The Great Circular European Railway Challenge

[Mark_Lester]

We've proper contacts in Milan, I'm working on a supply drop so we can concentrate on having a nice breakfast.

I've fixed up the route page after amputating Sicily. We lost a whopping 1,700 km . I haven't changed Bratislava yet, I like the two station approach as it forces the river and castle, we might as well get a though train otherwise. But I don't mind tweaking the times. What's your alternative timing for Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest?.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Let me look back through my notes for a two station option. I guess we need about an hour and a half minimum between Bratislava Pzltrdaxyz and hl.st.
I shall return. (MacArthur)
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Here we go

Vienna (Sud) – Bratislava P Thursday REX7609 09.03 10.01

Bratislava hl.st – Budapest Thursday EC 273 11.54 14.35

 

[burns20]

Passed through doing a scottish rail circle to kyle of lochalsh
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to get between petrazelka and hlavni take bus 93. You go down into an underpass and under the railway line to access the bus stop

 

[Glenmutchkin]

to get between petrazelka and hlavni take bus 93. You go down into an underpass and under the railway line to access the bus stop

Great stuff. Thanks for that.
On my school atlas it looks like Tralee beats our planned furthest west Cascais in Portugal. I think that we've got Mainland Europe somewhere in the rules.

 

[Nigel Gresley]

Oh come on, yer a northerner, it's got a roof, er. well sort of

bit cattle truck, may be a cushion is more useful.

I travelled in panorama wagon over the Bernina in August. This is a fantastic ride and if you have good weather it will probably be the highlight of your trip. It was so amazing that I didn't notice the lack of a cushion. It was cool in the tunnels but a short sleeved shirt was quite adequate. A good sun screen was essential as the ultraviolet rays at over 2000m are much more intense.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

A good sun screen was essential as the ultraviolet rays at over 2000m are much more intense.

A good tip thank you. Probably not something we would have thought about.

 

[Mark_Lester]

thanks Nige' (I guess no one ever dared call the great man that )
yes, even in summer you'll need welding goggles up there, it's proper sunny.

Dave, you're not holding it straight, I checked it on google earth, further more the cape thingy nearby is on wiki as the official lands end of continental europe.
ear wig 0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_da_Roca

Ah sorry, Tralee, yes that beats it, but so does Madeira and I think there's something on rails there.
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Milan supply drop is officially sorted. We'll have bread, cheeses, meats,fruit, wine and grappa delivered to the station.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Milan supply drop is officially sorted. We'll have bread, cheeses, meats,fruit, wine and grappa delivered to the station.

So all that we will be short of is lashings of Ginger Beer.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Ginger beer, we had that didn't we ?, yeah, Budapest. stop complaining.

Budapest is perhaps the other spot where we could do with a bloke appearing out of nowhere with 3+ boxes of food and a couple of crates of wine, but I still have avenues to explore on that front.

I asked in VT about these Romanian sausages. They are well worth it, in my opinion, and I spent several harrowing months there in the early 90s, it's one of the principle reasons for visiting.
It sounds like there isnt an obvious "you have to go to Tudorel's on Muntenia Street, turn left out of the station", the advice I got was to take a 20 minute tube ride, but I'm sure there's a decent hotel near by, seat 61 has a place he recommends, so we might be able to work out a party affair there or somewhere.

When I get back I'll kick my mates who rustled up the India logo and we'll get some branding worked out
(note to mods, no one is making any money on this)

 

[Glenmutchkin]

When I get back I'll kick my mates who rustled up the India logo and we'll get some branding worked out
(note to mods, no one is making any money on this)

Excellent. Opens up whole new fields of creativity. I expect that there will be loads of suggestions flooding in.

We could have

The disOrient Express

or

Von Lester's Express

Let's hear what the forum can suggest.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Well, thats prob best put to the people who are going to end up wearing it. i.e the facebook group.

we seem to have most of the details sorted out for the macroscopic side of the route, barring next years timetable changes buggering it all up, but we've got small scale stuff to work out, Lisbon especially, So we're going to be looking for input on a route round Lisbon's trams for a few hours, tram 28 etc and these funiculars, and some of the fine details in the others especially if there's a special tram we can sneak in.

Theres also the booking/reserving for the whole shebang. I got no reply from seat61's TURista. So we need to find someone who knows how and where to book groups of people onto trains in and out of Istanbul with interrail passes.
Norway and sweden need to be done locally, they dont offer the cheap fares to other operators (I think they can get cheap fares off each other) .

The not-the-bernina. i.e this cattle truck, needs to be done with STC,

Renfe probably have to do the iberian trenhotel sleepers,

Eurostar need to do the run at least as far as Amsterdam, and I think we wont have the pass kick in till copenhagen so they will probably be the best option to do it all the way to there, and back from paris.

