National Rail Stations: Whittlesea - Marden

Station 1,000: Whittlesea - Marden

Greater Anglia trips are some of my favourite to do, and I was excited to do this one as it would be a throwback to my original railway trip to visit a new station that just so happened to be on the Greater Anglia network. My original intention was to catch a train to Ely, to run down the line towards Peterborough, jumping off the penultimate stop at Whittlesea, to return back to Ely. However, I realised it will be a lot easier and quicker to get a train to Peterborough first, and then just get one train through Whittlesea to Ely. This was my first time catching a Greater Anglia train from Peterborough, and luckily, I didn't witness 'The Peterborough Curse', where my train got significantly delayed getting up there, as it always seemed like last year, I was, and even recently on a trip to my nan's, my train arrived about 2 hours late at Peterborough, for the third time in a row. It seems that despite Whittlesea Station being spelt with 'sea' at the end, the actual town it is situated in is spelt with 'sey', so it's weird that there's a spelling difference here. I luckily got my new favourite train that runs on Greater Anglia services as it passes through the strange station name of March, even though I was there in February, to Ely, one of only 10 three lettered station names in the country. I changed at Ely for another Greater Anglia service, which I was excited to be on as the train was going to pass through Shippea Hill fast, of which used to be the least used station in the country, and a few years ago, I made my first railway trip to visit here as the station was so bizarre and has a really infrequent service, so it was brilliant to catch a glimpse of it as I passed through. I got off at Brandon Station, which just made me hope that there's a station somewhere that is just my name, noticing a rather nice station building, and old 'One' logos on a sign and help point, even though the help point had 'Prittlewell' written on the top, a station on the Southend Victoria line, which was the name of the company before Greater Anglia was a thing. I had to reverse at Brandon, only having a few minutes to do so, as I skipped a station on the way up called Lakenheath, an awkward request stop that has an infrequent service, which is why I had to come up to Brandon first as there was no current trains stopping there after leaving Ely. It's also rather strange to have two request stops together that both have infrequent services, as Shippea Hill is next to Lakenheath, and no trains stop at both at the same time. This was hilariously long for me to do to tick off Lakenheath, especially as I may not have even stopped there as it's a request stop, but luckily, I did. I was actually thinking of jumping out, if the train did stop, and walk back to Brandon, but it was rather long and the connection would have been tight, so I stayed on the train back to Ely again, and I'm glad I did as I enjoyed my explore around here. I got to take a small walk along the lovely River Great Ouse, go and check out the cathedral, as well as go inside of it, which was really nice, and even saw what used to be Oliver Cromwell's house, which was now a tourist centre, as well as an animal charity shop that's based where I Iive in London in the high street. It was definitely worth going to check out Ely rather than take the walk from Lakenheath to Brandon, and after giving someone directions to the cathedral, I jumped back on a train through Shippea Hill again, all the way up to Norwich, which provided some nice views along the line when I was in the middle of a forest. I got to explore a second new city for me that day, spending a lot of time around Norwich. The station building was rather nice, and after taking a walk up beside the river, I came across a boarded up and closed Red Lion pub and a really old brick tower, which was cool to see. Staying beside the river, I reached the main city centre, checking out the cathedral, the castle and the market, getting a free sausage roll from Greggs as well as accidentally cracking the corner of my new phone. I really enjoyed my explore of Norwich however, and when back at the station, the train I jumped on was actually going to stop at Shippea Hill, which means that they've switched the Saturday evening service to Ely from being a 7PM train to 4PM. I noticed that the announcements don't suggest that Shippea Hill is a request stop though, which is misinformation, because if you didn't know you had to request to stop there, you'd just stay on and then find your train passing through it, if the driver didn't make an announcement or no one came to check tickets. I wasn't going to stay on to Shippea Hill though, and I instead got off at the next stop called Wymondham, where I passed through on the way to Norwich, and is weirdly pronounced 'Windhum'. This was a beautiful little station, and was really nice to have an explore around as the sun was setting and casting a nice glow on to an abbey. There was actually a station nearby called Wymondham Abbey, but it was part of a heritage railway line called the Mid Norfolk Railway that runs up to a town called Dereham, a rather large area that I'm surprised doesn't have a regular railway line. From times waiting at Peterborough, a bus service to Dereham shows up on the information boards at the station, which almost makes it seem that it is a rail replacement bus, but it would be good to maybe go and visit Dereham one day. Wymondham Abbey was a tiny little station, but was good to see and cross over the single track, before I started a beautiful walk during sunset to the station next to Wymondham called Spooner Row. I skipped this station on the way up to Norwich as the service is again, really infrequent and I caught the only Ely bound service of the day, making sure to request it as I was all alone at the small station, and it was now dark. This train also stopped at the infrequent Eccles Road and Harling Road Stations, which I also skipped on the way up, before jumping out at Thetford. It's a very difficult line to 100% tick off, as there's multiple infrequent stations, and there's no one train that stops at all of them, so it was a good thing that I had already ticked off Shippea Hill a while back. I could have stayed on the train to change again at Ely, but I realised I could get off here at Thetford, and have a spooky look around in the dark, before jumping on an East Midlands Railway service, instead of a Greater Anglia for once, that would then take me all the way through to Peterborough, letting me avoid another change at Ely. The guard tried making an issue with the fact that I broke my journey at Thetford, considering my ticket wasn't for that station, but I was allowed to do that, and as soon as I got back at Peterborough, it was good to see that the curse didn't strike me again. It was a really fun trip, letting me explore two new brilliant cities, as well as the nice village of Wymondham during sunset, and I was happy to have completed a rather awkward Greater Anglia line.

