Our weekend in Brighton and the IoW
Oct. 20th, 2008 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
suzyscottdotcomI’d spoken to Caroline about returning to Brighton, following my one-year anniversary thingy. Not so much to commemorate it, more to do the things that I obviously couldn’t do from a hospital bed. This was originally the weekend I’d intended to propose to Caroline, but as you know, I moved that forward a bit (to last Wednesday) once I had all the things I needed – well, I couldn’t wait! The point is, this weekend had some significance as well, not just away for a bash somewhere!
We left the flat mid-afternoon on Friday, C having taken the afternoon off. We stopped in Royston train station, so I could buy a pair of combined PlusBus/train/ferry/train tickets for the following day (I’d written out my requests, complete with National Location Codes, and no problems in getting it as a result!)
We’d got to the clockwise M25, and I was surprised at the lack of traffic problems, barring a little congestion at the Dartford Crossing, and where an accident was cleared (and by the time we got to it, it was not noticeable). I had the laptop out, and was using the Traffic England’s realtime M25 readout for traffic speeds, variable speed sign readouts, delays, and the like. Very useful stuff, which you obviously can’t use when driving alone!
We got into Brighton, and had booked to stay at Hudson’s in Kemp Town.Lots of posters and art objects around, including a London Underground “No Smoking” A6 size sign on each room door, and a Paris metro map, as well as some artistic tube posters (the reference in my earlier LJ post was to see if anyone recognised the place!). We went out for dinner, had something nice - although the Spanish looking musical Italian seemed a bit unusual!
From there, back to the hotel, and an early night, for an early start in the morning. I can’t recall when I woke, but I was up online around 0600 UK time! After rather nice breakfast (pancakes with choc sauce in my case, one of several options!), we went back to the car for C’s pills, then headed to town on a passing B&H Dart 204 on the 81B to North Street.
After a quick browse through a few shops, took Trident/East Lancs 805 on the 7 to Brighton Station, stopping there for a snap of one of the new Scania OmniLink single deck bus from the 50/50A (now branded Shuttle) – these were delivered to Brighton & Hove in the last few weeks.
After snapping the buses that had stopped, we waited in the station… and this is how we looked! Firstly, Caroline…
.. and me (she never said the hanging strap was visible!
So, the main part of the day was to be travelling from Brighton to the Isle of Wight. After extensive research (and playing about with Advantix Traveller and National Rail Enquiries), I’d found a number of options. The last time I did Brighton to Portsmouth was, curiously enough, 31 March/1 April 2006 – the first day I’d been to Brighton, and of course, one year later I’d came back there for a hospital visit, and then fell in love with C. I recall even a Stagecoach South Coast driver said we were brave doing the full almost four hour trek from Brighton to Portsmouth, almost in a oner, by Stagecoach South CoastLine 700 bus. To make sure we had plenty of time for everything, this time we went by Southern train – 77 minutes from end-to-end. This met the Wightlink fast cat ferry to Ryde, scheduled to take 18 minutes. From Ryde Pier Head to the Esplanade/Bus Station was also by train, but by Island Line.
Strangely, against the bus, the cost wasn’t that much higher, given that we both can use the one Network Railcard (another few weeks left on it!). NRC’s can be used on through tickets to the Island, meaning the ability to also get a discount with it on the ferry portion of the trip. So, from Brighton via Southern train to Portsmouth Harbour, FastCat to Ryde Pier Head, and then Island Line train to Ryde Esplanade - £18.30 Day Return each! (As we had a train ticket, I’d added buses in Brighton to it, for £1.30 per person extra. The hotel is in the CentreFare £1.30 zone, meaning each single journey is £1.30. The one payment of £1.30 per qualifying passenger with a NRC, gave unlimited use for the day).
Anyway, the train journey was enjoyable enough, and it was interesting watching the number of times when the passing buses were being held up at level crossings! We’d arrived at Portsmouth Harbour, and as we already had pre-purchased (through) tickets, we could skip the queue, and head straight for the FastCat (catamaran, although most call it simply a ferry), waiting area, by-passing a bunch of pirates at the ticket desk. Seriously, there was a group of them!
The FastCat Shanklin was ours for this leg of the journey…
… and we got on, sat down “upstairs” (it’s a double deck, passenger only fast ferry), and the pirates got onboard, and headed downstairs. Honest…
… we arrived at Ryde Pier Head, where there are no buses, but I’d already through-booked us onto Island Line, the Stagecoach owned train company on the island, who use former London Underground 38 stock. I kid you not… and yes, the pirates got onboard these too! (It was also interesting to see a sign saying “No Fishing On Railway Premises!”)
