Wednesday 24 September - Cutty Sark and Tower Bridge

 We took Docklands Light Railway from Tower Hill running alongside the electric line to Southend and Shoeburyness.  I fired steam passenger trains along this stretch.  Coming in I had to make sure there was enough fire to keep the steam up for the brakes to be fully charged coming into the stub end station at Fenchurch Street but not too much because we were not allowed to make smoke or blow off steam in the station. Coming out I had to have a good fire for the run back to the coast.

 

The Cutty Sark is magnificent. The vessel has been extremely well restored but it is also shown in an interesting manner. The whole  vessel has been raised so that one can walk around underneath it and sit with  a drink. The explanations were well done and very interesting.

There was some frigging in the rigging

We then moved back to Tower Hill to see Tower Bridge. The weather was fine and we were taking pictures from the side when a tourist mentioned that the bridge was about to be raised. A tall ships sail training boat came up with the crew ranged all over the boat and singing a special chant.

A couple of beers with scratchings was lunch at the Anchor and Tap, a good pub close by. No music, no TV, no games - just good beer and conversation.
We then took the tour of Tower Bridge. It allowed us to walk across the top section and the exhibit of other famous bridges was interesting. However the tour of the engines was good but the explanations were facile. Museums tend to dumb down their exhibits and try to make them into a learning experience.

 The Millenium Bridge was good and there are good views in both directions. We finished up at St. Pauls and took the Underground back to the hotel.
Dinner this evening was at the Stanhope Arms including a  Black Sheep  brewery Four Square ale.

Tuesday 23 September- Sevenoaks, Knole House and Deer Park

Took train to Sevenoaks changing at Orpington.  There was a steep climb up into the town but a latte helped.

 

We saw several deer before we reached the visitor centre. The house was interesting but many of the room were dark because of the dark wood and to conserve the delicate fabrics. The gardens were very interesting, they are only open on Tuesdays during the summer. The flower gardens had splashes of colour and the vegetable garden was very formal with privet hedges and lawns.

 

Vegetable garden

 

After a light lunch we walked through the deer park.  The grounds extend for miles and we came across several groups of deer.  Most were in small groups of does and fawns but we came across a stag with large antlers.

We walked through a grove of chestnut trees and the fruit was ready

The walk back to the station was fortified by a Shepherd Neames Spitfire bitter and we came back via Blackfriars to see the new station which has entrances on both sides of the Thames.  The concourse and circulating areas are excellent, well signposted and easy to use.

Dinner was at an Indian restaurant not very good.

Monday 22 September - Reading, Henley on Thames

Reading station looking west. The flyover is taking shape in the distance

The circulating area above the platforms with escalators and stairs at either side

We took a train from Paddington so that I could see the new station at Reading. It is very impressive with 15 platforms, very large circulating spaces on the platforms and a wide concourse that spans all platforms. The track layout has been considerably modified and the fly over for the lines through Reading West are taking shape. There are escalators in all areas as well as stairs and the whole is well signposted. Quite an improvement over the station I had to contend with.

We walked into town and admired the extensive pedestrian areas, especially Broad Street which has been completely transformed.  The Oracle centre is an impressive new addition but what surprised me was the complete transformation of the area around the River Kennett. It was at one time very seedy and a place to be avoided. Now there are posh restaurants and fast food places. This area contained the municipal bus garage and at one time  a hostel where one could rent a section of clothes line which was strung across a room - one would sleep slung over the line. This was cheaper and took up less space than providing beds.

Sleeping over a washing line would probably be illegal here now

We took a train to Twyford and changed for the branch to Henley on Thames. We had lunch at the Anchor (New Forest Fortyniner bitter)

The weather was beautiful and we had a walk around this attractive town which is the home of the Henley Regatta.  The walk beside the Thames was very pleasant indeed although it was tainted somewhat by the smell of all the money there must be in the place - there were a lot of Private Keep Out signs.

The maltings. The Henley Brewery, across the street, is now a high end hotel.

The branch train had one of the two cars locked up for some reason and the guard moved us to first class because he expected a full load of teenagers. It was a struggle to get them all in but he finally managed to get the doors closed.  It was noisy and they were all texting to each other.

I decided to come back via Reading. At Reading our train couldn't get completely on to the platform because the train ahead had stopped short. They could only open the doors on the front two coaches. They have a beautiful brand new station but still haven't eliminated the crass stupidity factor. We caught a fast train to Paddington which, of course, was put into the drain at Paddington so we had to use the stairs.

