UK Diary Part 4: Brighton & Devon
Day 24
Time to talk a little about trains. Before this trip, I had this persistent idea that British trains would be charming conveyances - I imagined sitting in a little 4-seater berth with sliding doors chugging along merrily. We've taken really lovely trains in Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan - shouldn't trains in the birthplace of rail travel be even better?
Alas, no. Let's see. These are the major routes we have done:
- London to Leeds (LNER)
- Leeds to Settle to Carlisle (Northern)
- Carlisle to Glasgow (Avanti West Coast)
- Glasgow to Fort William (ScotRail)
- Edinburgh to London (Lumo)
- London to Brighton (Thameslink)
The best one was the Northern service from Leeds - big seats and tables, big windows, best staff - of course the views were nice too. The runner up is Avanti West Coast for its dining car.
The rest were all rubbish. ScotRail, despite the incredibly scenic route, wasn't comfortable at all. For a 4-hour journey, the meagre trolley service wasn't enough - it needs a dining car! LNER was simply awful. The 2 hour ride felt like a long haul budget airline flight complete with pukey recycled air smell.
After today's cross-country journey we experienced a new flavour of shite.
Admittedly it was not a genius idea to travel from Edinburgh (north) to Brighton (south) in a single day. But then, I had no idea how unromantic and unremarkable the great journey down Britain's spine would be.
To begin with we made the error of booking a Lumo service. Lumo is some newfangled train operator trying to snag those who usually fly Ryanair etc. between London and Edinburgh. It shows. The coaches perfectly recreate cattle class - cramped seats, no legroom, tiny tray tables, icky overhead lighting, and worst of all, fake inflight announcements from the fake pilot.
There was no dining car - a wasted opportunity to rip people off, IMO - only a trolley service that took an age to materialise. The trolley had no real food, only fake croissants, candy bars, crisps. I give them points for stocking alcohol though. (Side note: canned cocktails are huge in Britain. And for 2 quid a can, they're actually pretty good.)
After getting spat out at Kings X we took the next Thameslink to Brighton. This seemed quite a depressing train, very grey and drab, full of uptight Londoners working on their laptops after work hours. (Whatever happened to mental health and work life balance!) There were hardly any forward-facing seats on the train so we stood up for a bit.
After everyone got off the train at Three Bridges though, the vibe suddenly lifted. It was an okay train once more! So it was just the miasma from London...
Got to our Brighton Airbnb at 6pm after a full day of travel. Checked in, did laundry, went out to dinner at Burger Bros and that was it.
Day 25
When you google "why is Brighton..." the first suggestion that comes up is "...so expensive". A pint of beer costs at least £5 here, and a pub main £15-20, making this place seem pricier than London. I guess the staff canteen is either Wetherspoons or Greggs.
Went on a free walking tour today with a Brighton Greeter. It was an excellent experience. Our Greeter Chris told us all about the history of Brighton from impoverished fishing village to bourgeoisie haven, and all the bungaroosh and mathematical tiles along the way.
A "twitten" (small lane) with characteristic wall of flint (native Brighton building material) and mortar.
Had fibrous lunch at Iydea vegetarian canteen, went for a walk at Brighton Pier, and got rained and shat on...
After a rest we grabbed dinner and saw Stewart Lee!
After 2 short nights in Brighton we leave the next day. Jon and I are divided on "London-by-the-Sea". Jon likes the tiny, car-free lanes and the colourful bungaroosh houses and the beach; I don't like the smell of London in the air (organic grocers; too many jewellery shops). I feel anxious to go away before the onslaught of weekend Londoners.
Day 26
We are in Exeter! For the next 10 days we have absolutely nothing planned apart from a vague idea that we'll explore Devon and Cornwall.
Today was another train day; first we took the Thameslink from Brighton to London Bridge, then a commuter to London Waterloo, and finally a 4 hour ride to Exeter on South Western Railways.
This was the one time our Advance booking paid off. We got 2 tickets from London to Exeter for under £12 per person - if we had left it until the day before it would have cost £90-100 per ticket. The SWR train was reasonably comfy, but there were no reserved seats so we could 't get a table seat. Didn't stop us enjoying our McDonald's though.
