First a note about names: We - that's my wife (who I'll call Sacha for now) decided to take our daughter (who here I'll call Kasa) to London for a day out. I'm not putting real names out here for the sake of confidentiality on social media
Now - on with the story - The weather forecast wasn't promising - but Summer 2024 has been a very mixed bag so far.
We decided to go by train from Northampton which has a huge car park (without much in the way of Blue Badge disabled parking though) and isn't too far from where Kasa is living at the moment.
Northampton Station is very pleasant in the entrance areas with a coffee shop and WHSmiths on the upstairs concourse - as we'd missed the train and the service is half hourly Sacha & Kasa had a coffee each.
This was a strange situation where using our Disabled Railcard was more expensive than not using it - because a 'DaySave' ticket for the three of us gave a bigger discount.
At track level it's very much an old school station, without much seating and overall a bit grubby. The LNWR / West Midlands trains are purely commuter stock with limited leg room, but a bright airy interior. It's an hour's journey to Euston from Northampton, but it seemed much longer despite the fast run between Leighton Buzzard & Watford Junction.
I was delighted to glimpse the Ovaltine factory which had been a highlight of my semi-regular journeys on the West Coast Mainline some 50+ years ago - a journey I think I've only made twice in the intervening years. The rest of the route was very much a blur - punctuated by fast Avanti West Coast expresses and occasional freight trains.
Luckily the Northern Line from Euston to Embankment wasn't too busy - although Kasa found the noise and crowds a bit overwhelming. At Embankment it's an easy across the road to the river boat. The very helpful ticket seller sold us one concession ticket (English Bus Pass) plus a Disabled ticket (for Kasa) and a free carer's ticket - making the Hop-on Hop-off fare extremely affordable.
It was drizzling as we went down the Thames - making the view out of the windows a bit hazy. Unfortunately that gave us more time to concentrate on the brat in the seat in front that the mother couldn't control. Sigh. After we'd crash landed at Canary Wharf (Sacha's got a great bruise on her leg) we walked through the dystopian cityscape to the Crossrail Roof Garden. The Roof Garden is a pleasant oasis, but no where near as big as I'd been expecting, and I never did find the meridian line!
We went out the back of the Canary Wharf development to the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station at Poplar where I got severely confused - we went up and down a very slow lift three times, and a staircase once before deciding our first platform was the correct one! Duh! Sadly the driver's seat on the DLR train was occupied this time.
We got off at Royal Victoria and found somewhere to sit and drink (more) coffee while we watched the cable cars crossing the Thames. Kasa managed to get an excellent photo of a train and a the cable cars.
The cable car operators slowed the cars down so that Kasa & Sacha could get on and off more easily. The view over the Thames from the dangleway never fails to delight. Over the O2, the City of London in the distance, Canary Wharf nearby, and London City Airport - plus the art installations at either end. It's a journey well worth the fare. At the far end - Greenwich Peninsular - there was a circus performer with soapy water and a net making huge clouds of bubbles to the delight of children (and a trio of adults too).
The boat back confused me - I'm still unconvinced that we didn't do a U-turn at some point by passing the Cutty Sark on the way back to Embankment. At least the child-coefficient was much more bearable this time! (And the views were better because we got a front seat).
We had a huge & affordable meal at my London Club (sounds posh - it isn't) which was unfortunately extremely busy. It seems that Thursday evening is the new Friday evening. Kasa had a curry, Sacha had a massive lump of steak with chips (that she didn't manage to eat all of) and I had a Ploughman's Lunch - and had a doggy bag of cheese, ham & grapes to take home!
We were all exhausted by now, and Kasa wasn't keen on tackling any more escalators, so we strolled down Whitehall - waving at Keir's new house as we passed - to the Circle Line station at Westminster. Unfortunately I got the wrong entrance and we had a few steps more than I was wanting. At least the long ride round the Circle Line gave us a sit down and a chance for more people watching.
At Euston Square station it was drizzling lightly while we walked across to the mainline station. I made an executive decision to get Disabled Assistance for my two companions - which worked out really well. We all got a buggy ride through the crowds to the carriage door with a very friendly driver.
As on the journey down the train was very busy. It was very amusing watching & listening to the confusion caused by the fact that the rear portion of the train was terminating at Northampton and the front half was continuing on to Birmingham. Come on people! It's not that difficult to comprehend surely?
The passenger sitting next ot Kasa woke her up at Leighton Buzzard to make sure she wasn't going to miss her stop! (I think he might have been making a subtle pass at her - who knows?!?!)
We got back to Kasa's place about an hour later than expected - not that it was a problem.
Sacha & I got home about 11pm - absolutely shattered and ready for bed. But it was a truly excellent day.