I had only made one trip north of Watford Junction before to Bletchley for the Marston Vale Line, but I hadn't managed to stop at all stations up to that point on that day. Therefore, I decided it was time to get an all stations stopper north, which only runs as far as Tring at first. This is where I decided to have my first explore of the day, and I was going to walk right up along a road with no pavement to a wildlife trust area that probably would have one of those visitor centres I really like with interesting gifts. However, I thought I may not have enough time to get up there, and I wasn't too bothered to walk all the way up on the road, so I decided to go up a pathway into the woods, which was really muddy but had incredible views across the valley. Afterwards, I took a path across the West Coast Main Line until I reached the Grand Union Canal, my favourite one to walk along in London, so was great to see all the way up here, although it was extraordinarily blue, and I walked along it back to the station. Back on the trains, I continued across the bridge where The Great Train Robbery took place north of Cheddington, which looked like the middle of nowhere, through Bletchley to Milton Keynes Central, where I got off to do my second explore of the day. I actually bought my ticket to here, and got one of the strange massive paper tickets, rather than the small card like ones you usually get, and weirdly, by buying the LNWR only ticket, that's slower than the Avanti West Coast only ticket, it's actually slightly more expensive. Usually, I would expect the train that's quicker to be the more expensive one, and weirdly, Southern services also come all the way up here, making Milton Keynes it's northern most station on it's network. I've also noticed before that Southeastern has a more western terminus at London Victoria than South Western Railway's at London Waterloo, and vice versa. Milton Keynes felt like a very new built area, with a big push to cycling as there's many underpasses built underneath its roads, with not many roads having pavements alongside. All the roads were built straight, and felt like the area was in blocks, a lot like cities in America, and I walked all the way through the town centre to the other end of it. Leaving the town centre behind, there was a brilliant large park area with many interesting things contained within it like sheep grazing in the field, a large pyramid like shape on top of a hill, a totem and the Grand Union Canal, and was a lot of fun to look around. Walking back through the town centre to the station, it was very quiet when walking through the underpasses, and I noticed just how large the station really was from the outside. Although I bought my ticket to here, I went one stop further to Wolverton, as I actually bought two tickets, splitting them at Milton Keynes, which still had London Midland branding up, as it was overall cheaper. Wolverton was my third and final explore of the day, and was a brilliant end to the day as there was more interesting places to go and see. North of the station was an amazing viaduct right beside the River Great Ouse, the same river from Ely I saw last time, but was a little tricky to get to because of the meadows leading up to it being completely flooded. I took a walk along the river, noting a caravan site on the opposite side, until I reached the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, where the Grand Union Canal passes over the River Great Ouse, and a handy information plaque told me this was the oldest broad canal iron trough aqueduct that was opened in 1811 as the fourth attempt to cross over the river. There was a very narrow footpath underneath the Grand Union Canal which felt like it was caving in and was very claustrophobic to walk through, which was a very syrange thing to see, and on the other side of it, there was a small building that had a brilliant piece of fox graffiti on. I actually walked along the Grand Union Canal afterwards here back towards Wolverton Station, realising just how close the canal and the railway line I was on the entire day are to each other. It was getting dark as I got back to the station, and was a very fun day exploring three new places and seeing everything they had to offer from a canal to a viaduct. However, as I waited for my London bound train, the train got increasingly delayed until it decided to become cancelled. All of a sudden, the train I was meant to catch rumbled through, full of passengers, so that's when I realised they decided to cancel it stopping at Wolverton to try and get it more on time. I waited for the train behind, but I couldn't help but feel that yet again, like my last journey on LNWR up to Bletchley and the Marston Vale Line, I was delayed on my journey home, but it didn't ruin my mood after a great day out, so it was all good.

On the day that only comes around every 4 years, the 29th of February, I went out on a trip on the railways, by leaving London Marylebone on a Chiltern Railways service. I stayed on the train to Leamington Spa, but I started to feel ill whilst on the train, and I wasn't sure why. I had to abandon my stuff on the table seat, whilst I went to the toilet in case I got sick, and after not getting walked in on because I forgot to lock the door, I was luckily completely fine in the end, and when I got off with all my stuff and carried on with my day, I didn't feel ill again. The train was actually running a few minutes late, and I was surprised I felt well enough to run around to the other platform at Leamington Spa to only just make my train to Nuneaton. I noticed that this train was one of the old London Overground trains that used to run on a line I regularly used that runs between Gospel Oak and Barking. However, this line went through a huge redevelopment project with the electrification of the line and new trains being introduced, so the older ones were refurbished and moved up here to the West Midlands, and I have to say I was rather impressed with the transformation. I noticed that the cab still had the old London Overground moquette, despite the interior having a nice new West Midlands Railway one and purple poles instead of orange. The line had a few new stations on called Kenilworth, Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park, until I got to Nuneaton, where I had a look around the town. I believe the line only used to run between Nuneaton and Coventry, but when Kenilworth was opened, it was extended down to Leamington Spa. Coventry was actually where I headed next, as I returned on the line, and jumped out at this time, spending an hour exploring the city as that was the frequency of the line. The main place I went to go and see in Coventry was the IKEA as it was due to be the very first one in the country to close, so I had a look at it, taking one of the large lifts to the top floor to the dining hall to get a good view across the city. I had a look around the market in the city centre, spotting a wolf t-shirt I quite liked the look of, before returning to the station and spotting a brilliant Avanti West Coast branded water bowl for dogs to drink out of with the creative quote of 'Feeling Fur-sty' written above it, before jumping on another train back to Leamington Spa. I had a quick look around here, whilst waiting for my next train, spotting a brilliant heritage sign on the platform, and what looked like an old railway bridge over the road right next to the current day one, so there was possibly more tracks than there is today. I had a look at the nearby church beside the river, as well as a brilliant indoor garden area that even had large fish in a pond, so it was great to see. Back at the station, I jumped on another Chiltern Railways service that ran through Hatton Station, noticing that they had a permit to travel machine on the other platform, before getting off at Bearley. This was a very quiet little station, and