely square when we had contemplated having to spend a night there due to bad weather in Germany in a previous episode.

Birkenhead Town Hall in Hamilton Square

Read more here!

Now, ever since the port, I'd been noticing another biker. This one had a folding bike with a great many (too many? What was in them all?) side bags. And (the best bit) a kind of luggage carrier thing which he was carefully attaching and detaching to his bike with elastic cord. Genius. Respect.

When he was standing at the top of the staircase deep in the bowels of Birkenhead Hamilton Square, I offered to carry his bike. Then I and another traveller remembered there was another short lift, for the last bit of the drop to the platform. Well you can see where this is going perhaps. I had just become this guy's luggage carrier. But you see I've made so many trips laden down by luggage and children I couldn't really look away. We communicated in a mixture of French and English and German (he was heading for Geneva - another "hurrah, I'm the sensible one here" moment).

Now if blogs could make music, this is where we should cue the "bum bum baaa" sound of impending disaster or near disaster. I was very relaxed about this whole trip as there was plenty of time to get to London. But my eye caught a glimpse of the yellow LED signs way down the platform. "Cancelled". Next train - "Cancelled". But this is a metro system, there are frequent trains, and the third one wasn't cancelled, and left enough time for me to still make a train shortly after my planned one and the one on Geneva-biker's itinerary print-out. Then it started oscillating between various states of On time, Delayed, Cancelled. There was an announcement about over-running engineering works. I was starting to go from relaxed to nervous. I don't need this. Time to split and get a taxi. But we've got to get all these side bags, a bike and a trolley upstairs. Why do I even bother travelling light!?

Above, in the clear and present daylight, a little chaos, but not too much. By now Merseyrail have decided they just aren't running any trains on the underground loop and the staff upstairs are slowly grasping the situation and ordering taxis (paid for by Merseyrail, bravo). And yet, where was this taxi? Where!? It's around 8.20 when one arrives. The train is at 8.38 and a local says it takes about 10 minutes down through the tunnel. We can do this.

Now, it was actually planned by the station staff that Geneva -Biker would get a special taxi for his equipment, and three of us others would get another taxi. But he decided (wisely, in hindsight) to try and join us. They got the bike in but not the trolley. They were umming and aahing at the boot. But the clock was ticking and I had to act. I shouted back that I'd take it on my lap and he should get in. We were off. No, cut off by a bus. OK, now, we're off. Stuck behind a little car in the tunnel even though there's a second lane, driven by the most relaxed taxi driver you'll ever meet. You're a taxi driver! Come on!

And there, in the beautiful sunlight it is. Liverpool Lime Street. Its 8.30. We're OK. No. We're not. Because the taxi rank is still a long loop and many traffic lights away. This is going to be tight. We pull in, the train to Euston is on the other side of a fence. We're going to make it. I hope. Get our stuff. No, no, no. Now is not the time to ensure your articulated contraption of bike and trolley is in perfect working order. No. OK, then I had an idea. I'll steal, I mean help him with his bags then he doesn't have to attach them anywhere and at least I'll get to the train.

I go. Fast. I'm at the door. Biker is fiddling again. He makes it to the bottom of the platform. Then the whistle goes. Losing all inhibition, I yell "schnell!!!" down the platform. Well that did the trick. The conductor wanted to check it was a folding bike, I told him quickly it was. I dragged his stuff in, he counted his bags. We'd done it.

So that's it. Three bikes later and I'm back in a German train with still a fair few hours to go. I'll be quite happy not to meet any more bike transporters on this trip. You can't imagine how glad I am now I didn't bring one.

*A knowledgeable local informed us that its the law/safety policy not to open stations before 15m before the first train. Who knew? I suppose we can be grateful for them extracting every single one of those 15 minutes and not rounding up to say, 7.39

Playing in the park, Zürisee and a not so happy ending

Early in the morning we started our journey to Switzerland.