After a drink at the Mad Bishop and Bear at Paddington (Fullers London Pride of course) we took the Circle line back to Gloucester Road and were amused to see a girl come in, take a seat, and calmly proceed to eat a take out Chinese meal with chop sticks. The new trains are very smooth and there was no danger of hurting herself with the chop sticks.  It looked pretty good.

I had a pint of this pale ale at the pub across the street from the hotel.

Sunday 21 September -Walking around

There is an amazing mix of people staying at the hotel.  At the table next to us at breakfast were Somali drug lords in London to get medical attention for the ailing father and to spend their ill gotten gains. They did not use knives or forks but scooped up bacon, eggs and baked beans with large pieces of pita bread.
Today we started to walk around the area and didn't really stop except for refreshments:
South Kensington
Natural History museum
Victoria and Albert museum
Harrods
Royal Hospital Chelsea (home of Chelsea Pensioners - we saw a couple in their bright red tunics and tri corn hats)
Chelsea Bridge
Battersea park with a great variety of trees, shrubs and water birds (heron, ducks, dving and dabbling, coots, moorhens and grebes, some very large fish were jumping).

 

Battersea Park with the iconic power station chimneys in the background

 

Battersea Park boating lake

Flypast of two Spitfires to commemorate the Battle of Britain

Battersea Dogs Home

Vauxhall
Lambeth
Albert Embankment - parts were very crowded and it was just like a busy seaside promenade.

Never know what you might find in the Thames

Blackfriars - the new station looks impressive but it was closed today because of engineering work

The original stonework has been restored, coat of arms of the London Chatham and Dover Railway

Southwark
Globe Theatre
Cannon Street

Monument from where we took the District line back to Gloucester Road

Saturday 20 September - Arundel, Amberley and Treacle Mine Loco

We tried using our credit cards instead of the Oyster card. Mary got in past the machine at Gloucester Road but it wouldn't let me through so I had to use.thisis iyster card. At Victoria the machine wouldn't let Mary out.
We caught the train to Arundel and walked into the village and the castle.  Just before we arrived the guard came around to check tickets. He asked the couple opposite why they were sitting in standard class with first class tickets. They hadn't realized they had first class tickets. This was a 90 minute journey and they got off with us.

The Castle from the village

 

The castle is well maintained and we enjoyed the keep as well as the castle rooms which are still lived in. Unfortunately no photography is allowed.
The grounds are well maintained and we particularly enjoyed the gardens, especially the water garden.

This large stand of trees made a great place for the kids to play

Underneath a Horse Chestnut tree were these flowers among the fallen conkers.  A couple of kids were greedily collecting the conkers

Click here to see all pictures taken at Arundel
There was just time for a visit to the White Hart for a Sussex Brewery bitter and it was off to the station for the short ride to Amberley.
The Amberley museum village demonstrates a number of crafts in particular relationship to the lime industry which developed around the chalk pit. Although this is an overgrown abandoned chalk quarry it wad very pleasant walking through the trees looking for the various exhibits.  There are a number of narrow gauge industrial locomotives and rides are given along a short length of track.

A narrow gauge train was giving rides

This is one of the narrow gauge locomotives from the Guinness Brewery in Dublin

My attention was drawn to a locomotive called "Sticky". This worked at a porridge quarry and then was moved to a treacle mine. This is the notice which explains Sticky.

ACME RAILCAR COMPANY
8HP 4 cylinder petrol engine with parented "Autodrive" drive system.
Built in the Company's Lion Works in Coventry in 1941 to the order of the 

Ministry of Fuel and Power, for use in forestry work in North Wales 

to an unusual gauge of 2ft 1ins.
Sold off in 1952 to a local company Cokeham Porridge Quarries Ltd, 

it was later transferred to Sompting  Treacle Mines Ltd, 

where it was used in No. 2 Mine until a slump in world treacle prices 

caused the company to cease trading in 1989.
It was there that it was discovered in a derelict condition and was brought to the Museum and restored for the training of junior engine drivers.

Following this momentous discovery we took the Museum train back to the entrance and tried to find Amberley village.
Click here to see all pictures taken at the Amberley Museum
It appears that the village is some way away from the station of the same name and the busy road has no sidewalks. We consoled ourselves with a drink at The Bridge until it was time to catch the train back to London.