had remains of an old second platform, and I believe the very first service of the day only stops there, as well as Clarendon, on request only. There wasn't a whole lot around the station, but I did take a walk down towards the Edstone Aqueduct, the second one in 2 days out on the railways that I came across one, and this is actually the largest cast iron aqueduct in the country, built for the Stratford-upon-Avon canal in 1816, that runs over the road I walked along and the railway line. The road actually passed underneath the railway line, and was weirdly completely flooded, and a bus struggled to get underneath it, but luckily, there was a grassy verge on an embankment beside the road where I could avoid the flood. On the aqueduct, I could actually get very close to the water, and if I bent over, I could dip my face into the canal, and the towpath was filled with many puddles that made me feel wary when walking on in case a gust of wind pushed some of the water off the filled canal onto me. I walked along the towpath to the next station on the line called Wilmcote where Mary Arden's farm was, but it was all grass so was extremely muddy to walk along, so I looked like a hilarious mess afterwards. I caught a train from here to Stratford-upon-Avon, that was so unbelievably better in every way than the actual Stratford in London. Stratford-upon-Avon is probably most famous for being the birth place of William Shakespeare, and if you head into the town, you can actually see his house still standing there, which was really cool to see, despite the fact he made English Literature lessons less fun. I found it ironic that opposite his house lay a Harry Potter gift shop, appropriately named 'Alohomora', which I don't think I've seen in any other location before but in King's Cross Station. Something which was a surprise to see, but fun, was a man pedalling on a modified bike that had a piano attached and smaller instruments he would kick his feet against to make a sound, cycling through the middle of the high street, dressed up in a top hat and suit, singing songs whilst playing. He was brilliant to see perform, and afterwards, I started to make my way down towards the River Avon, of which the town is named after. There was a marina here, as this was where the canal I was on earlier cane out to, and there was a selection of signs pointing to different locations you can get to on the canal, with how many locks you have to go through and how long it may take. Higher amount of locks leads to the journey time taking longer, for example, York was 226 miles away through 115 locks and Liverpool was 199 miles away through 154 locks, but apparently both take about 99 hours to get to. The River Avon had burst its banks here, so parts of the pathway were flooded, but I did manage to make my way down it towards Holy Trinity Church. I knew that within this church lay Shakespeare's grave, which you were allowed to go in and have a look, but it closed only about 15 minutes before I got there, so that was a bit of a shame. Afterwards, I randomly came across two old railway carriages on a track beside a pathway, which I didn't know was there, and I could see that they have been turned into a cafe, although this was also closed at the time. I noticed later however, that the line from Stratford-upon-Avon used to continue further, and the pathway I was on was where the railway line used to be, the carriages being almost in the exact location where a racecourse station used to be. Of course, this means that there was a racecourse nearby that I had a look at, and when turning around beside the infamous white posts that surround the course, it was strange to see them old carriages just sat there from a further away position. My way out of the racecourse was actually blocked by a locked gate, so I thought rather than walk all the way back around, I'll just jump it, which I did, as I made my way back to the station. Stratford-upon-Avon was so much fun to explore, and was definitely worth the trip down there as there was so much to see. I was slightly early for the train I needed to catch, so I jumped on an earlier one to get the opportunity to get off at Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway Station, which was quite a mouthful. Someone had thrown up in the first carriage, so they forced all of us into one busier carriage, and I can't help but feel that might have been me in an alternate dimension, and I was happy I didn't have to stay on that train long. My next train was due to call at 4 request stops, called Wooton Wawen (pronounced Wooton Wowun, a great name), Danzey, Wood End and The Lakes, and my train stopped at all of them, including a regular station called Henley-in-Arden, reminding me of Henley-on-Thames, and probably named after Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother. Some of these stations had heritage signs too, like the one I saw at Leamington Spa earlier, and I stayed on the train until I got off at Spring Road. The rest of the day I was just going to focus on ticking off stations, as I had explored a lot of places by now, and it was dark and a little bit spooky on the platforms. I felt it strange that a quiet station liked Spring Road that had no ticket hall area, still had a ticket office at the top of the ramp leading down to the platform, although it was closed. My intention here was to get another train to Small Heath, where I was going to reverse, but I noticed that I could maybe save a little time by getting a train all the way to Birmingham Moor Street, spotting Bordesley in the dark, and reverse there to tick off Small Heath. By doing this, this actually allowed me to jump off at Widney Manor Station, which I believed at the time to be Station 1,000, a huge accomplishment and something I felt like I was building up to for a long time. However, later on, I would find out during a recount that I had missed out a few stations I've been to from my list, which I think would have made Station 1,000 to be Small Heath. However, it was great that I got the opportunity to get off at what I thought was Station 1,000 to take a picture on the platform, and although it started raining in the dark, I got a train one stop back to Solihull, where I stopped at before on my first Birmingham adventure. There was a London Marylebone service I could have caught, but I needed to wait a rather long time for a train to tick off Lapworth Station that didn't get much of a frequent service. However, because I had to make sure to tick off Lapworth, when I got back into Leamington Spa, the next London Marylebone train was cancelled, so I came to the conclusion that Lapworth was a curse as I could have got a London train straight from Solihull. Considering my ticket was valid via High Wycombe only, I had to get a London Marylebone service, but I noticed that a late running Cross Country service was pulling into the platform that I could catch to Reading, where I could get a GWR service into London Paddington, rather than wait for the next Marylebone service. I spoke to a member of staff on the platform, who said I'd be allowed to make this journey, so I did, and I would have had to explain to a guard why I'm on a different route if they came to check my ticket, which they didn't do. This was also my very first Cross Country service, despite the fact I shouldn't have been on one, and I started reading a book on that train that I bought at Nuneaton, which felt so long ago now. This was my first time spotting one of the Crossrail trains at Reading, as they now run up here, but I got one of the fast GWR trains instead, which are one of my favourite trains, so it was great to yet again, leave Marylebone and return at Paddington. This was a brilliant trip that allowed me to see so many new places and tick off so many new stations, and these three trips I've done were all really amazing with the amount of places I got to explore.

