England and Wales by public transport

Old Aug 6th, 2016, 09:14 AM
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England and Wales by public transport

For those who haven't "met" me here before, I'm a solo, senior, female traveler. This TR is for the first leg of a three and a half month trip: the first month I'll be in England, with a little bit of north Wales, and then I'm scheduled to spend a couple of nights in Istanbul on the way to Tashkent. The planning thread for this leg is here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...orth-wales.cfm

I'll also be blogging, so if you'd like pictures to go with the text, look here:

mytimetotravel.wordpress.com

I grew up, and learned to drive (stick) in England, but it has been many years since I lived there, and over a decade since I last drove there. (And the last time I tried to drive stick, two decades ago, the gear box complained, and my knees complained.) I travel solo, so renting a car can be expensive, and I don't want to have to worry about where to park and when to overtake on narrow roads, even if a GPS might take care of the navigating for me. Recently I've spent most of my time in the UK either visiting family or in London, so the issue of how to get around didn't arise, but this trip I wanted to see more of the countryside, and so I'll be seeing how well that works just using public transport. I've already had an email from Southern Railways about strike action next week, but fortunately I won't need one of their trains until I go to Gatwick at the beginning of September.

The more I fly the less I enjoy it, especially in economy, and I began my planning for this trip by trading FF miles for first class flights home from Tokyo right before American Airlines put up the "price" of their award flights. That's also the only leg on which I have a connection. But my first flight was RDU-LHR in economy. At least I got TSA Pre-Check, which meant I basically walked straight through security, although since I had allowed for the lines I kept reading about I got to hang out at the airport for a couple of hours. With no free wifi...

The plane seemed incredibly old, with no seat back entertainment, only drop down screens showing some violent movie possibly of the Terminator genre, and the food was only marginally edible. Although I had an empty seat next to me, I gave up on trying to sleep after an hour or so. We arrived early, and it only took half an hour before I was pushing my checked bag into the arrivals hall, which gave me loads of time to eat breakfast and catch up on the net (yes, free wifi - and luggage carts - in LHR) before my National Express coach left for Bournemouth. The trek to the Central Bus Station seems longer every time I do it, and we spent the first 30 minutes of the trip visiting T3 and T4, although the coach was still only lightly loaded as we picked up speed and headed west on the M3.

August 4-5: Beginning in Bournemouth

The scenery along the motorway, was, as usual, not especially interesting, but I did notice that most of the vehicles were smaller than the behemoths my neighbors in (non-rural) North Carolina seem to find necessary. After we left the motorway we drove through the middle of the New Forest, which I was excited to see. Parts were more open - even agricultural - than I expected, but other areas were thick with dark and aged trees. We made one stop in a small but crowded village and then pulled into Bournemouth coach station. Since it was right across the road from the train station I bought my senior rail card and the train ticket for the next day before walking to my hotel.

The Derby Manor was very convenient for the coach and train stations, although not so much for the sea front. More expensive than the places I usually stay, it was glitzy enough (can't say I care much for crushed velvet and diamanté accents) but quite remarkably dysfunctional. For instance, the bathroom sink was only about four inches front to back, and as the tap took up much of that I was barely able to wash my hands. Still, they produced a good crayfish and rocket sandwich and I spent most of the afternoon asleep, my usual jet lag cure going east, which once again worked.

My smart phone kept working and then not working, but I was able to figure out the buses to get into the main part of town, where I enjoyed strolling through the public gardens. I made the trek up to West Cliff for some views, but didn't get as far as Alum Chine.

I spent the next morning at the Russell-Cotes house museum, which I thought was well worth the 6 GBP admission. Built right at the end of the Victorian era for the owners of the Royal Bath Hotel next door, avid travelers and collectors, it felt more Edwardian to me. The building was full of art, and although as usual I was more interested in the decoration and furniture, I appreciated some of the Pre-Raphaelite pictures. The rooms on the top floor boasted magnificent sea views - on a good day you could supposedly see the Needles off the Isle of Wight, although not when I was there.

One of the rooms held a temporary exhibition of masks and puppets, including shadow puppets from Asia, and masks from Asia and Africa. I had coffee in the conservatory and would have been happy to eat lunch there except I was still full from far too much breakfast. Instead I retrieved my bag from the Derby Manor and just caught the 13:25 train to Dorchester South - no thanks to the incredibly large tour group of Asian students who arrived just before me.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 09:32 AM
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Along for the ride .
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 10:15 AM
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Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 10:37 AM
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Welcome aboard!

Couple of things I forgot to mention on prices. I bought the coach ticket from LHR to Bournemouth ahead of time for 15 GBP plus one GBP booking fee. I checked the price while I was waiting to board, and it would have been 33 GBP bought the day of travel.

The senior rail card cost 30 GBP for a year, but I will save 24 GBP over the cost on this trip (you get a third off). You don't have to be a UK citizen to get one, just over 60. I wasn't even asked to prove my age, which I found a bit depressing.....
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 11:04 AM
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on for the ride, my home town so far
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 12:57 PM
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Hi bilbo - is that home town as in born there, or home town as in live there?

