Oh I'm enjoying the time off, don't worry about that! It's also nice to sit outside at gone 8pm in early January to enjoy a cool breeze after an intense session in the gym. Going to miss having a private gym when I leave here, will have to use it on Friday morning before I leave!
09/01/2018 - Tech's World Frenzy 2018, Day 3
After a solid 8 hours sleep, I was awake just after 6am. The time until breakfast service began at
0730 was filled by replying to messages and uploading the photos so far to Flickr. A fair ol' feast was had for breakfast to make up for the lack of food on Day 2, and I was well set up for the day. Eventually I left the hotel and joined winner tram
4205 for the run to Luceros, standing almost all the way on the 9 minute journey.
A quick look at the less than impressive mainline terminal got a few photos of local and Renfe trains, and I decided upon a look on the TVM to go to Valencia for a few hours explore. €29,75 later, declaring this to be a trip vice going to London this month, I had my tickets and proceeded through the security area. This involved my jacket going through an X-ray machine and a scan of myself with the wand. Aside from on Eurostar, I had never seen such a thing on the railway before but I don't blame them for doing so in this day and age.
Eventually my DMU, and I had hoped this train would be a loco-hauled one but never mind, arrived and I joined coach 1 to find seat 44 which I was allocated on the TVM.
599 030 was obviously a winner on the
1003 to Miraflores. No, before you ask, I have no idea where that is! I was due to travel on this for just under 2 hours to Valencia Nord. We passed a yard somewhere about 16 minutes out from Alicante where, to my pleasant surprise, I noted several former Class 58 locos! My NREA was in the room at this point, so whether any of them were required for sight or not remained to be found out. It was still a most welcome sight!
For reference, these DMUs are 3-car trains and I would say they are similar to 175s for comfort and legroom, in terms of noise my comparison would be a cross between a 158 and a 170. They have power sockets at airline seats, of which I was sat on one of, between the seatbacks. The fold down tables at these seats were massive too, almost big enough to have a 2-course meal and a drink on! Also of note on these DMUs is that there are vending machines in the middle coach. Oh, and the seat recline quite a recent amount!
There appeared to be a new high speed line being built somewhere before Xativa, although where I have no idea as I didn't bring my atlas with me. 22kg baggage allowance and my case only weighed in at 8.7kg when I was at bag drop, so I could have easily brought my other books with me! The high speed line runs alongside the route I was on from Xativa onwards for a while, although it looks rather new so might not yet be in use. Arrival at Valencia Nord was at
1159, 3 minutes, and my Regional Express train back was booked at
1502 so it was straight onto exploring the city.
I hadn't realised Valencia had a Metro network, and after working out the route I needed for the beach I tried using the TVM to buy a ticket. A return would have cost me €5, but it was exact cash only and I didn't have that on me so I gave up and tried finding it by foot. After over an hour of walking, and at a decent pace too, I had clearly got lost and gave up. Wherever in the city I was, at that point I was outside Bar Sandra and popped in for a beer. That turned out to be a 330ml bottle of Amstel Oro, which for €1,80 was incredibly nice and good value.
10 minutes later, and that sit down was most welcome, I finally figured out how to decipher the bus route map and figured out where I was. Following bus route 8 would get me back to the station, so I did just that! After a good while I was alongside the railway and could follow that. It still took 40 minutes from Bar Sandra to get to the station so I must have been quite some way out! Some exploring of the city centre then followed, although to be honest I don't know what most of the buildings were that I took photos of.
It was time for a supply raid next, although with no real supermarkets around that took some doing. Of all places, I found a sweet shop where a 330ml can of Mahou and a bottle of water were sourced for €2,30. The shop on the station would have charged me at least €4 for the same stuff so I'm pleased I shopped around! It was then time to find my train back to Alicante, and I discovered to my disappointment if I'd booked the one about 15 minutes earlier I'd have had a loco hauled train. Instead I got
470-123, a 3-car EMU, on the
1502 to Alicante and left 2 minutes late.
It was about 15 minutes of slow trekking through the suburbs before any real speed was had, and fair play we got a good bit of it going on. Much bouncier than the ride to Valencia had been mind, and in terms of comfort and legroom think 175s. In terms of noise, the only thing I could think of in the UK would be a quietened-down 334. I did prefer the walk around Valencia compared to Alicante it must be said, and if I'd had a map I probably wouldn't have got lost and had a very different time. Even so, I doubt I'd have had such a nice beer and I got to see a lot of the city, so it was still an enjoyable afternoon. As for that high speed line, the section west of Xativa is still being done I noted as a significant chunk of track is missing!
Some of you are no doubt wondering if Mahou was any good. I think I would want to try it on tap to be sure, but it wasn't too bad. By Xatvia the clouds had taken over, but at least this train wasn't roasting hot like
599 030 was! Arrival back at Alicante was at
1707, 3 minutes late, and it must be said I was glad I had my jacket as when the breeze was blowing today it made things quite cold. It was now time to go get some food, as breakfast had now worn off. On my way to known places from yesterday that did good food, I stumbled across baguetteitalia near the entrance to Mercado tram station. Two pieces of ham pizza, and generous pieces at that for €3,80 was a bargain and very delicious!
Onwards to the tram next and I had just under 10 minutes for a tram going my way. I joined winner tram
4203 on a leap to Marq-Castillo, before joining winner tram
4108 for the journey back to La Isleta and the walk back to base camp. An easy evening was to be had before the planned visit to the gym, and of course uploading photos needed doing as well. A good day was had, although I had no idea what to fill two more days with! Benidorm is on the cards for tomorrow, and I discovered some more beaches a short tram ride away that I'd like to try out at some point on Thursday.
We'll soon find out what happens! Today's photos have been put on Facebook (I don't think there's many forum members on my Facebook), a selection have been shared in the Live Trip Report on Twitter and just finished uploading today's lot to Flickr. I hope to be able to add some to this trip report at some point tonight or tomorrow morning.
. I haven’t even got any proper trainers. Going to try again later.
