Coast to Coast UK - Fog, rain and wet feet!

May 16, 2024

The morning began in fog, softening the edges of the Tower Bridge and totally obliterating the view of the Shard from our window. We farewelled London in torrential rain, and I spent the remainder of the day’s travel with soaking wet feet. All this and we haven’t even started the hike yet! Oh, and did I mention that wet feet are a deal breaker for me? Once my feet are wet, I just want to go home!

After our final breakfast in the Tower Hotel, we had a Christopher Wren themed walking tour to attend, and plenty of time to get there, so we wandered through the neighbouring St. Katharine Docks. We arrived just in time to watch a boat enter the lock to go into the marina – a lengthy, although fully automated process (nothing like manually winding the gates for the canal locks), which took much longer than opening and closing Tower Bridge. The best part was the honking Egyptian Geese that seemed to act as the warning system for the road bridge lifting. Once the bridge was up to allow the boat through, they stopped.

From there we walked to the Double Tree by Hilton in Pepys st (only the English would spell ‘Peeps’ as Pepys), bought a coffee and waited for the start of the tour. There were about 20 of us under the leadership of tour guide Alison, who took us on a very interesting 2 ½ hour excursion around some of the many and varied church buildings which Christopher Wren was tasked with reconstructing following the Great Fire of London. The climax of the tour was of course St. Paul’s Cathedral, but there were many interesting insights along the way.

As the tour was winding up, having gone overtime, Wallsy and I debunked, making a run for Mansion House underground station to get us back to Tower Hill to collect our luggage, with a plan to return via the underground to Euston Station where we would begin the next phase of the trip. The one flaw in this plan was the torrential rain we encountered as we stepped out of Tower Hill Station. There had been some light showers during the walking tour, but nothing like this. The subway was a lake, and the streets were rivers as we made our way down the hill to the hotel. It was a good test for Wallsy’s hiking boots and new Patagonia raincoat. Me, on the other hand, in runners and a shower-proof jacket, didn’t fare quite so well.

Creating a pool of water in the foyer, as we waited for our luggage retrieval, the concierge was very happy to hail a taxi for us and rid his hotel of our sodden footwear. We quickly abandoned the idea of returning to the subway, as the thought of plodding back up the hill, dragging luggage in the still heavy rain, had lost its appeal. Although to be fair, my feet could not have got any wetter than they were.

Reaching Euston, after a rather prolonged taxi ride, I attempted to find somewhere to open my suitcase in search of dry socks and shoes. Euston Station however, is not the best equipped station for carrying out such a manoeuvre, so I gave up on the idea and feeling miserable in my wet feet, stood with Wallsy, watching the board which would give us the platform information for our train to Crewe. However, the designated departure time came and went, and we still didn’t have a platform, and my feet weren’t getting any drier!

When we were finally allocated Platform 2, the rush of people heading for the late departing, train, was crazy. Of course we were in carriage A, which was at the far end of the very long train, and when we finally jumped aboard, it was with only seconds to spare. We stowed our luggage and settled in to enjoy the 90-minute journey to Crewe, me with still wet feet, which I think Wallsy has realised, do not make for a happy Robin.

At Crewe, the next hiccup was working out which train we needed to change to in order to reach Hartford, our destination for tonight. There was no one to provide assistance, and the information screen, wasn’t easy to interpret, although we finally succeeded, finding Hartford in the small print for the next Liverpool train, and rushed off to find Platform 11. Having managed to race up in the lift, over the concourse, and back down the lift to our platform, we learnt that our train was going to be late arriving – a convenient inconvenience – as we would have barely made it, had it been on schedule. It meant we had a rather cool 15-minute wait in wet shoes and socks (have I already mentioned my feet were wet?), but that was better than missing the train. It was a brief trip to Hartford, only two stops, and the final hurdle was carrying our luggage up a long flight of stairs to cross the line, and then over the road to The Coachman.

Finally, we had a room, and I had the opportunity for a warm shower, replacing my wet clothes with dry ones, before we wandered into the pub for a delicious dinner of beef and ale pie, with actual vegetables. It’s the simple things in life that matter.