The plan was to stay one night in an apartment in Zürich (Oerlikon), so that we would have some time to visit Caro. We had agreed to meet at their place for dinner and had all afternoon to explore Zürich. Most of the time we spent in a park called Bäckeranlage – they had a huge climbing frame and a wagon full of children toys and books for everyone to use.

After Falafel, lots of playing and ice cream we made our way down to the Zürisee. From there we wanted to take a boat back to the train station, but we weren’t the only ones and didn’t manage to get a spot. The march along the river was probably just as good but we were a little weary and eager to dump our stuff at the apartment and head off for some catching up with friends and good pizza. A little too eager perhaps, as we decided to jump on the bus number 75 to shorten the journey. Unfortunately this bus journey was to have a sudden and unplanned end. The driver made an emergency brake thanks to a car in front jumping in front of him (his story, we saw nothing and have no idea). The short version is that Birgit, standing with the buggy with nothing to hold on to, fell badly and ended up with a concussion, stitches on her chin, a minor case of amnesia and a badly bruised/swollen hand. Thanks to Caro the children still got pizza. Thankfully there was no long term damage and 24 hours in hospital later, we were able to continue roughly as planned. Catching up with friends and heading off to the Reka holiday village in Hasliberg. Hasliberg is a short distance up the mountain from the Brunig pass, on the way from Lucern to Interlaken. Our Great Railway journeys of Europe book has it down as a highlight. However, we gladly swapped our beloved trains for a kind chauffeur drive from Caro's husband Torsten. Handling so much baggage after a concussion with only one hand didn't seem so smart.

One of the views from our balcony...

The Reka village is set high up and has everything a family could want for a relaxing week. But more on that in the next post.

Complaint to DFDS

I held back a bit on my comments about getting from IJmuiden port to Amsterdam. In this email I don't hold back, perhaps it's too much, but it really did make for a bad ending to what was otherwise a great way to get from the North of England to Europe.

17 May 2015 at 07:46
To: travel.sales@dfds.com

Dear DFDS,
I recently travelled on your service from Newcastle to Amsterdam with bus transfer at each end. Overall, I was really impressed. A little shocked at the food prices on board perhaps, but still impressed. For whatever reason we didn't have to pay a bus fare to get to the port, and I had been under the false impression that the bus transfers are free. So when we got to IJmuiden, I was surprised to be told, first by the bus driver, that we had to pay. The bus driver wanted €10 per person. I didn't have euros to hand and went back into the terminal to pay. I made the mistake of discussing why I had to pay given the bus in Newcastle had been free. Your staff member was extremely unhelpful, unfriendly and arrogant, but I guess I wasn't terribly friendly myself either given the situation. Anyway, my specific complaints:

- The price was much less than €10 - so your bus driver(s) are cashing in on people's unpreparedness
- There was a whole discussion about whether to charge for our two small children. The agreement was that if they sat on our laps they would be free. I realize that children take up space, but this seems a) out of sync with every modern travel service's approach to carrying children (reduced fare) and b) disingenuous to expect small children to happily sit on top of parents on what was a relatively long and cramped journey through heavy traffic into Amsterdam (considering the comfort of other passengers also)
- I was told I could have booked the far online when I booked. I didn't remember seeing any option to do this, and I've just gone through the process again to check. It isn't there, at least not on any of the 'extras' screens prior to being asked for passport details.
- When mentioning that I though the fare should be included because you advertise Newcastle-Amsterdam (where neither port is located) and because the fare was not cheap, I was told that €198 is not a lot of money. Well I'm sorry, but €198 for a family of four may well be reasonable value, but that doesn't mean it isn't a lot of money.

All of this left a very bad taste in my mouth even though the service you offer and the service you offer for foot passengers in particular is incredibly good. We were trying it out for the first time as an alternative to Eurostar. I would suggest you improve your booking website, and make at least one announcement or put up a sign on board concerning bus fares and the ability to add them to your booking.