I would have stayed two nights, but Lonely Planet's talk of hen and stag parties spooked me. Aside from Alum Chine, I really saw all I wanted. Really liked the gardens and some older buildings, liked the area I was staying - nice old trees - but the seaside stuff turned me off (aside from a rather nice roundabout/carousel), and the Springbourne area, where I went in pursuit of a restaurant that was closed for the week, looked run down.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 02:17 PM
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I'm hopping on board too - and hoping for better bathroom arrangements for the rest of the trip.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 04:05 PM
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I'm following too, as I expect to visit more places in the UK, and prefer to do so without driving.

BTW, I was never asked to prove my age last fall, shortly after turning 60, for a number of discounts.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 04:46 PM
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Wonderful -- you and your trip report are both off and running!

No seat-back entertainment? That was one OLD plane!
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 04:51 PM
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Will hang on every word . . .

re the plane: I cannot remember the las AA metal I've flown transatlantic that didn't have seat back entertainment. Maybe Raleigh Durham gets the short stick
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 05:56 PM
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I'm in!
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 10:29 PM
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I love it already. We are planning something similar -- the UK part -- for 2017, but you may convince us to go on around the world.
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Old Aug 6th, 2016, 11:50 PM
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@janisj - at least we still have the flight! Was worried we would lose it when the AA hub closed, and then every time I ride it and it's less than full. But we just acquired a Delta flight to Paris, so that's good.

@Ackislander - this is my fourth RTW, but much more of it will be by plane than before, even though OneWorld no longer has the great RTW award I loved. Go for it!

Good to "see" everyone.
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Old Aug 7th, 2016, 01:01 AM
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I remember advising about that hotel, that end of town is a dunp.

Place of birth. Well, Poole is.
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Old Aug 7th, 2016, 01:12 AM
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Saw a bit of Poole from the train, looked a lot flatter than Bournemouth!

For an area near a train station, Derby Road could be worse. For just one night I was more interested in being close to transport, but am surprised the hotel is number one on TA!
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Old Aug 7th, 2016, 02:43 AM
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Our family was in the hotel trade and moved out of Bournemouth, nothing nice in town, really.
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Old Aug 7th, 2016, 03:20 AM
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Jumping on the bus with you....

I'm doing similar next year so interested to see how the public transport goes for you.
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Old Aug 7th, 2016, 03:52 AM
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Actually the "Royal Bath" used to be good but it is mainly appartments now.
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Old Aug 9th, 2016, 09:31 AM
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My review of the Derby Manor is here: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...ECK_RATES_CONT

The Royal Bath has a great location, didn't realize it wasn't really a hotel any more.

August 5, 2016: Learning About Lyme Regis

The train to Dorchester gave me a look at part of Poole, which appeared to be a lot flatter than Bournemouth, and well provided with yachts. At Dorchester South I needed to switch from train to bus, and I had wondered whether I would have trouble finding it. Turned out that Dorchester South was a very small station, with just two platforms, and I could see the X51 bus waiting outside as my train arrived. Unfortunately, I had to cross the tracks to reach it, lugging my case up the footbridge steps and then down again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery on the way to Lyme Regis - picture perfect agricultural England, rolling country covered with fields, hedges and copses, although the fields seemed a good bit bigger than I remembered. The bad news was the traffic, although on a summer Friday heading west I suppose I should have expected it. As we inched forward towards Bridport, on a winding two lane road masquerading as a main route, and then again on the way out of Bridport, I was very happy not to be driving. (Note: the train, with senior rail card, was 7.80 GBP, the bus was 6.00 GBP.)

The Old Lyme Guesthouse, my destination, was everything the Derby Manor in Bournemouth was not. Small, old, and unpretentious, with welcoming new owners, and with a wonderful location near the sea front. I had originally reserved a different B&B, but when I put my final itinerary together, and rechecked the reviews, I realized that it was up a very steep hill. In fact I passed it during my stay, and was exceedingly glad to be going downhill at the time. The Old Lyme had begun its existence as the town post office, and the old wooden mail slot, thought to have been used by Jane Austen to mail a letter to her sister Cassandra, was still a much photographed feature.

For a small place - year round population maybe 5,000 - Lyme Regis has a remarkable history, and a number of literary connections not limited to "Persuasion". My first full day I took the history walk advertised by the helpful T.I. and learned a whole lot. The town was packed and I had though the walk would have drawn a crowd, but only two couples joined me.

While I associated Lyme Regis with tourism, sea bathing didn't take off until the 1800s, and I had imagined that it had previously survived as a fishing port. But the local enthusiast leading the walk told us that Lyme Regis had been a trading and ship building port of major significance - bigger than Liverpool, he said. Its population in Elizabethan times had been the same as it was today, and the sheltered anchorage provided by the Cobb drew shipping until eventually bigger ships needed deeper waters and the town languished, to be reinvigorated by the Georgian craze for drinking sea water. The trade had been wool for wine, with a fair amount of smuggling at various times.