McDonald's is the best food option in all London Waterloo station. Wrap of the day £1.99, fruit bag 79p, side salad £1.15. It's like a supermarket meal deal but with flavour.
It was 17 degrees when we reached Exeter - bliss. Took a walk around the city centre, v. unimpressive, and ate dinner at the massive Wetherspoons behind the Premier Inn we're staying at. This Wetherspoons is like one of those stately homes nestled in a massive park, and it is full of undergrads all having fun. Noticeable lack of Asian students here - they must be all studiously holed up in ethnically-segregated accommodation.
Exeter's train situation is a bit weird. There are 3 stations altogether - the one we got off at is Exeter St. David's, which is a separate station with Great Western Railway (GWR) branding - the road is even called Isambard Parade. Here is a novelty book vending machine at the station:
Day 27
Went to The Donkey Sanctuary at Sidmouth today. It was too good. I leave you with nothing but photos of us with these wonderful creatures:
Day 28
Nothing much happened today - but it was lovely for that very reason.
We ate the £10 breakfast buffet at Premier Inn (CRUMPETS!) and relaxed until checkout at noon. For the next 8 days we plan to roam around Devon and Cornwall unfettered by luggage, so we left our suitcases at Premier Inn and took just backpacks.
Since we had nothing to do all afternoon we walked to Exeter city centre. The uni students having fled Exeter for London (or whereever) this long weekend, the city's population looked quite different - much more local. Our favourite part of the city is Sidwell Street - the leisure complex, bus station, charity shop, Poundland and Savers, and cute wholesome graffiti.
1.30pm train to Okehampton. After the dreariness of city train stations I found Okehampton station delightful.
We're staying in another hostel - this time, the YHA (Youth Hostels Association) right next to Okehampton station - in fact it is a converted railway shed. We got a private en-suite room at YHA (yes, they exist!) for £79.
After check-in we strolled the 20 min into town. Everything was either shut (it being Sunday) or would close at 4pm; we had 15 minutes to grab things for dinner and breakfast. What with the excitement of staying in a hostel w/ fridge, microwaves, and cooking facilities, we got all kinds of indulgences like an entire loaf of bread and package of crumpets, a whole block of butter, a whole bottle of golden syrup etc.
Dinner was (thanks to YHA kitchen facilities) RTE roast chicken thighs, mac & cheese, salad, creamy chicken soup, and bread and butter. Because there was a party of 70 adults and children celebrating the end of their rugby tour tonight, we also got as compensation a bottle of prosecco. Fanciest dinner ever in a hostel.
Day 29
We rented bikes from Okehampton and cycled down the Granite Way cycle path to find out what exactly a "moor" is.
This, by the way, is a moor.
Stopped at Lydford to have lunch and roll down the grassy slope at Lydford Castle:
So that's Devon for ya. I realise public transport is not a very good way to visit national parks like Dartmoor - you have to either hike or drive. We were stuck on the periphery of the park and didn't get to see the famous Dartmoor ponies, sadly. Between Okehampton (depressing and sort of hostile) and Exeter (annoyingly student-y), I didn't have a terrific impression of Devon. But two incidents stand out.
One was the young woman and child we met on the bus rides to Sidmouth and back. (Can't tell if they are parent and child or siblings.) The woman was in a prim, retro outfit complete with gloves and parasol; the boy had on glittery makeup and a shiny pink bag. They hate living in Sidmouth because the original community has been displaced by entitled old rich people who've bought retirement homes here and there's no public infrastructure (like buses that appear more frequently than once an hour). They'll be moving to London soon where (they believe!) everything will be so much better.
The other was when we checked into YHA Okehampton and found it heaving with an entire school form of pre-pubescent boys celebrating the end of their rugby tour and their parents and (very tired) teachers. The parents wasted no time getting wasted and an immense amount of alcohol vanished in a matter of hours, yet somehow everyone managed to get into bed by 11pm and wake up at 7am and drive off. Amazing.
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