Best Regards,
Matthew Fullerton

Update 31/5/15 - I've now had a response from DFDS (highlighting added by me):
Dear Mr. Fullerton,

Thank you very much for your email which we received from the British Market.  We are very sorry to hear that using the transfer shuttle involved so many difficulties and would like to apologize for any inconveniences caused. 

We do provide information on the shuttle service on the following website:

http://www.dfdsseaways.de/kundenservice/anreise_amsterdam_newcastle

If you pre-book the shuttle the price is 6,50€ per person and if you pay at the port it is indeed 10€. Children travel free of charge if they sit on their parents lap.

After a customer has finalized a booking we send out an email with information on how to add further services such as pre-booked meals or the shuttle.

We are sorry that this information was not accessible to you or hard to find. Furthermore, we would like to thank you for describing your experiences in detail and will forward your comments to the respective management.

Once again we would like to apologize and hope that in spite of the discomfort caused we will be able to welcome you again onboard of one of our ferries in the near future.

I think the main lesson from all of this is use seat61.com as a good guide for making a general plan and trying to go to the transport providers' sites for more details. In fact, the Man in Seat 61 basically recommends such a strategy himself. But there is still a contradiction between the UK website and the information in the email above: you can't book the transfer whilst booking, only afterwards as a modification (at least not on the German site). The wording above is brilliant too: "After a customer has finalized a booking we send out an email with information on how to add further services such as pre-booked meals or the shuttle" - that's technically true, there is a link "change booking", as well as copious encouragement to pre-order food. And carrying children under 4 for free on one end and not on the other also seems odd. Yet again I'm left with the feeling that simple foot passengers are second-class citizens...

Days 13-14: Mannheim and Munich

We didn't see much of Amsterdam apart from a conveniently located Starbucks on the ICE platform in the station.

The ceiling of the Starbucks is worth a look

We zipped our way down to Mannheim to visit Birgit's Aunt and Uncle. We spent an hour or so at a bus stop, probably only a couple of miles from our destination, because of a suspended tram route and bad information. So near, and yet so far. Once we finally got there, we discovered a playground, slept well, reorganised ourselves a bit and set off on our final short leg back home. There wasn't much to see in Munich station to hint at the chaos of a couple of weeks before, except for some men working on the roof windows.

"Well  that's another fine mess you've gotten us in"

Play by night

Day 12+: Harrogate to the North Sea and Amsterdam

It was time to leave the UK. Our trip to Newcastle was quiet and easy, at least compared to the trip going to Harrogate. Very fitting for a Sunday. In Newcastle there was plenty of rain, a little confusion about where to get the bus for the boat*, and a great lunch perfectly located at The Town Wall.

Packing up. Should we leave them here?

After experiencing Stena's buses here and there, we got quite a shock to see just what a trade DFDS do with foot passengers. They have something like 8 buses to shuttle people back and forth. The Port of Tyne ferry/cruise terminal resembles a modern airport. You walk on to the boat, greeted by an array of staff eager to give you freebies and help you to your room. My only (predictable) criticism is the cost of the food. Captive market and so on... Our solution was to share a pizza. Matt can't eat pizza, but given his worries over a repeat experience of ferry sickness whilst on a stupidly long ferry trip, he didn't want to eat much anyway (until breakfast of course).

Views of Tynemouth Pier and Tynemouth Castle and Priory on the way out

Children are spoilt for choice. Lego, drawing, video, ball pond, a slide...

Dusk

The views going out were great, and the price of a glass of wine was worth it just have it whilst watching the sunset colours over the big blue ocean. We had a good night's sleep, and after going through a fairly civilised experience getting off the boat, coaches were waiting to take us to Amsterdam. This last bit was a bit confusing: apparently you can book your spot in advance. Otherwise the driver will want €10. Pro tip: book in advance. Backup solution: Go inside and buy it from the service desk, you seem to get the advance price that way. The coaches are a bit of a pain for a short journey with luggage and a buggy; the busses in Newcastle were very buggy and luggage friendly.