It was actually over 5 months since my Stratford-upon-Avon journey that I then went out on the railways again, and this was all due to the lockdown. Now that I was pretty much finished with the night routes and Capital Ring, and there was a lot of station trips I wanted to get done this year, I focused heavily on these for the remaining months of 2020. I was planning on a big railway trip to see the Source of the River Thames at Kemble Station, visit the city of Gloucester and the newest station in the country called Worcestershire Parkway, and even make my way into Wales for the first time, but considering I was going to do this on the weekend that lockdown started, it never happened, and I never got around to doing it after lockdown ended. I instead decided on a Southern trip that I thought of doing during the last few months of 2019, but never did, so I left London Victoria, passing over a stunning viaduct near Haywards Heath that I've been meaning to have a look at from ground level for a while, but haven't either. The first new station in 5 months was Plumpton, noticing that there was a racecourse near the station, which made me want to get off there and have a look around, but didnt have the time to, until I changed trains at Lewes. I noticed that there was remains of a platform that had been infilled, which you walk across to change trains, which gave the station a spacious feel to it. On to one of the old Class 313 trains that took me through Southease Station, where every other train skips, and then Newhaven, noticing that there seemed to be a barn on fire, as there was a whole bunch of smoke billowing up into the air. The end of the line was Seaford, which I was excited to finally get to after wanting to come here for a while, and my first seaside town of the year. The beach was nice and quiet, and the plan was to take a walk along the shoreline, but I noticed that to the left, there looked to be some huge white cliffs that I wanted to go look at. I'm glad that I did, especially as after climbing up a very steep path to stand on top of the cliffs, it offered brilliant views across the sea and the coastline behind, still seeing the smoke in the distance as well as noticing what looked to be an old fort too. The cliffs seemed to stretch on for miles, and it would have been so cool to continue along further, but I had to start making my way back down the way I came, however, this was a very pleasant surprise, and definitely made Seaford a worthwhile place to visit. Along the beach, I kept glancing behind me to catch glimpses of the cliffs, and it really made me feel that these are possibly as good, if not better, than the actual white cliffs of Dover, a possible controversial opinion. As I continued, I could see the trains travelling along nearby, so I decided to go have a closer look at the penultimate stop on the line I just came in on called Bishopstone, as I didn't get off there on the way down. I'm glad that I did though as a second abandoned platform was clearly visible, and you could cross on a footbridge over it as there was two entrances to the station. The ticket hall area had some old railway posters, including one for the Intercity 125 trains, and even outside the station, there was a green permit to travel machine, one I hadn't seen before although it wasn't working. Offering some views of the beach from the footbridge, I think this may be my new favourite Southern served station. I didn't get on the train here however, but continued along a shingle covered pathway north of the beach, noticing at times that there was old rails visible on this pathway, which was a surprise as I wasn't expecting this to be an abandoned railway. There also seemed to be what looked like an old mill and a pier that I could go out onto, before I was pushed away from the shoreline as the River Ouse protrudes its way in land. Crossing the railway line, where I could have got a great picture of a train passing underneath if I didn't make the rookie mistake of blocking the camera with my finger, I came close to the ruins of the barn fire I saw earlier, seeing a lot of firefighters and water nearby, and luckily I don't think anybody was hurt. This means that I was now close to Newhaven Harbour Station, where I was going to jump back on the trains. I had a little look around first though, noticing the station has two green permit to travel machines although neither of them worked, and a lot of buildings around felt decrepit and abandoned, with some windows being smashed, so the area didn't feel loved, especially with the barn fire. As the station name suggests, there was a harbour nearby, and I did see a ship situated nearby, the same one I saw arriving from the sea when sat on the beach. There was actually a small branch coming off of the Seaford line to a station called Newhaven Marine, which I could actually see the location off from the footbridge of the harbour station, as it was so close to each other, although no trains run along to it anymore. You used to be able to walk right up to the platform, but it's since been demolished and there was a fence blocking access, as I believe the harbour was going through a redevelopment stage. It would be good to see this whole area get redevelopment as it felt unloved, but it was good to still see the tracks running down there. As I got back on a train, I stayed through Lewes this time, to call at London Road, reminding me of the one at Guildford, before going over an impressive looking viaduct to get to Brighton Station. I've been here before for a seaside day out, but as I had to tackle the line here from Lewes, I thought I'd revisit the shoreline, but it was just so busy that it felt like a massive downgrade from Seaford. I returned back to Lewes afterwards, and I had enough time to wait for my final train back to London that it allowed me to have a quick ecplore of the town. Lewes felt like a rather historical spot, and I went to have a look at the ruins of a nearby priory as well as climb up to the top of a hill during sunset, rushing quickly as I was racing across the clock to make it back to the station for my train. I specifically had to catch this returning train as it stopped at Cooksbridge Station, which my train coming here this morning skipped, as a lot of trains that stop at Plumpton don't end up stopping here. It was a good first trip after lockdown though, and I was excited to do more.