I think the rest of it can all be reserved at one point of contact. But if that's interrailnet (for the passes) or one of the others i.e. eurostar. stc, renfe or swedish or norwegian railways, I dont know. depends on who knows what they are doing. Now I've got someone with a bit of gumf at swiss travel I'd instinctively plump for them.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Well, thats prob best put to the people who are going to end up wearing it. i.e the facebook group.

Ah. You mean me and you. Given the general response so far you are probably right but let's not block out the creative juices of the RailUK forum yet.

 

[Mark_Lester]

all input from here is most gratefully received.
and if you can provide technical assistance, and prove you are not going to be a financial burden, i.e. you'd normally spend a shed load more than £1,500 on a 2 week railathon, (I'm still seething from some of the cheap skate bandanna sporting "colonial" kiddiewinkies that I ended up entertaining on the India version) and dont mind hanging out with a large group of folks who all know me, then if you fancy it then you are welcome. the age profile is +40 and nobody is teetotal.,
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from donbacsi on tripadvsor. really great info on the train from budapest to bucharest

When you do your grocer run, look for the very tasty ham which can be sliced up for you. In addition, there may be pre-breaded and pre-cooked chicken and/or pork cutlets. Get these to break up the monotony of the salami sandwiches. Eat the ham first as it will go bad first. The cutlets can last for days, but get to tasting a little greasy after the first day. If there is a microwave in the Bufe Car or Dining Car, slip the attendant 200HUF to heat them up for you between two paper napkins to soak up the extra grease. That's 200HUF per microwave load. Worth it for a hot meal.

I see you are stopping at beautiful, down-town Lököshaza at 22:10 hours. Don't expect dancing girls with flower leis to greet you. This is a one dog town. It only exists for the rail. You don't even drive through it to get somewhere else. As this is basically your last stop before Romanina, there might be some officials coming on board snooping for paper work. I suggest you organize a raiding team of 4 or 5 to hustle to the nearest drink bar, grab the goods and scurry back to the train. If the locals in the bar seem a little surly, I have found buying a drink all around (at 25p each...big deal) gets prompt service and no hassles.

I don't have your full train schedule, but I am assuming you are leaving out of B-pest for the train headed for Debrecen. This will most likely lead you to what I call the "Szolnok Split". You will be treated to an extended view of the luxurious and elegant Soviet-Era train switching yard as they break the train apart. It can happen at a few other places on the line. It pays to find out where it will happen. This is when you DO NOT get out of your assigned seat for anything. Do not go to the Bufe or Dining car. Do not even go to the WC as there can be two on the landing between the cars. If you use the wrong one, you can literally get caught with your pants down as your part of the train heads off to Debrecen and all your mates are on their way to Bucharest. If this happens to you, you will never catch up.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

"Get these to break up the monotony of the salami sandwiches. Eat the ham first as it will go bad first. The cutlets can last for days, but get to tasting a little greasy after the first day. If there is a microwave in the Bufe Car or Dining Car, slip the attendant 200HUF to heat them up for you between two paper napkins to soak up the extra grease"

I bet this quote will prove to be an excellent recruiting tool for our venture. Judging by the content of some of the other threads 25p drinks might attract a few as well.

Looks like I'll have to bring my own stock of deep fried Mars bars.

 

[coupwotcoup]

Sounds lots of fun but I have to ask, are you the
Mark Lester who at 13 years of age, had the awful
task of having to play with Britt Ekland's tits in the film
'Night Hair Child'?
Imagine the fuss today!

 

[Mark_Lester]

It's all part of our european railway smorgasborg.
Judging by the problems I just had in working out what to do with any spare time we might have in Bucharest, a culinary cultural exchange program, where they give us a cold beer and we show them how to deep fry a mars bar might be the best we can hope for.
I think if we are ontime a cab ride the mile or so to Ceausescu's Palace (the Romanian parliament, not the Las Vegas casino) and back, looks like our feature for the day.

Anyway, someone in here has been to Bucharest from Budapest in the last year or so, I am certain.
What time did you get in ?

and coup' no, but I recently changed my motto to "In this life, one thing counts, in the (sperm) bank, large amounts"
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here's another great thread, mainly from Don' who is our catering consultant above, about Hungarian sausages. we'll be getting several of the "Hell Fire" variety
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g274887-i263-k4832947-o20-Which_Sausage-Budapest.html

 

[Glenmutchkin]

The market hall is filled with butchers who hang salami style sausages in festoons over their counters

Who could ask for anything more.

I think that this is definitely pointing towards the earlier train into Budapest. Perhaps we need to use the time we've got to send somebody to night classes in Hungarian.

 

[Mark_Lester]

"The market hall is filled with butchers who hang salami style sausages in festoons over their counters."

Who could ask for anything more.

I think that this is definitely pointing towards the earlier train into Budapest. Perhaps we need to use the time we've got to send somebody to night classes in Hungarian.

Agreed. We've known for sometime that if we dont leave Budapest with a mountain of food then things will get grim long before Istanbul. That market, due to location and content, is a one stop tourist feature, so if we've made enough time we can all be designated food stuffs to procure.
I'm considering the usefulness of those granny trolleys for the shopping.
Hungarian is impossible, forget it. Though I need to work out an unambiguous mime act for sausage.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

. Though I need to work out an unambiguous mime act for sausage.