*I can't do a whole lot to resolve the confusion, because the bus stop was moved, apparently just for a day or two during our trip. I'll try anyway though. Come out of the station, cross the road and head for the street between the church building (left) and Gotham Town (right) - Bewick Street. The bus stop is on the right, the bus number is 327 and it leaves (officially) at 2.45 and 3.45pm. It seems though that they run a more or less rolling service with many buses.

The elusive bus timetable

Day 11: Yorkshire - The wedding

I love weddings. We'd never been to one though without the support of grandparents and a car. Would it still be fun? We got off to a great start: Ronja, in the act of extracting my shoe tree managed to get a bleeding nose. Then the bus that was supposed to be picking up the guests had a serious delay, while the bride's car had a breakdown (better that than the bride I suppose).

Ready to go

It all ended (or rather started) well though, a lovely service, and a wonderful venue (Allerton Castle). There was great scenery, great food, wine, and lots of dancing. It was fun to celebrate with the happy couple and their families. The speeches were anything but boring. And there was a big, much quieter room where children could sleep. And fireworks!

Ushers can't manage to look everywhere at once. Good that Matt had a bit of help.

Dancing!

Time for a nap

"When the cat's away, the mice will play"

And catching that mouse round the billiard table was a lot of fun too

It was all over soon enough, and then back we trundled in the dark to Harrogate, more than ready to sleep.

Day 10: Lisburn - Harrogate

We learned back in 2012 that travelling on higgledy-piggeldy itineraries involving boat, bus and train with a small child wasn't such a great idea. Ignoring all of that, we set off early on Friday morning for the Stena ferry to Scotland, final destination Harrogate, where Matt's university friend Jonny was to get married. This would be completely different: it was Scotland & England not France, and we had two children instead of one!

Aye aye capt'n

I'll start by saying that I had thought the Man in Seat 61's bashing of Stena's replacement of sailing to Stranraer (where there is a train station) with a bus to Ayr from Cairnryan was disingeneous. However, after watching Birgit try to calm a tired 1 year old down on a coach without enough room to swing a mouse nevermind a cat, I may have changed my opinion. It was brief though, soon both children were fast asleep, and the views of the Ayrshire countryside and the sea just splendid. It's a good idea to keep your eye on that sea - the twists in the road might hit your stomach faster than you think. It was a difficult situation for Stena Line when they made the switch, and all in all I think they do a good job. We had fun on the boat of course, lots for children to do, and again good quality and value food on offer for breakfast.

Once we reached Glasgow, we were prepared to sit on a relaxing express train all the way to York (which is most of the way to Harrogate). And this is where we were surprised. Not one, but two hen parties boarded in Glasgow: destination Newcastle (which is most of the way to York). What adjectives can I use? Loud (they even had a music system), terrifying, traumatising, disruptive.

Help!

The highlight for me was that Birgit had commented that it couldn't happen on a German train (because someone would complain). When we looked at the train in York, we saw it was being part run by the Germans...

"Are we there yet?"

Only one last short leg to go. We were weary. and in need of upliftment. And then, like an angel sent to help, arrived a cheery, happy Paddy. Who was shocked to learn he had paid more for his ticket from Birmingham than we had from Belfast ;-) He helped us find the hotel in Harrogate. We were there. Time to change and head for pre-wedding tapas, reserved for family, best man and ushers!

Day 9: Lisburn & Belfast

Our final full day in Ireland was spent coffee drinking, visiting Matt's mum's cousin (Reader quiz: what relation does that make her to Ronja? Answers on a postcard please) on the far side of Belfast, getting somewhat lost in the process, packing and taking a very late night trip to Tescos to buy baby travel food. Everybody ready?

