Acton Bridge – Crewe – London Euston – London St Pancras International – Paris Nord – Paris Est – Mannheim – Stuttgart

The day started well, the sun was shining into the boat so I was awake a little earlier than I needed to be, but had no rush as I packed my bags, ate breakfast and headed out.

Acton Bridge station is 5 minutes drive from home. I’ve walked to it many times but I’m still protecting a hip injury so decided against that today. On arrival, I discovered that my train was cancelled. A lady arrived at the platform just after me and I told her what I’d just discovered. She was already aware but said that she’d had a notification from the agent that she’d booked with that a train would arrive in about 20 minutes.

I looked at Real Time Trains, but couldn’t see a train in the area. The National Rail website told me that disruption was expected between Liverpool and Birmingham until lunchtime. Apparently a broken down train near Wolverhampton had thrown everything out of position. I did have a couple of contingency plans, the first being a train to Runcorn. Unfortunately that was showing as delayed and I would miss the connection south. The other was to drive to Crewe and start there. I’d allowed plenty of time this morning for precisely this reason, so no panic.

I stopped by the post office on the way as I had a couple of birthday cards to send. I was going to do this from London but seeing as I was passing it made sense to do it now. Walking back to the car, I checked the live rail updates again. In order to get services back into the right place they were being turned around at Liverpool South Parkway. I could see the next service was heading north so reverted to plan A and went back to Acton Bridge. Parking in Crewe is a pain anyway, and not cheap for a week, whereas it is free here.

I got chatting with the lady I’d spoken to earlier. She and her late husband had been big rail travellers and we swapped stories of various places we had visited, as we waited. The next train was also delayed, eventually arriving 25 minutes after it was due, meaning I was on my way just under an hour and a half late.

The joy of Interrail is that replanning is easy. In Crewe I rebooked myself onto the next Euston service, which had come from Holyhead. I still had plenty of time to make my Eurostar. Standing on Crewe station I found myself looking at the incredible awning that spans the station. What a shame it has been allowed to deteriorate so badly. It must have been stunning at one time.

Being on a First Class pass meant that I was offered food and drink as soon as I boarded. I took a pot of tea and subsequently decided that their small breakfast qualified as an early lunch, given that it was now 4 hours since I’d eaten. I rarely eat a cooked breakfast these days but credit where it’s due, it was very tasty.

I walked the short distance from Euston to St Pancras and was happy to see that there were again queues at check in. That’s two trips in a row where I’ve got lucky at the Eurostar check in. I had my photo taken by French security, but still haven’t had my fingerprints done, which I thought was now the norm.

I had some work to deal with so was grateful that I’d allowed plenty of time. My wait before boarding was around 50 minutes.

It’s become something of a tradition tht when I catch a Eurostar I end up on the newer e320s not the older (more comfortable) e300s. I’d not noticed that I was in the famous Seat 61 when I made the reservation, though travelling south it was facing backwards so I was more than happy to move to the other side of the table when I found that no-one else was booked into that one.

I know I’ve said it before but you really could travel first class and never buy another meal. We were offered another complimentary light meal on this train, only 3 hours after I’d had the Avanti breakfast! I chose a very light option, which arrived shortly before we headed into the tunnel. It was actually rather tasty and refreshing, and a glass of wine was also appreciated.

I spent the rest of the journey working. As lovely as it is to get away, I’d planned this trip before I knew that we would be at a critical point in my main work project. An odd detail about the Channel Tunnel is that it has excellent 4G coverage, and I took full advantage of that. Crossing northern France, it becomes more patchy and it was irritating that as we pulled into Paris I was unable to hold onto a support call for work.

It’s a 10 minute walk from Nord to Est, where I had a 40 minute wait for the next train. I started to deal with another work-related problem but became very conscious that I was in a relatively open location and with the laptop on my knee both it and my bags were a more than tempting target for anyone looking for things to snatch. I put everything away until I was on board the next train.

It seemed a little odd to be catching a Deutsche Bahn train in Paris. The service was relatively quiet, even though lots of seats were reserved. It really should be made easier for people to cancel reservations they don’t need. I’d had to pay for this one. I wonder if the others were free.

This was a new line for me. Running east from Paris to the German border, I believe that it is the line where the world speed record of 320mph for a conventional train was set in 1990. We didn’t break any records today but the sustained 200mph run was impressive, even though it was now dark outside.

I left the train at Mannheim. I had options to either stop here or continue to Frankfurt if the train was running late, but as it was on time, I hopped off and found the platform for Stuttgart.

Another quiet train, though somewhat delayed by engineering works. I booked my hotel for the night as we set off. People I’ve spoken to get nervous about the idea of doing his but it works well for me, and today was a perfect example of why. I always want to put as many miles behind me on the first day as I could. After so many trips, it’s a safe bet that much of what I do on the first day is a route that I’ve previously covered. The connection in Paris to Mannheim was dependent on Eurostar running on time, and getting to Stuttgart would be a bonus, if that connection also worked. I wouldn’t have that freedom if I’d booked one or the other in advance.

It was a few minutes before midnight, local time, as we pulled into the building site known as Stuttgart Hbf. I wonder when it will be finished, it doesn’t look very different to the last time I was here, in 2023.

I walked to the hotel where I was given a very warm welcome, some friendly conversation, a room upgrade – and an apple! I was amused by the bridge that you have to use to get from the lift to the rooms, that floats above the reception area.

A long but successful day after the difficult start. Door to door was 14½ hours, which makes it one of the longest travel days I’ve done. Tomorrow will be easier (relative term!)