You could try it out as a festive party game.

 

[Donbacsi]

Hello! First time here. Thanks for the invite, Mark.
I would go easy on the Hell Fire, especially as you are headed for Turkey on a train. These are not just incendiary on the way in, but...
I wish I was on the trip, if only to help out at the Great Market. See:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...l_Market_Hall_Nagy_Vasarcsarnok-Budapest.html
Notice it is the #1 shopping venue in B-pest.
If you can work out extra time in the city, you will find you are only two minutes walking to the Duna (Danube) and heart-stopping views of the castle and other scenic delights.
I don't know where you plan on finding Granny Trollies...you left them behind at Marks&Sparks. Again, carry plenty of those string bags as many (most) places don't even offer plastic or paper bags for your purchases.

 

[Mark_Lester]

I would go easy on the Hell Fire, especially as you are headed for Turkey on a train. These are not just incendiary on the way in, but...

the accepted term is "ring stinger".

I was only joking about the granny trolleys, though I am quite serious about arranging, at the very least, a native purchasing consultant. There are going to be at last double figures of us, and possibly more. We'll have to work out what the physical limit is, probably 20. I know that's an insane number of people, on top of an insane itinerary, but we proved in India it can not only work, but is great fun.
It also gives me the personal satisfaction of organising something that is pretty damn difficult to trump. Doing this on your own or with your best buddy is one thing (I'm sure there's a few people in here who have done stuff at least similar), but working it out for a mobile riot, 90% of who have never been on a back to back sleeper train trip in their lives, is another all together.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

If you can work out extra time in the city, you will find you are only two minutes walking to the Duna (Danube) and heart-stopping views of the castle and other scenic delights.

Don. You've done it now. He's even keener on the Danube than he is on hot sausages. We're being made to do a multi tram experience in Vienna rather than a straight transfer between Westbahnhof and Sudbahnhof just so we can be photographed in front of said river.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Don. You've done it now. He's even keener on the Danube than he is on hot sausages. We're being made to do a multi tram experience in Vienna rather than a straight transfer between Westbahnhof and Sudbahnhof just so we can be photographed in front of said river.

wot, no boat bus ?

I'll drop the Viennese Danube bit, but we can't just dash from one station to t'other, we need at least Stefanplaz, and they do a nice pastry though I'm sue that can be done at Sudbahnhof..

 

[Glenmutchkin]

I was only winding up about the Danube in Vienna. Quite happy to go and see it. The pubs won't be open at that time in the morning anyway.

I read recently that there is a serious problem with lack of water in the Danube and that this was starting to impact on boat traffic. I looked quickly for the link but couldn't find it. If I do find it I'll send you a link.

 

[Donbacsi]

Try this link for a little info on the water level:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...be_River_in_and_around_Budapest-Budapest.html

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Thanks. That's the stuff I saw. We have 2 winters and 2 thaws between now and when we go so anything could happen.

 

[mickpop]

Hello to you guys and to Mark and Glenmutchkin in particular. Just reporting for duty and am one foot on the platform and one on the train as it were in terms of readiness for this. Hopefully more civilised than the 2011 Indian adventure!I am going to be no help at all in planning this trip - the last time I was in the Balkan zone was in 1968 when the Orient Express was a scheduled service at its lowest ebb and carrying mainly peasants and goats - not sure which catagory I came in!

 

[Glenmutchkin]

- the last time I was in the Balkan zone was in 1968 when the Orient Express was a scheduled service at its lowest ebb and carrying mainly peasants and goats - not sure which catagory I came in!

Mick - Welcome aboard. Have a look at post #14 on this thread. It doesn't look like the Orient Express has moved on much since your last visit.

No doubt we will get some valuable contributions from you as things progress. I expect thoughts will turn towards disposable underwear somewhere down the track. Did the paper shreddies ever make it to India?

 

[Donbacsi]

There was a two day layover in a city in India. Don't you people know how to wash your tidy whities in bottled water in such places? Ugh!

 

[Mark_Lester]

Ahoy Mick,
We're all dong this from first principles mate, so you are as culpable as us two if you're coming. I'm sure you've got at least some off-train input about somewhere, and we can all read the schedule.
I think the only really scary bit is Berlin, an the subsequent day via Warsaw but we'll get a dorm in a hostel, if you wanna just chill there you can. In theory you could wimp out big style and have a lie in and turn up in Prague later in the day.

There was a two day layover in a city in India. Don't you people know how to wash your tidy whities in bottled water in such places? Ugh!

Don, we had 36 hours off at a +2,000 meter hill station, in February on the back of probably the hardest section of the entire trip being the jeep up that back road.

Do you really wash your undies in bottled water ?

On the general hygiene front, apart from the extreme Balkans (and may be even there) we'll have showers on all the trains.