Day 8: Lisburn - Entrepreneurial spirit

After all those gifts for Silas, it was time to spoil Ronja. Well, not really, it was more a trip of necessity to prepare for Saturday's wedding. Green shoes from NEXT - perfect. Matt and Birgit had a fairly quiet afternoon in Lisburn, while Ronja was building a grocery store (with little help from her Granny, of course). That evening there was a chance to witness late-night coffee drinking (serving till, wait for it, 9pm!) in Lisburn at Costa Coffee near the cinema with an old friend. Fantastic.

Day 7: Trip to Navan, Armagh and a party

It was Easter and that meant family friendliness and special events all round. Time for a trip well off the beaten track down to Armagh, specifically Navan Fort, just outside the city (I've bemoaned the fact that anything child-friendly was removed from Armagh before after our last planned trip there was cancelled). There was a short play and craft activities for children themed around the story of the ugly duckling. I give it top marks.

Then we dashed back home to help with party preparations. Matt's mum usually finds an excuse for a party when we return, this time it was Silas' birthday. The birthday boy got a large amount of really nice clothes, and a lot of attention. And people sat outside. In April!

Day 6: Lisburn - Return to Wallace Park and Aghalee

A well earned quieter day with a trip to the park, ice cream, lunch at home followed by a trip to Aghalee to catch up with some relatives. It was Easter Monday, driving to any tourist hot spots would not have been wise.

Teamwork in Wallace Park

Day 5: Easter at Lisburn Cathedral

It's been a long time since we last had Easter in Ireland. Matt got up for the dawn service, enjoying a gluten free "bacon butty" afterwards as a reward for standing tired in the cold. Later there was a big church service, for the Cathedral especially important as they had been out doing community work for much of the week. And after church? Well, ice cream of course! It was an Ice Cream Sundae (get it?). There was some sort of spiritual message to the white ice cream being brightened up by all the possible additions.

And afterwards? Easter Egg hunting!

Day 4: Lisburn goes mad

When I (Matt) was young, Lisburn was a fairly dreary place. It has come on since then. I've read about a Lord Mayors Parade... there were people out on the streets having fun. And the day before Easter, there was an "Easter Eggstravaganza", concentrated on Castle Gardens: car rallying in the afternoon on the Lagan Valley Island and Queens Roads, amusements for the kids in the gardens aswell as a diverse range of food, and a "Frozen"-themed celebration in the Cathedral. I'm going to stay positive and not talk about the worse-than-19th-century handling of the traffic diversion or how I feel about the Disney film music, needless to say that a good time was had by all. There were reports of someone being reduced to tears by the appearance of a Frozen-character in the town. And I still am having a hard time getting the tune of "Let it Go" out of my head as I write this two weeks later.

<Insert random lyric from Frozen here>

Bounce bounce baby

All play and no work just won't do. Time to clean up before Easter Sunday.

Day 3: Belfast - WhoWhatWhereWhenWhy

Who what where when why, or W5 for short, is a children's discovery/science centre in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. Ronja had been there before with her granny, but her parents had missed it, and more to the point, the area for children her age was closed for renovation. So high time for a visit. We brought a packed lunch (there's ample space to enjoy your own lunch inside, as well as a cafe) which we ate before setting off to explore.

Levitation

The highlight: the 'SPAR'

Mmm, plastic croissant

Highlight #2: Water

"Now, you see, if they would just reopen the line through Dumfries, like this, our journey to Harrogate would be much quicker". "Yes, Silas, but what's the cost-benefit ratio"?

More plastic food

Caught in a trap...

Days 1 & 2: Munich-Belfast - Escape from the Hurricane

We're used to winds in the Pressestadt. We thought it was a bit windier than we'd ever had before during the day, but didn't dwell on it. Then we heard most of Munich's suburban rail system had been laid low. And then came the call about all rail traffic being stopped. And that the roof had blown off Munich's railway station. There was some simplification and exaggeration going on there, but there was more than a grain of truth. That was March 31st, and our latest trip to Ireland was scheduled early next morning on April 1st. We concluded we weren't going anywhere and settled down to a night's sleep, not 100% ready to set off at 5.45am as planned.

