offpeakfang

Arrival at Beijing West railway station In the space of 10 years, China went from having no high speed rail at all to then having more than the rest of the world combined. Like many things in the country, it's all at enormous scale: having a billion people in a country the size of Europe tends to do that.  KCR clock tower, next to the Kowloon waterfront One of Hong Kong's symbols is the clock tower of the former 1910-built Kowloon station of the Kowloon - Canton Railway, closed and demolished in 1975. It's a shame, especially given how it's right next to the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.  Star Ferry approaching from Hong Kong Island The Star Ferry is a HK institution in its own right and is such a scenic way of arriving at Hong Kong Island. It reminded me of the Mersey Ferry in Liverpool, a similar crossing on similar-era boats.  View from Victoria Peak One of the classic views of the city is from Victoria Peak, accessible from the Peak Tram. Circumnavigating the peak...

Flying over Iraq: possibly Najaf Out of all the London airports, Gatwick Airport is the most annoying airport to get to from East Anglia. I'd have much preferred going from Norwich or literally any of the other London ones, but leaving from Gatwick was considerably cheaper and my Ipswich - Gatwick Airport rail ticket was £11.90 - a similar price to the Ipswich - Stansted coach. At least Gatwick is an airport where one can turn up 1¾ hours before the scheduled flight departure for a long-haul flight without getting nervous.  LGW - DOH: BA2033, 1405-2350 There was a time - not that long ago - when I quite liked flying with British Airways. Long-haul economy class isn't that different between most airlines, but for a long time they'd even offer Worcestershire sauce with their tomato juice and had a doing-things-properly kind of vibe. Alas, not any more. The in-flight entertainment was quite good, with a strong British focus and I could even listen to BBC Proms on the way to Do...

Hong Kong, as viewed from West Kowloon Cultural district, September 2023.  After three years of zero-Covid policy, quarantines and closed borders, I had some paperwork to do in mainland China that required me to visit for the first time in four years. This was also at a time when I have friends living in nearby Hong Kong and Japan. Hence formed an idea for my usual kind of epic overland adventure, but on the other side of the world: Hong Kong to Japan without flying. How hard could it be?  Overall, this was an outstanding trip, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was very fun to experience so many cultures and traverse several countries over the space of three weeks, covering 5355 km by rail and another ~600 km by ferry. The fact that China to South Korea passenger ferries only restarted a few weeks before I used it, together with how the vast majority of passengers were local traders, means that I strongly suspect I am the first person to have done this journey since at l...

Prince's Palace, Monaco, March 2020 Monaco is the second-smallest country in the world, after the Vatican City. I visited on the last day of my truncated microstates itinerary around Europe.  Having arrived in Nice on a surprisingly pleasant and memorable overnight coach journey from Lyon, I made the short walk through the deserted Niçard streets to a train station. Conveniently, the coach station is right next to the Nice Riquier commuter rail station, which even happens to be one stop closer along the line to Monaco than the main Nice Ville station. I'd even arrived in Nice an hour early, so had some extra time to play with in the microstate as well.  TER from Nice Riquier The journey from Nice Riquier to Monaco Monte Carlo was only 21 minutes. The train was somewhat busy as it was very much the morning peak, but that didn't really matter for such a short journey.  Monaco Monte Carlo station. It even has direct trains to Moscow on the Nice-Moscow route, t...

  Rowing-boat ferry from Butley to Gedgrave and Orford, June 2022 My local OS map of Ipswich and southeast Suffolk - Explorer 197 - was what I used to plan my cycling trips around the rivers, heaths, village greens and medieval churches of Suffolk through the various 2020-2021 lockdowns. The Butley River snakes around the eastern edge of the map on its way into the River Ore and onward to the sea next to historic Orford Ness. The other side of the river was beyond the scope of the challenge I'd set myself, but the "Ferry P (limited service)" shown on the map almost sets a challenge to those who enjoy such explorations. So, I decided that on this pleasant summer's day, what better excuse for a bike ride than a rowing-boat ferry.  Dating from the Norman era, the part-thatched church of St John the Baptist at Butley was a pleasant place to rest for a while cycling to the ferry.  Butley village is already quite remote, with its few houses and its medieval church and abbey...

Rowing-boat ferry from Walberswick to Southwold, March 2021 Southwold is a very pleasant seaside resort, with all the traditional attractions like a pier, coloured beach-huts, and excellent fish-and-chips. But it also has something quite unusual - a licensed ferry across its harbour on the River Blyth. Harbour ferries aren't themselves that uncommon, but there aren't many of this kind: a rowing-boat ferry .  Traditional beach huts and pier, Southwold To celebrate the current stage of pandemic-unlocking where the stay-at-home order has ended and non-essential travel is once again allowed, I took the train from Woodbridge to Halesworth and then bus 99A to Southwold to spend an afternoon at the beach on this very sunny day.  One very nice walk around the town is to follow the public footpath along the route of the former Southwold Railway, closed in 1929, to just past its bridge over the River Blyth and then along the river wall to the village of Walberswick. The village itself h...

  The tiny hamlet of Hemley, Suffolk, March 2020. When the UK went into Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020, with only one daily outing allowed for walking/running/cycling exercise, I gave myself a small project to make the most of my limited cycling allowance: a medium-term project to cycle to and take a film photo of every church-with-tower, church-with-spire, and any other architecturally-interesting place of worship shown on the Ordnance Survey map of the local area (OS Explorer 197). It was a very fun combination of my cycling, history and film photography hobbies, and it was an excellent excuse to exercise responsibly during the pandemic and to explore lots of scenic rural Suffolk along the way. Here are the churches I visited, split into the three rolls of film that I used: 2020-03-22/2020-05-16: Roll 1 2020-05-20/2020-06-13: Roll 2 2020-08-07/2020-11-29: Roll 3 After visiting a total of 106 churches, here are some of my observations: It took me the entire year to get round to ...