The Ham Nomads

22 Apr 2014. <GB-ENG> London; Preston, Lancs —

Goodbye to the room

Goodbye to Londonears

Most interesting day. We wanted to be at Euston Station an hour before our train left. Got up at 7am. Immediately checked outside to see if it was raining. It was - but only lightly! Got dressed, finished packing, and got out by 8 o'clock. The cases DID close, but only just, and then Warren manhandled them down the 48 steps!. Took our time walking to Earls Court station.

Our last view of Earl's Court Station

Slight difficulty getting on the Picadilly Line train to Kings Cross — peak hour load didn't help us. We let three trains go through before we found space for us and our cases on the fourth. Total delay — about 5 minutes!

Susie navigating escalator

At Kings Cross, we transferred to the Northern Line for the one-station hop to Euston. Made our way from Euston Underground to the Euston Intercity Station. A total of 5 escalators and one set of stairs (not counting the ones in the Hostel), but a couple of very kind gentlemen insisted on giving us a hand through a couple of the more difficult parts — and one kind lady offered to help Sue as she was almost tipped backwards by a miscreant suitcase on the last escalator.

Susie at Euston Station

Euston Station has a big concourse. The trains are listed at least an hour before departure, but the platforms are not assigned until about 15 minutes before — then there is an almighty stampede for the train! You find your seat, get settled, and when the departure time arrives — no announcement, no fuss, the train just leaves! We had had something to eat at the station, not realising that the passengers on the Virgin fast trains get served a meal appropriate to the time of day — we were served a light breakfast, and we turned back part of it for two reasons — Warren had genuinely had sufficient to eat, and the tilt train wasn't doing Susie's appetite any favours! The train had to run slowly from Wigan Northwest to Preston as there were reports of someone unauthorised on the track somewhere!

Our Virgin tran at Preston

Sign for Kirkham train

Stairs at Kirkham

Warren navigating steps

Preston is quite a big interchange. Phoned Motorlands, who said it would be best for them to pick us up from Kirkham, so we jumped a local train for the one station transfer with minutes to spare. Got to Kirkham — more stairs, but another young gentleman gave us great assistance up the stairs, although he did admit that our suitcases were not exactly light! It was raining when we got to the top, and Brad picked us up. We had a little shuffling to get his football gear out of the luggage space before our cases could fit in — and Brad, too, commented that they weren't light!

At Motorlands we saw our van for the first time. It's smallish, but well set-out — and much more useable space than our backpacker room!! Did all the paperwork, drove to a Retail Estate in Blackpool to get ourselves some gear for the van, from a Dunelm Mill outlet — sheets, duvet, pillows, and a few other necessities — and general shopping from Morrison's, our first large supermarket, for food and other stuff. The roads to get there were amazing — in Australia they would probably be too small to even show on a map, with hedgerows on either side. Back to Motorlands where we had been invited to camp the night, as not everything had been finalized on the van — somehow they weren't expecting us for another week! We hooked into their power, heated up some soup on the stove, set up our bedding, and finally went to bed, cozy and warm.

Distance driven — today, 22 miles (35 km ); to date, 22 miles (35 km )