Brussels to Corfe Mullen (approx 580 km)

Wednesday 1st October

The hot water is working this morning so I can have a hot shower but the lift still isn't so I have to lug my bag down all 93 stairs but going down is definitely easier than coming up. Walk down to the station; it's another beautiful day with a clear blue sky.

Check in at the Eurostar platform and my bags and I go through the usual airline type security; I can see the logic of checking for bombs but can't see that any metallic devices on my person pose any more risk to the Eurostar train than to any other. Leaving Schengen so Belgian and British passport checks. In the departure lounge have a breakfast of Danish pastry and coffee. Just after 1030 the platform is opened and we go up a rather congested travellator to platform 2 where I find my window seat in Coach 5. Imediately behind a man in seat 61, not "the man in seat 61".  1056 and we are on our way. 

Eurostar Train in Brussels Station

Slowly out of Brussels but then pick up speed through the flat Belgian farmland. Reach Lille about half hour later where we stop for a few  minutes. Then on to Calais Frethun, the tunnel and out on the other side to the rather more interesting English countryside before passing through the outskirts of London and arriving at St Pancras at midday UK time. Exit through a customs inspection area but no one bothering to check anything. 

Flat Belgian Farmland

Rather Dirty Eurostar at S Pancras

 

St Pancras

I have arranged to meet a friend in Blackheath, so get the Northern line to London Bridge and a South East Train to Blackheath where she meets me on the platform. After dropping my bags at her flat nearby, we have an excellent lunch at a brasserie overlooking the heath.   After lunch I get a train from Blackheath to Waterloo East, walk over to the main Waterloo station and get the  1535 train to Poole. It's a pleasant two hour journey stopping at many places on the way and passing through the New Forest.  Poole is the last station of my trip. 

The Clock at Waterloo

Last Train, the 1535 to Poole  

Last Train, the 1535 to Poole 

Hampshire Countryside

Poole Station

Up to the early 1960's, there was a station at Broadstone, just a mile down the hill from Corfe Mullen, but station and  tracks have long since gone, with only a pub name "the Goods Yard" to remind people that where there is now a leisure centre, once there was a station.  So at Poole station Chris, a colleague of my sister Mandy Li, meets me and takes me to Corfe Mullen. The final destination of my wonderful 67 day journey. If I have done my sums right the total distance is 19844 km.