The previous summer, there was three main trips I was focused on wanting to do, and they were Hastings, Dover and Berney Arms. However, the line through Berney Arms was actually closed for most of the year as part of improvement works for the Greater Anglia network, and so I never got the opportunity to do that trip. I did eventually get around to doing it in this summer though, so I made my way to London Liverpool Street to start another brilliant Greater Anglia adventure, only a day after my trip to Seaford. The trains which run on the Great Eastern Main Line to Norwich used to be one of my favourites with comfy seats, slam doors and slidy windows, but have since been replaced by an intercity style train that looks similar to my favourite regional trains that Greater Anglia run, of which I've previously travelled on the Cambridge - Ipswich and Peterborough - Norwich line. However, I was disappointed to find that they didn't have any table seats, despite the old trains having them, and there was a mistake on the information displays suggesting that a certain carriage was first class and another being a dining car, although I couldn't manage to find them. I definitely preferred the older trains, which was a shame considering I like their other new trains, but at least I rode the entire Great Eastern Main Line as well ticking off Diss Station, a brilliant name. When I got to Norwich, reminding me of my earlier trip in the year, my train to Berney Arms was cancelled, and the next one was 2 hours away. I didn't want to spend 2 hours in Norwich though, so I decided to jump on a Lowestoft bound service, requesting to stop at Buckenham Station, which I think I would have skipped on my Berney Arms train, even though all trains seemed to be stopping at request stops anyways at the moment considering train companies wanted to minimise contact between passengers and staff due to the pandemic. I was excited to travel to Berney Arms as I knew it was going to be a really remote station, but it seems that Buckenham was too, so it was a good alternative. There wasn't much around, not many people seem to use the station, and weirdly, the Norwich bound platform was down an unnecessarily long pathway beside the track, but it did have a leaflet holder in the shelter. The service pattern is strange as the most services stop here on a Sunday, with extremely rare ones on a Saturday, and none at all on Mondays to Fridays. As the Berney Arms train won't stop here in 2 hours time, I started walking back to the previous station on the line called Brundall. On the way, I saw a public footpath sign pointing across the railway tracks, which I found weird as there was no actual pathway across them so you would have to step over the actual rail carefully without tripping, something I had not seen before. On an actual road crossing of the railway line, there was a telephone number for large vehicles wishing to cross, but strangely, there was tape over one of the numbers, and when you look closer, you realise that's because it was a 12 digit telephone number. I made it to Brundall, noticing that the manual level crossings which used to sit along the Wherry Lines up here no longer exist and have instead been replaced. Trying a packet of new Nandos flavoured Walkers crisps that I found in Liverpool Street this morning, I waited for my Berney Arms train, which was luckily on time. However, at some point, they just decided to cancel it *again*, meaning it would have to be another 2 hour wait for the next one, and considering that was going to be the last train of the day and the station was in the middle of nowhere, I would have been stranded. I wasn't too sure what to do as there was nothing to really do around Brundall, but I noticed that the train behind to Lowestoft was still on time, so I decided to switch my entire plan and journey for the day, and head down to Lowestoft instead. It's a bit of a shame that they didn't run a service to Berney Arms, considering they cancelled an earlier one, and if it was going to be the same train, making its way back and becoming the next journey in 2 hours time, they should have got a replacement train ready, especially considering that there is a depot close to Norwich Station. It didn't matter much though, apart from having to come up here again at a later point, as I made my way to the end of the line at Lowestoft, which was actually Britain's Eastern Most Railway Station, which was an accomplishment I could now add alongside Britain's Southern Most Railway Station of Penzance. There was a brilliant heritage sign on the outside of the station that had the original name of Lowestoft Central written on. Lowestoft seemed like a rather quiet town, but if I came all the way out here, I couldn't not take a quick walk through a rather industrial area to the eastern most point in the entire country, which was just a magical place. There was a sign suggesting this fact under the shadow of a wind turbine, and around the outside there was a selection of destinations across the world and how far away they are, including London that was 106 miles away. It was a brilliant place to come to, and walk along the shoreline here, seeing one tiny fence blocking access to the rocks, even though you could walk around it easy, so that didn't make sense to me. It would be brilliant to one day go and visit the other directional outposts across the country now that I've been to the easternmost area. Back through the town, I had to go and visit the beach too, and it was genuinely rather beautiful to discover and walk along. Although I didn't manage to get to the area I was planning to go to originally, it was still great to switch up the plan and visit Lowestoft instead, which is well worth an explore. I sat in McDonald's with a meal whilst waiting for the penultimate 7PM train of the day home, but when I headed over to the station to catch it, I found out it had been cancelled. Clearly, the trains were not on my side today, and I could have caught a train back towards Norwich and then head down to London, but the timing was so awful that it didn't matter if I waited an hour for the last train. There's two lines into Lowestoft, and I waited for the last train of the day to Ipswich, where I would then head back to London. I guess it was lucky that the last train wasn't cancelled, because then I would be stuck in Lowestoft for the night. I did manage to eventually get on the train though, and make it down to Ipswich. I did plan to go to Lowestoft anyways, first coming up the line from Ipswich, to explore everywhere I went today, and then actually make my way to Buckenham and do the walk to Brundall, before making my way back via Lowestoft to get off at Melton and do a nice riverside walk to Woodbridge, but considering that sunset was upon us and it was the last train of the day, I wasn't able to do that now which was a little bit of a shame. My train from Ipswich was a different kind of the new intercity train I caught earlier, actually having seats, first class and a dining car this time. This made me realise that the train I was on earlier was a Stansted Express style service, and not the main line service, which is a bit strange that they're not strict at keeping these trains to its assigned route. Although the intercity was better than the Stansted Express, I still think the older trains was better. Getting back to London Liverpool Street later than I should have, it was still a really enjoyable day getting to see the quiet Buckenham Station and exploring the brilliant place of Lowestoft, even though the trains was against me and my original plan failed. At least it allowed me to tick off a whole bunch of other stations I wouldn't have done otherwise, and hopefully next time I try to reach Berney Arms, Greater Anglia would actually let me.