The online journey planner and telephone line the next morning told a different story. There was a way to Frankfurt. And we needed to get to Frankfurt, whatever way we could. And we needed to be on a train about 15 minutes earlier. So Matt had the happy job of getting everyone up to rush out of the house, so we could sit on the 15 minutes earlier train for 40 minutes before it went anywhere.

The obligatory sitting-on-the-train picture. This time with added scissors! Best idea, ever.

Wakey wakey! Time to get up, after a peaceful night, and a fairly long day before that. We had a good meal on board having failed to eat in either London or Liverpool. Thumbs up to Stena for having non-junk food options at reasonable prices, even though they have a captive market. Their friends at Irish Ferries and DFDS could learn a thing or two from them there.

Anyway, by some miracle by the time we had got to Brussels we were back on schedule. Or perhaps the miracle was that we got to Brussels at all. We're getting better at this, so there are no major reports, gripes or groans this time, except perhaps for a few fun facts...

• Did you know there's nowhere in Liverpool Lime Street to sit down and eat with children after 6pm? I didn't.
• Did you know that 'black cab' style taxis can let you wheel a buggy in and have a fold down booster seat in the middle? We didn't, but were thrilled to find out, as we contemplated walking 20 minutes in the rain down to the ferry.
• Did you know they're talking about opening a tram line that would call very near the Stena Ferry terminal? Not because of Stena Line of course, but it might make things feel more "integrated".
• On the integration front, there's also talk of building a central underground station for Euston/St Pancras/Kings Cross. That wouldn't bring the trains any closer together, but might mean a few moving walkways in between. Of course, by the time they build it, our children will be carrying their own luggage ;-)
• Did you know, that if you just wander in the first class area helplessly of the "Reisezentrum" in Cologne Hauptbahnhof, you might get help immediately with your international rail travel problem, bypassing the long queue nearby and at the information point, and thereby not missing that all important "we don't accept DB tickets" train that's about to leave above you? My strategically brought-along three-year old may have helped there.

Safely in Lisburn, it was time to greet family, relax, and do some baking.

A request to Stena Line to make "SailRail" journeys even better

The British, the Irish and the Germans are all well versed in complaining. And so it was, that after our last trip with Stena Line, that I put pen to paper. Or fingers to contact form. The not particularly helpful response is at the bottom.

Dear Stena Line,

I want to start by thanking you for several good foot passenger overnight journeys from Belfast to Birkenhead. Its a brilliantly timed and well run service with lovely staff throughout. Only on my last journey, Belfast-Birkenhead with SailRail ticket to London in September, did I find a few reasons that led me write to you to suggest a few improvements: 

Waiting Room and boarding in Belfast 

It seems your service is a victim of its own success : The waiting room was horribly overcrowded, and no one was giving clear information about when boarding would start or how that would work. I seem to remember that on quieter crossings from Birkenhead, staff offer to take bags from you. In Belfast we had to struggle around narrow areas and get them loaded. The bus could not take everyone on board at once of course this is fine, but you could organize this in advance rather than leaving us standing outside with children at night. Finally, parking is a big problem, as I''m sure you know. And there is very little public transport provision from Belfast. A well timed bus provided by you from Belfast centre might help alleviate the parking problem and improve this great service further. 

Providing a dependable sailrail connection in Birkenhead 

When we got to Birkenhead, we were keen to get on the bus off the boat in order to get to the station on time to continue our journey. We were saddened to hear that the bus to the station is the same bus as the one used to shuttle people off the ship, and that it would need to make more trips to the ship before being free to take people to the station. So we walked. I know the connection times for getting to Birkenhead station printed on the eticket are probably only meant as a guide, but they are completely unrealistic if this is how you routinely deal with large numbers of foot passengers. We had a connecting train in London and would have planned differently if we had known to expect such a delay.

eXtra 'points' for rail journey tickets 

Why are tickets with a rail ticket not eligible for points, not even for the cost of the sailing component?

