After three
nights in Scheveningen I hopped a couple of local busses to the International
Ferry Port in Hook of Holland. I chose to take the overnight ferry to England and had booked my ticket online. Departure time was 9:30 pm but boarding
started at 7 pm. I was one of the first in line.
With the
overnight ferry a cabin is mandatory. I booked the cheapest single which cost a little over $50 USD. It turned out to be a very good value. For me
it was quite luxurious with modern en-suite bathroom and a nice TV with
numerous channels. The bed was very comfortable.
The common
area was all on one level and a little like a cruise ship with a couple of
bars, restaurant, cinema, and quiet area set up in a very homey fashion. Food
and drink prices were not overly inflated.
Sleep was
pretty good but the seas were just rough enough to cause me to wake up a few
times. A gentle rock from side to side
was interrupted by choppy bumps, however, I never felt seasick. The night
ferry, if it’s on time, actually arrives around 4:30 am. A wakeup call doesn’t
happen until 5:30 am with disembarking starting at 6:30 am.
UK
immigration goes quick and exits into a train station with regular
service to London. To be on the safe side I bought an advance purchase ticket
for 8:30 am. I booked with a buffer in case of any delay. The cheapest tickets are time specific and cannot be used for any other train. In the UK you really have to be careful about buying a ticket the
same day at the station. Ticket prices can vary wildly. For example, Harwich to
London advance purchase can cost between $20 to $55 USD for the same day depending
on time of trip. The pricing scheme seems somewhat random and really doesn’t
make much sense. If you show up the day of to buy a ticket at the counter
it’s kind of like rolling the dice. The only exception is on local short routes
or the London tube where the price is fixed.
I decided to
spend a night in London on my way to the Southwest coast and found good reasonably priced
accommodation at a student housing complex near Canary Warf. In some places
student dorms and the like are turned into hostel/budget accommodation for the
tourist season. For around $38 USD I had my own single room with shared
bathroom down the hall. The place was
quite nice and a total bargain for London. The only hitch was a key deposit
which amounted to over $50 USD! It was that or leave my passport at the desk
which I wasn’t going to do, especially since it’s my only form of identification
right now.
I spent the
day in London visiting the best travel book store in the world, Standford’s,
where I bought some guidebooks for the Southwest Coast Path. Since the
bookstore is located near the National Portrait Gallery, which is free, I
stopped in for a visit. There you can see famous original paintings of Royals
dating back the 1400’s. There is also an original Portrait of Shakespeare that
is believed to be the only one done in real life. I ended my day in London by walking by the
famous tall ship, Cutty Sark, and having a pint at a pub of the same name.
Today I
finally made it to the Southwest Coast of England after a long travel day from
London. The train to my destination, Teignmouth, was around $78 USD, a bus with
local train was around $28. I chose the bus option. Whereas the train would
have been easy and taken a little over 3 hours the bus turned out to take
around 7.5 hours due to a late start, traffic, and some mechanical issue. The
delay of start was supposed to be due to the bus being cleaned but when it
arrived it was filthy with oil smudge marks on the windows from previous
passengers, dirty chair trays, etc. I was not impressed with the bus
but I guess you get what you pay for.
With three
full days of travel and feeling fatigued I opted to take the money I saved by
riding the bus and got a room at a B&B I stayed in 3 years ago, almost
exactly to the date. Tomorrow I will start hiking along the Southwest Coast Path
picking up where I left off.
The
Southwest Coast Path is England’s longest national trail. It hugs the coasts of
Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall for over 600 miles. Three years ago I covered
the first 130 miles starting in Poole. This time I’ll see how far I get until it’s time to fly home.
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