The Cobb, the breakwater so crucial to the port's development, had existed in some form since at least 1313, although it had been renewed and improved a number of times. I was surprised to learn that it was not connected to land until 1756, and further surprised to see that it was not in Lyme Regis proper, but in Cobb hamlet a short walk west.

I had already taken a look at the parish church, but now I learned that parts were older than I had thought, with a Norman arch at the entrance, although the elaborate font that I had admired was only Victorian. The town's buildings have succumbed at various times to bombardment, fire and flood, and, in the case of the Georgian assembly rooms where Jane Austen danced, to outright demolition, but some old ones remain, including a Tudor building with a Georgian front.

Lyme Regis has a surprisingly martial history, having withstood a lengthy siege during the English Civil War. A strongly Protestant town (known to Mary Tudor as "that heretic town"), it sided with Parliament, and Prince Maurice spent five weeks in 1644 attempting to take it for the Crown before withdrawing to fight the Battle of Lostwithiel. A few years later, in 1685, the Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis in a bid to depose the Catholic James II. A number of local men joined the rebellion, and following Monmouth's defeat were executed or transported after trial at the infamous Bloody Assizes, presided over by Judge Jeffries. (James was subsequently kicked out without casualties in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary.)

After all this serious history I was glad of a lighter story involving Henry Fielding (author of "Tom Jones"). Seems that while staying in the town he attempted to abduct a local heiress, only to be soundly defeated by her relations, who intended her as a bride for her cousin. Fielding left, never to return, but Austen clearly liked the place, and John Fowles ("French Lieutenant's Woman") lived there for many years, and was curator of the museum for a decade.

The walk had stayed on the flat, but you need to be fit to live in the town, as most of it climbs steeply in all directions. I had asked the tour leader where to find the best coffee in town, and he had replied that he didn't drink it himself, but there was a place called Amid Giants and Idols that was supposed to be good, along with Aroma. Aroma was on the flat, but I couldn't resist the quirky name of the other place, and trekked up, and up, to Silver Street, and a reasonable macchiato and a good smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich.
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Old Aug 10th, 2016, 09:33 AM
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August 4-7, 2015: Walking Around Lyme Regis

Although many streets in Lyme Regis climb steeply up the encircling hills, flat walks are possible. My first afternoon in town, after checking into my cosy B&B, I walked over to, and along, the Cobb, taking care not to fall down the steps, as I hadn't brought a Captain Wentworth along to catch me. Lyme Regis now extends all the way to the Cobb, and in addition to good views of the coast, I noticed several interesting buildings.

The next day, after the mostly flat history walk in the morning, I went east. The coast around Lyme is known as the Jurassic Coast for the age of the rocks, and is subject to erosion and frequent landslides, often exposing significant fossils. Tracy Chevalier's latest book, "Remarkable Creatures", is about Mary Anning, who made major discoveries in the early 1800s, including the first ichthyosaurus. The local museum organizes fossil walks at low tide, but I didn't want to carry rocks around for the next three months, however interesting they might be, and stayed off the beach. If the word "beach" conjures up a picture of flat sand, or even pebbles, think again. This beach was an intriguing wilderness of mud and rock. Significant work had been undertaken in recent years to stabilize the ground and a new walkway now ran above the beach to the east. It didn't go far, just far enough for me to get a good view.

If I had been truly energetic I would have taken the bus east to Charmouth the next day and hiked up Golden Cap, which was reputed to offer fabulous views. But even if I had felt more energetic I certainly wouldn't have attempted the hike in full sun, and the Dorset coast was enjoying remarkably fine weather. Instead, my B&B hosts suggested a circular walk, starting along the course of the river to the appropriately named Uplyme, and then looping across country. The walk to Uplyme was mostly shaded by trees, and featured a former mill and some pretty houses. I trekked uphill to check out the church, where the 10:00 am service was wrapping up with tea and coffee. It looked to have been well-intended.

Instead of following the directions for the rest of the walk, which looked complicated, I opted to make a loop in the other direction, which appeared easy enough on the map the T.I. had given me. Pity that the map didn't have contour lines, as Gore Lane went up, and then up again, and again. It was one of those walks where you keep expecting the road to flatten out round the next bend, only to find that it keeps going up. However, eventually I crossed the A3052, and then joined the Southwest Coast Path and Enjoyed some really good views of the coast. I rewarded myself with a crab salad sandwich and another macchiato at Amid Giants and Idols, where I had a long chat with the owners, learning that the coffee shop was their retirement business.

My B&B had made me dinner reservations for the Friday and Saturday nights (I can recommend the Millside, where I followed a duck breast appetizer with tender lamb chops), but I hadn't bothered for Sunday. So it was my own fault when the Indian restaurant where I wanted to eat turned out to be full, and I ate the first fish and chips of the trip instead. Really quite good fish and chips (plaice).
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