Again, please accept my thanks for this service and putting in so much effort for this small but growing market segment of foot/rail passengers.

Best Regards,

Matthew

And here was the response:

Dear Matthew,

Thank you for taking the time to contact Stena Line.
Stena Line openly welcome and appreciate feedback and once received is used to review our products and services in order to improve our service for our wide range of customers.

Here at Stena Line, we are committed to providing the highest standards of service to all our customers so therefore I would like to assure you that your comments have been forwarded to the Route Management Team. Not only will this ensure that your comments have been heard but it will also provide Stena Line with the opportunity to learn from your comments with a view to improving our service to all our customers.

Once again, I would like to thank you for your comments and time and we look forward to welcoming you on board again soon.

Did we disappear into Hillsborough lake?

Travelling western Europe and bringing up two children can keep parents busy. And so it is that our tales of our last trip to the UK and Ireland ended somewhat abruptly at Hillsborough lake. Readers will be relieved to hear that we did continue from there, enjoying a great many more things Northern Ireland has to offer, and having a taxing but successful journey back.

Another science museum of sorts: W5 in Belfast is an adventure for curious young children

St George's Market

Drumawhey Junction Miniature Railway near Millisle. This was a last minute decision after learning that the Palace Stables is no longer open to visitors :o Which, by the way, means there is now nothing for young families to do in Armagh on a rainy day (after the earlier closure of St Patrick's Trian) - bit of a pity. However, the railway is a great idea for children. And perhaps for some adults too, at least the ones driving the trains seemed to be having a great time. And the countryside nearby is fantastic on a summer's day.

Not far down the road: Groomsport. One of those places I've managed to ignore my whole life. Well worth the visit.

Perhaps the highlight as tourist attractions go this trip: the SS Nomadic, a tender for the Titanic, now restored and back in Belfast where she was built. 

Wedding Bells! Confetti! Matt's cousin Lynda got married in the beautiful Donegal countryside on a beautiful late summer's day. Fantastic.

Our wedding car was a Fiat Stilo. This guy's got class. And the best bit? He restored the car himself. So romantic.

The journey back. Well, what can I say. On paper, it can be done in 24 hours. But that's assuming the boat is on time, and isn't overrun with passengers necessitating multiple runs of the bus from the ship to the terminal. The same bus that is supposed to get you to the train station afterwards. And so it was, that we missed our first connection. And hence, every single connection after that. Remarkable in itself was that this wasn't so much of a problem for Eurostar. "You did some terrible planning and booked yourself on a train that you realistically had high chances of missing? No problem." Perhaps they had sympathy on us for the problem that was yet to come. We had a German railways' (DB) ticket. And we were going to miss the last DB train out of Brussels. There was no avoiding it. And there was no help from DB's telephone support either. There was however a glimmer of hope. 'Thalys' trains, who seem to have had a falling out with DB (they don't accept each other's tickets anymore), were still running a train out of Brussels that would get us back into Germany. It took some more negotiating, but we made it back, very very late at night indeed. Time for a sleep in our own beds.

Postscript: Amusingly, the premise to my pleas for help from all these rail operators along our journey was a mistaken belief that we were protected by the 'CIV' arrangements for international rail travel (as our journey included an international component). Why was I mistaken? Apparently Section 9.5.1e (https://loco2.com/pdfs/CIVRules.pdf) exempts rail companies from delays caused by boat operators. The fact that it was all part of a 'rail' ticket is irrelevant. Thanks to Kate at loco2 for explaining that to me.

This seems to be the only photo we took on the way back. Here we are working on our scrapbook(1) of our trip inside the Thalys train that had agreed to take us. If you think Matt is looking tired and sweaty, it's because he is.

Not an everyday ticket... 

Our well-used, well-endorsed, somewhat crumpled ticket home, including paper ticket from Eurostar at the bottom. Note the price for a family of 4 in 1st class... (we got a good deal by booking early).

(1) Scrapbooks are what we used to document travels before the age of blogs