Thursday, May 15, 2014, 5:44 AM
Arizona, 1:44 PM England
I am currently at my favorite pub the
Kings Head in downtown Salisbury having arrived this morning at 12:30 AM after,
practically, a non-stop trip from Phoenix.
The ferry trip to Holyhead was very relaxing and gave me time to nap,
nosh, and writes a bit. However, after
arriving at Holyhead it was anything but relaxing. Retrieved my bag from the ferry and headed to
the train station which is attached to the ferry terminal. The train was already there so quickly
trotted to it then sat there for ten before we were off. I keep thinking there has got to be a faster
way to get to Salisbury and ask the conductor who does not know. We are traveling through the Wales then down
into the England watching the beautiful country side slid by. Just an aside I’m watching an older gent
across from me eating lunch which consists of Curry, a beer and a glass of
wine. So my travel will take me across
half of England in order to get from Holyhead to Salisbury. We reach Shrewsbury where I again ask the
conductor if there is a better connection.
He tells me to ask again when I reach
Birmingham which will be a train change to start heading south. At Birmingham I ask the conductor and he
looks at his little time table. I ask if
it isn’t faster to head to Southampton Central rather than Bristol Temple Mead. I have in my head that all trains gong to Southampton
Central go through Salisbury, from the north, first. He
agrees with me and tells me to wait for the next SC train in ½ an hour. My train for BTM leaves and I call the YHA
while waiting. There is a fellow there
who is going to wait for me as I’ll arrive after the desk closes. I explain that I think I’ll get there a bit
earlier then I told him; we are both happy.
As the train pulls into the station the
stations it will go through are announces; Salisbury is not one of them. I ask the train conductor if this train will
get me to Salisbury. He say’s “We’ll get
you to Salisbury Mate,” and off we go. I
have this sinking feeling I’ve made a grievous error. As we travel along I make my way to the front
of the train where the train manager hangs out.
I tell him I was told this train would get me to Salisbury. He taps away on his little machine and prints
out an itinerary. I have to change
trains at Blazing Stoke which will get me to Salisbury at 12:33 AM. Had I stayed followed the original time table
I’d have been there at 11:33 PM. My
confidence is waning “If I were not along
this would not have happened.”
We arrive at Blazing Stoke where I’ll
wait for the train to Salisbury. I enter
the waiting room and instantly I recognize the place and another mess up pops
into my head. I think it was about four
years ago I had to make a train change here for Salisbury also. I had put my back pack on the luggage rack,
which I had never done before, and found a seat. When I left the train, not paying attention,
the back pack remained. I leisurely made
a call to my mother and as we were hanging up I realized there was no back pack
on my back. This particular station as a
fellow how monitors trains on a large desk.
In a tizzy I tell him my plight.
About twenty minutes later he tells me they found it. I can retrieve it at the Southampton Central
station. I was to arrive in Salisbury at
9:30 PM and I’ll now arrive at, oh guess what time? 12:30 AM. I call the YHA again and tell the fellow waiting
for me to go to bed I’ll pitch my tent when I get there. The train to Salisbury pulls in and off I go
arriving at 1:00 AM.
I grab a cab to the YHA find a patch
of ground and begin to put my tent together.
There are other campers here and I’m trying to be very quiet. However, there is this motion activated light that
is now flashing on and off every time I move.
Oh wait not one but two are not blinking at me. The fellow in a tent near mind gets up and
tells me the lights are flashing…NO Shit
think I, but I smile and apologize. I settle in to my sleeping bag and look at my
watch it is 2:00 AM. I left my son’s
house in Phoenix at 6:30 AM on Tuesday.
I have been on planes, trains and automobiles, and let’s not forget
buses and ferries for 44 hours. H
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