These trains have been refurbished many times over, and a tube-style linear map adorns the inside cove panels.
So, we made it to Ryde town centre/esplanade station/bus station, and the pirates headed off to a pub. Despite the odd “yo ho ho” or “ooh aar” , they were a well-behaved group (no raging and piliging, or am I thinking of another mob?) They were out as a birthday group, but no further details, as that was the last we saw of them, for the day.
While Caroline waited for a snack, I snapped up this Dotto land train, complete with Crazy Frog on the front. Sadly, it appeared to be a soft one, not roadkill.
We'd already decided to travel around the island by bus - £10 each for a Rover ticket with Southern Vectis – remember at Showbus, I mentioned the larger-than-life people on the sides of the new Scania double deckers? Well, here's another – they were not all done, some were awaiting lettering
From here, we were intending to take the 9 to Newport, a mix of Mercedes Citaro singles, and Scania double deckers. After a larger than expected gap, a Citaro and Scania came In almost together, with a second Citaro arriving soon after! We'd left on Scania 1112 on the 9 to Newport bus station...
.... where C said she wasn't feeling right, so we'd headed in the direction of the loo's, but C said they were rather disgusting, so I had a look in the adjacent Morrison's superstore. I had to leave C for a few minutes, and she wanted me to come back for her, so I did. In the meantime, went to Newport TIC for a selection of things, including a few gifts, and a book on Island Line and another on Exploring Southern Vectis Country – pics past and present of the island, with a bus theme, naturally, at a fair discount of £11 off the cover price, sold for £3.99!
So, after this, C thought she was okay – we tried for another bus, but Caroline couldn't do it right there and then, so I waited in the adjacent cafe over coffee. She'd said it was the snack she'd had in Ryde... never mind, these things can occasionally upset either of us!
From here, we went back to Ryde the long way via Shanklin and Sandown – we'd done it this way to allow us to get off if we needed to, but C was fine. This was Scania 1116 on the 2, which seemed to be shaking a bit, as in usual Scania style after a while. We were a few minutes early upon arrival at Ryde, so we went to the train platform, seeing the 1738 was due any moment (I'd timed it to go for the 1758).
We got in bang on 1741, so we wondered if the 1745 ferry was still boarding (again, I'd planned for the 1815) – but no, we managed to get on, and one or two others, in the “final call” in the last few moments before leaving – no need to get out of breath either! For this journey, we ended up with FastCat Ryde, but the same Captain's name.It was getting dark, and we were back on the mainland, waiting for the 1828 train back from Portsmouth to Brighton. Once we got back to Brighton, a 30 minute gap in the Metro7 bus service (every 7 mins day, 10 mins eve, but there had been an event on while we were away), so the first bus that arrived was Scania/East Lancs Cityzen 766 on the 27A heading east to Saltdene. We took that to Marine Drive/New Steine, and walked up to the hotel. We'd had a very good day out, for less than £30 each in travel costs, and surprisingly shorter than perhaps expected.
We were both rather tired, and had an earlier night, and a later morning. We recounted the story of the pirates to the woman serving breakfast (who'd never been to the Isle of Wight), and she recounted her time in fancy dress as a jar of Marmite, with her gf being Toast. C did ask if it was white or brown toast... but it turned out it had been both (double acts... long story)!
I forgot to mention for Saturday, but there is a very cutely curled up white & ginger kitten, on the steps of the way to the conservatory area, out of the breakfast room. After it had been there for some time, I dared to get a little closer, to find that it was a stuffed (or mounted, or plushie, or whatever you like) cat – but incredibly realistic. Not quite a fast cat at all.
So, a little before 1100 (I forget when exactly), C went for the car (remember, parked one street away), and this is what we could see from the road...
... and the hotel...
... so, we left Kemp Town via Marine Drive.
What else would you like for your Sunday morning? How about a multi-national group of VW camper vans? Three pics of them, taken by me out the nearside window!
So, we drove into Rottingdean and onto Woodingdean. Now, I didn't ask to go back to the hospital location, but we sort of decided we'd use it to turn around, at least. This is where I was, this time last year...
As far as we knew, no-one that we knew was in this weekend, and we did not recognise any of the cars, so Caroline simply used the chance to fill up with water...
After we left the hospital car park, back via Warren Road and Falmer Road, onto the A27 Brighton By-Pass, and onto Devil's Dyke Road (like last time). We intended to stop and walk around, but the rain started! These pictures are only a few minutes apart!
We then returned via Clackett Lane services, M25, M11, A505 to Royston, stopping for a few things, before going home. However, once C got home, her tummy was feeling bad. She tried a curry to see if this would make things better... alas, she's spent Monday taking it a bit easier.