After completing the challenge of walking the Capital Ring and riding all of London's night routes, I made it clear that I wouldn't be participating in any more challenges, apart from slowly going around to tick off all the stations in the country. Although I may not be able to ever walk the entirety of the River Thames as there are large periods of the walk that go nowhere near to a railway station, I did want to walk along a lot more of it that I can. Therefore, the day after completing these challenges, I went out to walk a section of the River Thames that also allowed me to tick off some stations in the process. When I previously went out to visit Windsor for the day, I found myself close to Datchet Station where I jumped on the train one stop to Windsor & Eton Central, the second station in the area of Windsor. However, I was missing just two stations on this line and in the general area of this part of the railways, so I made my way to Staines Station to jump on a Windsor bound train that allowed me to tick off Wraysbury and Sunnymeads Station. A previous idea for when I come down to tick off these two stations was visit an inflatable outdoor water park that was close to Sunnymeads Station, which would have been similar to the ones I visited before near Harlow Mill and with my family in Lincolnshire. It was currently closed however, so the Thames felt like a better bet, especially as I knew it would be a rather fun walk. It felt weird being back at Datchet Station, and when I crossed over the bridge that let me beside the Thames, I saw in the distance the farm that I had a look around when I first walked here from Windsor 2 years prior. It was a rather pleasant River Thames walk that took me beside Old Windsor Lock, dipping my feet into a quiet spot the water, until I reached the National Trust area of Runnymede, a very historical area. Runnymede is the site of where the Magna Carta document was drafted on the 15th June 1215 that stated that the king and the government may not be above the law, and there was a lot of interesting places within the grounds. For example, there was 12 chairs situated in a way that looked like they were around a table, which symbolised The Jurors who signed the Magna Carta document, and had images engraved onto them that represented law and freedom. There was also a memorial for John F Kennedy, as well as an oak tree that was planted by Queen Elizabeth II back in 1987. There was a memorial at the actual site where the Magna Carta was signed too back in 1215 and as well as all of this, there was a circular building called Writ In Water, which confused me at first. To enter, you had to walk all the way around the inside of the foundation with no lights to enter the middle, where there was a lot of benches surrounding a circular pond of water, which was a really nice chill spot. I noticed that on the band around the top of the water, there was a bunch of reversed letters, and I didn't realise the meaning of until I saw that you can actually read what the letters said when you looked into the reflection of the water, which I thought was very clever. There was a lot of writing, but a sample of it read 'No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions', which is closely accurate to what the Magna Carta document was written up for. Nearby in the Runnymede Pleasure Gardens, back closer to the River Thames, there was a statue of Queen Victoria. It was well worth an explore of Runnymede and is genuinely a really interesting place, and I'm happy that I finally got the chance to explore it after wanting to come here for a while. Continuing alongside the River Thames more, I passed underneath the M25, the polar opposite end of it where it passes over the Thames on the Dartford Crossing. The Dartford Crossing is much more interesting to walk underneath though, and eventually, the River Thames led me out to Staines, where I was finishing my riverside walk for the day. There was one more place I wanted to visit however, and considering I knew I was nearby to this place I wanted to go for a while, I decided to catch a bus from the bus station to it. I had to take a small walk along a road from the bus stop, crossing over a rather dangerous railway bridge with no pavement to enter the vicinity of Bedfont Lakes Country Park. I walked through the grounds of it to the other side, where I caught another bus to a nearby station, and it was a really nice end to the day and also worth an explore around. It was a fun day out, especially exploring Runnymede, and it made me excited to do more River Thames walks in the future.

