Train to Holland

      A weekend spent at a music festival camped out drinking singing and dancing for four nights is not great preparation for a cycling holiday, don`t get me wrong i had an absolute blast at Tribfest with the old wickerman crew and knew it would be a weekend of excesses, its a journey of around 250miles to sledmere house where the festival is held i had that drive each way this takes time also, I left home on the Thursday morning and returned the Monday evening, i was ready just to unpack shower then start reorganising my stuff for the cycle trip i would have nearly two days to do that, BUT as soon as i went into my house i had the sickening feeling something was`nt right! some low life had broke into my home and raked through all my stuff and stole some cash and jewellery, this was a hassle i could really have done without, i fixed the broken window went out to met bob for beers and called the police in the morning, the next day i completed my packing in-between the police visit and unpacking tribfest camping equipment and other domestic chores, I still had time to go to Laura`s black bull quiz night where gary turned up for a chat no robbery is gonna get me down

           I never booked my cycle onto the Polmont to Edinburgh train it wasn't rush hour and these are big trains on a regular service so not getting my cycle on this train would be unlikely, there was two cycle friendly doors on the train i chose one a distance up the platform last to board and was confronted with the sight of two fully loaded touring cycles in the bike area (no space for mine then) this turned out to be fine i got chatting to the bike owners a Norwegian couple who had just completed the HEB way and were now flying home from Edinburgh, we swapped Instagram accounts and are now following each others adventures, i just stood next to their seats chatting and holding my bike into waverly station
         

     Once in Edinburgh I had to get my train to London the bike was booked on this train and the cycle had its own ticket and coach which nobody checked its reference number or ticket, the cycles are all the way at the very back of the long train i was glad i was at the platform in plenty time. i also had to put the bike in the train station elevator to get to platform nine
      Travelling alone with a cycle can feel like the ultimate freedom which is nice right up until you are in a busy train station and want to visit a loo or shop! Then you require someone to watch your stuff or just risk leaving it abandoned as i done on this occasion, you would be awfy unlucky for your bike or stuff to get nicked but having had my watch stolen of my wrist this year and my house broken into along with all the folk who got their tents burgled at tribfest,i was more wary than i would have been previously leaving my bike unattended at the train station
   I do love the Pendolino train down the west coast and remember fondly a mate of mine called boomer who arranged for Cammy to be up with the train driver on this route when he was a youngster, Cammy knows way much more about this train than i will ever know- how fast it goes how the Pendolino system works on the bends when to toot the horn all that good stuff he loved that day out ( cheers boomer)
     food on the train is sometimes a good excuse to get up and go for a walk, for me its a balance of taking on board food i like or the social walk along to the buffet carriage for hot or COLD drinks? IE; coffee or beer? i opted for the walk and bought a pleasant tilting pale ale made specially for virgin trains,

      I couldn't count how many times i have taken the train up and down to London. I always enjoy it I am usually the east coast route which i do prefer for the scenery but the west coast trains are normally more spacious less crowded, the west coast does take a bit longer also i could have shaved at least an hour from the journey,
      when the train stopped at crewe there had been a disturbance on the line and it caused delays I was sitting on the train and they announced there would be a quicker London train leaving soon from platform six i jumped up and grabbed my stuff, it wasn't until i seen my cycle helmet that i remembered i was part of a team me and the old Edinburgh cycle co/op country traveller touring bike were travelling together on this train i would have to stay, (with the now delayed train) it even lost all power because it was an electric train and they had to switch of the power on the line due to a potential jumper, it turned out in the end the jumper hadnt jumped which is a good thing i don`t grudge whoever my delay apparently i can claim half my fair back because it was over 30mins,
The last time I cycled between London train stations was over ten years ago I had forgotten how busy the roads were and how all the drivers expect you to know where you are going and where you're supposed to be on the roads, I ended up pushing the bike most of the way, it wasn't pleasant either weaving my fully laden bike through crowds in the stations London always seems such a crowded city to me, it took a while to find the euro dispatch office to leave the bike it was way at the back of the station down an alley, i was told to remove the panniers which i was hoping to leave with the bike as this meant i was laden down with two panniers a backpack and the top box, I had to lug all my gear while still wearing a cycle helmet for about a mile to find my apartment
   

It was tricky getting into the door lock system to then get access to a small internal safe with another combo lock to retrieve my room key and hump all my gear up four floors of very narrow winding wooden stairs, the apartment was fine though, it would have made a good base for a few days in London, I opened the window right up and looked out the window sill was low and I stepped back as it felt easy to make a straight drop down those four floors to the street below,
     I had been to the Camden area of London on a few occasions before, the last time I was there was with my mate Sean when i had to phone 999 as we witnessed a horrid motorcycle accident, i had never previously realised just how close it was to kings cross area though as I would normally have been jumping in and out of the underground between districts, there's lots of bars restaurants shops and take away places, I like Camden i opted for a bar called bellushies and seen they had punk IPA on draught six pounds a pint! I wasn't staying there, I remembered there was a brewdog in Camden now and checked my phone for directions it was close so I headed along, everyone that knows me knows I am a fan of the brewdog brand I had brought my brewdog passport with me a book for collecting stamps but I had stupidly left it in the apartment, I would get my electronic stamp when I used my shareholder discount card but being the box ticker that i am i wanted my physical stamp I mentioned this to the barman when I ordered my cauliflower burger and beer, we had a laugh about it then he suggested he could just stamp a bit of paper and i could stick it in my book later! Great idea i said and gave him a piece of paper to stamp for my book,