Sorry, took a bit of time getting around to this one. Had a load of nonsense at work to deal with, then our eldest cat fell seriously ill and almost died, not anything any of you would care about but it's the kind of stuff that gets in the way. (The cat is slowly improving but not out of the woods yet if you're wondering!)
So, on Friday 17th May, I had some cheap Virgin 1st class tickets to go from Wolverhampton to London and back. There was due to be a tube strike that day so I had some alternative ideas on what to do. The strike got called off in the end...but I went for one of my alternatives anyway.
The day started off interesting. I was booked on the 07:45 Pendolino departure from Wolverhampton. The 07:24 double Voyager that leaves platform 4 at Wolves before us was quite late in departing and my train soon rolled in on it's way down from Manchester Piccadilly not long after it had left. There was quite a few people on board from Manchester and their breakfast stuff was still being cleared away. Nevertheless, I was promptly served coffee on departure, which was bang on time.
Then at Sandwell and Dudley, things got interesting. The train manager announced that there had been a major signal failure on the south end of Birmingham New Street and all trains had stopped. He then announced that anyone going to Birmingham should alight at Sandwell and Dudley as we would be missing New Street and diverting round to Birmingham International instead. As you can imagine, almost the whole carriage alighted and left two of us sitting there.
We were treated to a scenic tour of Soho and Aston and rejoined the mainline somewhere on the other side of New Street. The 1st class host was quite excited as she had never been that way before. I had been that way on local trains but never on a Pendolino! A look at Realtime Trains showed me that the double voyager was trapped in New Street and we were now running ahead of it. We were only 15 late on departing Birmingham International which wasn't bad given how many trains appeared to be stuck in the area.
The 1st class host announced that we might not get our first choice in breakfast as he expected us to become very full due to the delays. In fact the opposite happened, missing New Street meant we were fairly lightly loaded the whole way to Euston and it seemed passengers at intermediate stops had found an alternative train. So everyone got what they wanted for breakfast and as usual, the service was excellent. I forgot to find out what happened to the double Voyager! I guess that one would have been a bit busier once it had eventually left New Street.
We rolled into Euston 8 minutes late and I walked along Euston Road to St Pancras. Southeastern had a promotion on, I wanted to ride the Kent coastal loop and catch some sea air on the way. I chose a return to Ramsgate and boarded a Hi-Speed service via Folkestone. My itinerary suggested I alighted at Ashford International and changed trains, but doing that would only save me 4 minutes altogether so I decided I'd stay on and ride the long way around to Ramsgate, which the guard had no issue with.
I have been down HS1 on Eurostar a few times before but was still impressed with the speed and particularly the acceleration of the Javelin. However, after Ashford, it all suddenly felt a bit 'meh'! Some lovely views greeted me between Folkestone and Dover and I was pleased I was sitting on the right side of the train.
We arrived at Ramsgate. I've been trying to get more healthy recently and have been trying to walk at least 1 mile per day, so the walk to town and the seafront at Ramsgate was useful! However, I really wasn't impressed with Ramsgate Town Centre and had started to wonder if I should have picked somewhere else...but an explore a bit further confirmed that I had absolutely made the right decision...
At Ramsgate Pavilion, I noticed a sign to the Ramsgate Tunnels. I decided it might be worth checking out so I wandered at the promenade towards it. I was not be disappointed.
The old railway tunnel dug into the cliff that linked the mainline to the old Ramsgate Harbour Station had been turned into a café and museum, with both actually inside the tunnel! Inside, I talked to a member of staff in there who told me about the Ramsgate Tunnels, a 3 mile network of air-raid shelter tunnels that been dug under Ramsgate in the late 1930s branching off the disused railway tunnel to prepare for the oncoming war. She then said there was a tour of the tunnels that afternoon for £7 if I was interested. So after some lunch and a coffee in their café, I donned a hard hat, was given a torch, and around 15 of us spent the afternoon exploring the network of tunnels under the town. It was incredible... a fascinating story and I urge you if you're in the area to give it a visit. A real unique experience and very interesting. Incredible that Ramsgate was so heavily bombed during World War 2 yet in the whole 6 years, 'only' 81 people lost their lives in the town. The tunnels must have saved hundreds, if not thousands.
Even though I had set out that morning without a plan and had found the Ramsgate Tunnels by accident, it was the kind of place I would have deliberately made a beeline for had I known about it.
The tour lasted an hour and a half. Once I acclimatised back to the Kent sunshine, I realised I was covered in chalk! I walked back to Ramsgate station (my daily target of 1 mile now being far exceeded!) and caught a Javelin back to St Pancras via Herne Bay and Gravesend to complete the loop. I admit I dozed off a couple of times on the train though!
Back in London, I went to the 1st class lounge in Euston. It was surprisingly quiet for a Friday evening. I boarded the 21:03 service back to Wolverhampton and had an uneventful journey. The carriage was very lightly loaded and I was served a cup of tea, a couple of cans of Wreckless Ale, some pork pies and mini scotch eggs in a box (!) and the usual assortment of fruit, pretzels, cookies and uglies.
I arrived back in Wolverhampton bang on time, ready to go home to bed but very pleased with my day.