I was excited for my next trip on the railways as I would be making my way down towards the South Coast again, completing more of the Southern network. I started off at Lewes again after making my way down from Victoria, and already I noticed some posters that I didn't see last time. One of them mentioned the official closure of Newhaven Marine Station would be happening close to the end of September 2020, which means that although no trains ever stopped there anymore and nobody could use the station as a passenger, it had weirdly never been officially closed until now, probably to do with saving money. Another poster gave information about the history of the railways in this part, informing me that there used to be a Tide Mills Station close to the Seaford branch, which now makes sense why I came across old tracks on my walk near Bishopstone, whilst another talked about a dog which used to be owned by the station master back in the 1880s, which was well worth a read.  I did like that there was informative posters around, and with the obvious infilled abandoned platform, made me quite like Lewes Station. I had completed three of the four lines to Lewes from Seaford, Brighton and London, so it was time to do the last to Eastbourne, with my first station of the day being Glynde, pronounced 'Glind'. I actually got out here, as there's hardly any trains which stop here at Glynde and the next station called Berwick, so after trying out the permit to travel machine which took my 10p, didn't give me a ticket and didn't give my money back, I had to reverse to Lewes, to then reverse fast through Glynde to stop at Berwick. What intrigued me about my return train to Lewes was that it was a Gatwick Express train, which considering that they weren't running at the moment as the demand was not there for the airport, they dispersed their trains elsewhere across the Southern network, meaning that I got on one of them despite the fact they're not supposed to run down here. So after spotting a large hill close to the railway tracks at Glynde three times in quick succession, I made it to the end of the line at Eastbourne.. or, not quite. Some trains do terminate here, but others come in from Lewes stopping at Hampden Park and then Eastbourne, before reversing back out to stop at Hampden Park again to continue further along the South Coast, of which I'll be doing later. There was a sign welcoming me to Eastbourne and The Sunshine Coast upon leaving the station, and walking through the town to get down to the beach was rather nice, spotting a torn down building and an abandoned art deco cinema that still had a sign on the outside suggesting it was showing films. The beach was rather nice, but unfortunately the pier was closed so I couldn't go on it. I did take a walk along the promenade however, through a bandstand, which was rather nice, until I came out to the Western Lawns. There was an old looking tower on the lawns, and it provided a great view of the coast, as well as white cliffs in the distance, which eventually stretch all the way through to Seaford, where I was before. I enjoyed my explore around Eastbourne, and I could definitely say that this seaside town is better than Brighton as well, before I headed back to the station. I was early enough to catch another service that let me get off at Hampden Park to have a quick look around before jumping on the service I would have caught from Eastbourne to jump off the very next station called Peveney & Westham. I took a short walk from here to see Pevensey Castle, which was pretty cool to see, especially as I could stand on the bridge above the moat, and then down the rather quaint high street to the next station Pevensey Bay. This is a rather small quiet station that gets a very infrequent service, which is why I had to specifically catch this train, which just so happened to be a Gatwick Express service. I got off the next stop called Normans Bay, which has a more frequent service, but looks exactly the same as Pevensey Bay in every way. Apparently the name doesn't derive from the Normans, but once I took the walk down to the actual beach, it would have been a good place for them to arrive at. It's a very secluded beach with nobody on it at all for long stretches, and is a beautiful place to visit if you're wishing to be beside the sea and hear the waves rushing up on shore. A walk all the way along the coast took me to the next station to Cooden Beach, which wasn't as quiet a station, and had long, dark, spooky ramps leading to the platforms, as well as December 2014 London Underground tube maps weirdly in a rack outside the ticket office. I again got off the next station called Collington to do another coastal walk to Bexhill Station. This walk wasn't as secluded as the previous one as I was now in an urban area, seeing a lot of nice seaside houses, and before heading to the next station, I climbed Galley Hill which was nearby. This place offered nice views across the coast, and of the sunset that was occuring, but it was getting a little bit cold. I finally made it to the station, where I stayed on the train through to Hastings, where I would spend the remainder of my day, as I've come here and before and fell in love with the place. It was getting dark now so it may feel weird that I'm deciding to spend some time now at Hastings. However, the reason for this is that I had one final line to travel on that day, and the service on that line was awful. There was a station on this line called Doleham, which only got a 7AM train and a 10PM train, so I had to deliberately spend as much time as possible in order to catch that late train. That's why I got on and off every station on the line leading up to Hastings, so I can waste time, but also make sure to tick off every station which is why I didn't just do one long walk along the coast, but instead did it in stages. I'm glad that I did this though, as when I originally came up with the idea for this trip, Hastings got about a 6PM train, which wouldn't have given me much time to get from the infrequent Pevensey Bay to Doleham. I walked around Hastings for a while in the dark, checking out my favourite seat, struggling to find the underground roundel I saw in one of the shop windows from last time, before heading over to McDonald's for a meal. Unfortunately, they didn't let me sit in to eat as a COVID restriction, despite multiple other McDonald's letting you do that, so I had to walk down and eat it on the beach in the dark. It was cold, it wasn't one of the nicest McDonald's meals I've had, and I almost wet my foot in the sea as it was so dark I couldn't see the waves coming in. I made my way back to the station, realising I had enough time to go one stop up the line to Ore Station, one of 10 three lettered names, which I thought would be a major station where I could sit in the warm, but it wasn't so I had to sit on the platform in the dark and cold. My train eventually arrived on, noticing it was the same style of train that runs on the Uckfield Line, that took me to that awkward Doleham Station and through Rye, another three lettered nane. From probably my favourite Southern station recently at Bishopstone to my least favourite at Doleham, plainly because of the service pattern, my train pulled into Ashford International where it terminated, allowing me a 6 minute connection for the last train of the night back to London. It was a Southeastern HighSpeed service, but because it was dark, I couldn't really make out that I was traveling fast, but I eventually got back into London rather late after a really long day out. I really enjoyed my visit to beaches along the Sunshine Coast, and even exploring Hastings at night, and it was lucky I managed to still get the last train back, otherwise I would have been stranded in Ashford.