Aside from that, we had a wonderful weekend, and Caroline would really like to return to the Island one day. See the full collection of photos of buses, ferries, FastCats, trains, pirates, and us, here.
We left the flat mid-afternoon on Friday, C having taken the afternoon off. We stopped in Royston train station, so I could buy a pair of combined PlusBus/train/ferry/train tickets for the following day (I’d written out my requests, complete with National Location Codes, and no problems in getting it as a result!)
We’d got to the clockwise M25, and I was surprised at the lack of traffic problems, barring a little congestion at the Dartford Crossing, and where an accident was cleared (and by the time we got to it, it was not noticeable). I had the laptop out, and was using the Traffic England’s realtime M25 readout for traffic speeds, variable speed sign readouts, delays, and the like. Very useful stuff, which you obviously can’t use when driving alone!
We got into Brighton, and had booked to stay at Hudson’s in Kemp Town.Lots of posters and art objects around, including a London Underground “No Smoking” A6 size sign on each room door, and a Paris metro map, as well as some artistic tube posters (the reference in my earlier LJ post was to see if anyone recognised the place!). We went out for dinner, had something nice - although the Spanish looking musical Italian seemed a bit unusual!
From there, back to the hotel, and an early night, for an early start in the morning. I can’t recall when I woke, but I was up online around 0600 UK time! After rather nice breakfast (pancakes with choc sauce in my case, one of several options!), we went back to the car for C’s pills, then headed to town on a passing B&H Dart 204 on the 81B to North Street.
After a quick browse through a few shops, took Trident/East Lancs 805 on the 7 to Brighton Station, stopping there for a snap of one of the new Scania OmniLink single deck bus from the 50/50A (now branded Shuttle) – these were delivered to Brighton & Hove in the last few weeks.
After snapping the buses that had stopped, we waited in the station… and this is how we looked! Firstly, Caroline…
.. and me (she never said the hanging strap was visible!
So, the main part of the day was to be travelling from Brighton to the Isle of Wight. After extensive research (and playing about with Advantix Traveller and National Rail Enquiries), I’d found a number of options. The last time I did Brighton to Portsmouth was, curiously enough, 31 March/1 April 2006 – the first day I’d been to Brighton, and of course, one year later I’d came back there for a hospital visit, and then fell in love with C. I recall even a Stagecoach South Coast driver said we were brave doing the full almost four hour trek from Brighton to Portsmouth, almost in a oner, by Stagecoach South CoastLine 700 bus. To make sure we had plenty of time for everything, this time we went by Southern train – 77 minutes from end-to-end. This met the Wightlink fast cat ferry to Ryde, scheduled to take 18 minutes. From Ryde Pier Head to the Esplanade/Bus Station was also by train, but by Island Line.
Strangely, against the bus, the cost wasn’t that much higher, given that we both can use the one Network Railcard (another few weeks left on it!). NRC’s can be used on through tickets to the Island, meaning the ability to also get a discount with it on the ferry portion of the trip. So, from Brighton via Southern train to Portsmouth Harbour, FastCat to Ryde Pier Head, and then Island Line train to Ryde Esplanade - £18.30 Day Return each! (As we had a train ticket, I’d added buses in Brighton to it, for £1.30 per person extra. The hotel is in the CentreFare £1.30 zone, meaning each single journey is £1.30. The one payment of £1.30 per qualifying passenger with a NRC, gave unlimited use for the day).
Anyway, the train journey was enjoyable enough, and it was interesting watching the number of times when the passing buses were being held up at level crossings! We’d arrived at Portsmouth Harbour, and as we already had pre-purchased (through) tickets, we could skip the queue, and head straight for the FastCat (catamaran, although most call it simply a ferry), waiting area, by-passing a bunch of pirates at the ticket desk. Seriously, there was a group of them!
The FastCat Shanklin was ours for this leg of the journey…
… and we got on, sat down “upstairs” (it’s a double deck, passenger only fast ferry), and the pirates got onboard, and headed downstairs. Honest…
… we arrived at Ryde Pier Head, where there are no buses, but I’d already through-booked us onto Island Line, the Stagecoach owned train company on the island, who use former London Underground 38 stock. I kid you not… and yes, the pirates got onboard these too! (It was also interesting to see a sign saying “No Fishing On Railway Premises!”)
These trains have been refurbished many times over, and a tube-style linear map adorns the inside cove panels.
So, we made it to Ryde town centre/esplanade station/bus station, and the pirates headed off to a pub. Despite the odd “yo ho ho” or “ooh aar” , they were a well-behaved group (no raging and piliging, or am I thinking of another mob?) They were out as a birthday group, but no further details, as that was the last we saw of them, for the day.
