Diary. Day 1. Bristol - Köln. 791 Km.

For ages, I have been imagining the beginning of this trip. Of course, the reality is always subtly different – without that difference, there would hardly be any point in doing the journey!

I woke at 4.50 AM because my cheap transistor radio, packed in my bag, decided to wake me with its totally random alarm function. Of course, it was impossible to get back to sleep. So I went downstairs, remembered some more chores to do, bills to pay, emails to write to Tibet, and morning radio to listen to. Tony Blair is resigning today. Much more importantly, my longest-ever land journey is about to begin!

The BBC Radio Bristol outside broadcast car was easily visible because of what looks like a giant corkscrew on its roof. We stood outside in the bright windy morning and I answered the standard questions – “why?”; “what do you hope to see?” etc. Live on air to whoever listens in the morning. The Evening Post, on sale in the bookstall long before the evening, was carrying an article about the trip, lifted straight from the blurb I wrote for the press release. A cut-and-paste operation. Great picture though, taken yesterday in the same place.

The 09.30 to Paddington was standing at Platform 13. Martin commented on how saggy the seats were, but I was simply glad to get moving, on time. Free tea and coffee, nice quiet English people reading their complimentary copies of “The Times”. Glimpses of the Thames, the colour of milky coffee after the wet weather. Engineering works at Didcot, with a 10-minute delay. Pulling into Paddington. London stress. Bakerloo line “good service” (Jubilee line “serious delays”.) Down escalator broken. Tube train sometimes full, sometimes nearly empty on short journey under West End. Up escalator operational, phew.

Eurostar has a crap logo, invisible from afar. The check-in has been designed by a prison architect, as was the security area. Sudden panic: will they let us on with Swiss Army knives? Sue asked, the answer was “yes” but she got searched anyway. Luckily we did not have too long in the pit. We were called to board the Eurostar, only to discover that our “Leisure Select” class carriage has been substituted by a standard-class one. But we were relocated quite quickly. Glimpse of Parliament on its momentous changeover day (but is it really a change?) “Le Figaro” talking about the Blair legacy. Free champagne, with lots of top-ups. Three course meal (smoked salmon, baked cod, Bakewell Tart) with more wine. My mobile phone made a random call in my pocket. I was moaning about this, and a fellow passenger told me how his son had suggested a fix to that problem. Ten minutes of fiddling with phone to make that happen. Gave up Decided to ring Customer Services on 191 while the train was still in England, and to my amazement they answered quickly and told me how to fix the problem.

We found ourselves discussing the possible origins of corrugated iron. When was it invented? It is totally necessary for roof construction in windy colonies. I mentioned to the hostess that her service was the best we would get this side of China, and a passenger opposite became interested in our trip. His name was Alex Gordon. He was a train union (RMT) official from Bristol, so I showed him the Evening Post article. He told us that corrugated iron was invented by a Bristol company in the 1850’s, in Barton Hill. The company is now big in Australia. He also told us lots about the railway industry. The most fascinating item was that the management structure of the UK railways comes directly from the 19th century military – officers from the Raj were brought in to deal with it. Therefore, rank is terribly important, hence the different unions (RMT/ASLEF) for the different grades. Like the Civil Service. Also, military names for mess-rooms etc. Alex was a very knowledgeable man, and said that he would read this blog. If so – hello Alex!

The train was running over half an hour late, because of a fault. It pulled into Bruxelles Midi station. Rush hour. Subterranean stuff again. Computer ticket machines were relatively easy to find but then – STRESS – when I keyed in our two codes for the purchased tickets, the machine said “busy, please wait” (in French) for about five minutes. Ages! The ticket office queue was 40 metres long – no hope there. But finally, clunk, clunk, it started printing our tickets. It took a while to find out the departure platform, but I suddenly realised that it’s going to be a whole lot worse in China! The train was a bit late arriving and totally full, but the slow computer had printed out reservation tickets for the best table in the carriage. So all was well. We got served more food and drink. The weather was wet outside. We got to Köln on time. Carol was there, in a mild fret. We walked across the cathedral square and went to the Früh pub. Glorious! Fast service, great beer, and proper German food. Happy eaters. Taxi back to Carol’s house, internet connection, and diary writing.

The first day has gone well. Tough, with three trains and busy city connections. The others don’t believe me for a moment, but it will get easier from now. Only one train per day. No tight connections.

Tomorrow, Berlin!