My first trip of September 2020 was one that focused a lot on ticking off stations as there was going to be a lot to do on that day. I was going to do this on a Sunday, but I realised that the very first station of the day didn't have a Sunday service, and that station was Kemsing, so I did it on the first Saturday of the month instead. That Southeastern service also stopped at Borough Green & Wrotham Station, weirdly pronounced 'Root-hm', as well as West and East Malling respectively, the first one suggesting you can alight there for a place called King's Hill, before calling at Maidstone East, the last of the three stations in the town I needed to stop at. I could have actually got out here to change for a different service behind that will stop at the following stations on the line, but I decided to get off the next stop at Bearsted instead, as I've been Maidstone before. This station is the one to go to for Leeds Castle, and there was a coach service outside ready to bring people there, but having a look at the map, the next station called Hollingbourne seems to be closer, so I'm surprised the coach service doesn't run from there. Some following stations were Harrietsham, reminding me of my cousin considering her name was hidden within the station's name, and Charing, reminding me of Charing Cross in London, as well as being back at Ashford International again. It was daytime this time though, and my train actually stayed on the platform for about 10 minutes, which allowed me to have a quick look around the station this time, rather than rushing the 6 minute change for the last train back to London. Continuing from Ashford International, my train stopped at Wye, the 8th out of 10 three lettered station names, before arriving at Canterbury East, where I had to get off again to wait for a train behind to stop at the next stops. The connection time did allow me to have a quick look at the historical city of Canterbury, spotting the old gatehouse that leads towards the high street of the old town, realising that double decker buses may not be able to pass underneath it as they use a road that by-passes it. I wish I had more time to explore the city by going down the high street and seeing the infamous cathedral, so I may have to come back here again at some point. Back on the train though, I noticed a very obvious abandoned station that the train passed through at speed, before arriving at Ramsgate. This place also might be an interesting area to explore one day, but I didn't have time today as the seaside was a bit of a walk from the station, and I had to change yet again for another train to bring me to Broadstairs Station. You can get one direct train out to here from London, one stop after Margate, a seaside town I've went to several times in my life with family, but considering I had to tick off all the stations, it took a lot longer. Walking down to the sea, there was a lovely sandy bay, which was a pleasant surprise and was really nice to chill at. Taking a walk along the coast, it was really nice as it was beneath a selection of white cliffs, which was a nice change of pace from walking on top of them for once, and it was definitely a pleasant coastal walk to take. This walk took me to Dumpton Park Station, which just felt like it was hidden away behind an estate which was really strange. I was meant to go back to Ramsgate Station after this, but it was quicker for me to get a train back to Broadstairs, and then reverse to Ramsgate through Dumpton Park without stopping. My train then stopped at Sandwich Station, probably one of the best names ever, along with Bat & Ball, which just shows that Southeastern has a whole bunch of brilliant station names. Eventually, the train passed through Dover Priory, which would have been great to jump out again, before taking a lovely stretch of the railways to travel along beside the coast and beneath cliffs, before arriving at Folkestone Central, noticing another abandoned station on the way here called Folkestone Junction. I jumped out here, getting really excited to explore around, walking down through the town towards the seaside again. There was a wide arch to the south of the town, before a steep decline leading down to the beautiful beach. There was a solid pathway that cut right across the beach, and there was a bell really high up that some people were trying to hit with a stone. It was really nice to walk along, and then make my way down the Folkestone Harbour Arm towards the lighthouse at the end, seeing a really old bus that had been turned into a cafe. I believe the harbour arm had recently been through redevelopment and it offered really pretty views across the beach, as well as the White Cliffs of Dover far off in the distance. Returning along the harbour, I came across the place I was most excited to seeing whilst here in Folkestone, and that was an abandoned railway station. There used to be a small branch off the line I travelled along to a station called Folkestone Harbour, which obviously, is where I was. It lay abandoned and decrepit for years, and because of a recent redevelopment, they cleaned up the station and made it look like what it used to look like, and it was so good to explore around. Two platforms still existed, with brilliant heritage Folkestone Harbour name and platform signs, and there was a nice garden area where the tracks would have been, and it was definitely the best example of a redeveloped abandoned station. The Mind The Gap message written on the edge of the platforms looked original as they were very faded. There was also an old signal box at the end of the platform too, which was cool to see, as well as the Way Out sign also having 'Sortie' written underneath which is the French way of saying it. This clearly shows that people would have used Folkestone Harbour Station as a way of getting over to France, and was a really cool feature to have. The bridge north of the station that the trains would have travelled over still had tracks built into the ground, and from it, you can see the Grand Burstin Hotel which looked like a giant ship. Beyond the bridge though, you can't go any further, but the tracks still exist, although completely overgrown, so it will be interesting to see if they ever do anything with this as the opportunity is there for redevelopment as they haven't ripped it up yet. Folkestone was such a brilliant place to explore, and I enjoyed it so much that I would love to return one day. As I headed back to the station, there was still some more I needed to tick off before returning to London, and I was early enough to go one stop to Folkestone West to pick up the stopping train behind, but I was too content with sitting on the platform eating food I bought, so I just waited. This train did take me back through Ashford International again, noticing the Eurostar tracks, before travelling through Pluckley, which is apparently England's most haunted village, probably worth a look around, until I reached Marden Station. This was a huge accomplishment as this was my very last Southeastern station, and I couldn't quite believe I had now been to every single one, especially considering there was so many that I went too today. It was a very enjoyable day out completing all the Kent Station, and seeing the brilliant seaside towns of Broadstairs and Folkestone, and I was very happy whilst on the train back to London.