While Caroline waited for a snack, I snapped up this Dotto land train, complete with Crazy Frog on the front. Sadly, it appeared to be a soft one, not roadkill.
We'd already decided to travel around the island by bus - £10 each for a Rover ticket with Southern Vectis – remember at Showbus, I mentioned the larger-than-life people on the sides of the new Scania double deckers? Well, here's another – they were not all done, some were awaiting lettering
From here, we were intending to take the 9 to Newport, a mix of Mercedes Citaro singles, and Scania double deckers. After a larger than expected gap, a Citaro and Scania came In almost together, with a second Citaro arriving soon after! We'd left on Scania 1112 on the 9 to Newport bus station...
.... where C said she wasn't feeling right, so we'd headed in the direction of the loo's, but C said they were rather disgusting, so I had a look in the adjacent Morrison's superstore. I had to leave C for a few minutes, and she wanted me to come back for her, so I did. In the meantime, went to Newport TIC for a selection of things, including a few gifts, and a book on Island Line and another on Exploring Southern Vectis Country – pics past and present of the island, with a bus theme, naturally, at a fair discount of £11 off the cover price, sold for £3.99!
So, after this, C thought she was okay – we tried for another bus, but Caroline couldn't do it right there and then, so I waited in the adjacent cafe over coffee. She'd said it was the snack she'd had in Ryde... never mind, these things can occasionally upset either of us!
From here, we went back to Ryde the long way via Shanklin and Sandown – we'd done it this way to allow us to get off if we needed to, but C was fine. This was Scania 1116 on the 2, which seemed to be shaking a bit, as in usual Scania style after a while. We were a few minutes early upon arrival at Ryde, so we went to the train platform, seeing the 1738 was due any moment (I'd timed it to go for the 1758).
We got in bang on 1741, so we wondered if the 1745 ferry was still boarding (again, I'd planned for the 1815) – but no, we managed to get on, and one or two others, in the “final call” in the last few moments before leaving – no need to get out of breath either! For this journey, we ended up with FastCat Ryde, but the same Captain's name.It was getting dark, and we were back on the mainland, waiting for the 1828 train back from Portsmouth to Brighton. Once we got back to Brighton, a 30 minute gap in the Metro7 bus service (every 7 mins day, 10 mins eve, but there had been an event on while we were away), so the first bus that arrived was Scania/East Lancs Cityzen 766 on the 27A heading east to Saltdene. We took that to Marine Drive/New Steine, and walked up to the hotel. We'd had a very good day out, for less than £30 each in travel costs, and surprisingly shorter than perhaps expected.
We were both rather tired, and had an earlier night, and a later morning. We recounted the story of the pirates to the woman serving breakfast (who'd never been to the Isle of Wight), and she recounted her time in fancy dress as a jar of Marmite, with her gf being Toast. C did ask if it was white or brown toast... but it turned out it had been both (double acts... long story)!
I forgot to mention for Saturday, but there is a very cutely curled up white & ginger kitten, on the steps of the way to the conservatory area, out of the breakfast room. After it had been there for some time, I dared to get a little closer, to find that it was a stuffed (or mounted, or plushie, or whatever you like) cat – but incredibly realistic. Not quite a fast cat at all.
So, a little before 1100 (I forget when exactly), C went for the car (remember, parked one street away), and this is what we could see from the road...
... and the hotel...
... so, we left Kemp Town via Marine Drive.
What else would you like for your Sunday morning? How about a multi-national group of VW camper vans? Three pics of them, taken by me out the nearside window!
So, we drove into Rottingdean and onto Woodingdean. Now, I didn't ask to go back to the hospital location, but we sort of decided we'd use it to turn around, at least. This is where I was, this time last year...
As far as we knew, no-one that we knew was in this weekend, and we did not recognise any of the cars, so Caroline simply used the chance to fill up with water...
After we left the hospital car park, back via Warren Road and Falmer Road, onto the A27 Brighton By-Pass, and onto Devil's Dyke Road (like last time). We intended to stop and walk around, but the rain started! These pictures are only a few minutes apart!
We then returned via Clackett Lane services, M25, M11, A505 to Royston, stopping for a few things, before going home. However, once C got home, her tummy was feeling bad. She tried a curry to see if this would make things better... alas, she's spent Monday taking it a bit easier.
Aside from that, we had a wonderful weekend, and Caroline would really like to return to the Island one day. See the full collection of photos of buses, ferries, FastCats, trains, pirates, and us, here.
