Well after a few weeks back home doing the usual homely things like going down to the Charlton Rubbish dump and cleaning cupboards and sheds and many other things we looked forward to a day out.
Just recently we visited London for the day to visit a professional photographers exhibition where my nephew Martin is pleased to have an exhibit and that was a nice day out but we noticed that South West trains, our local operator, was having what they called 'August Madness weekends 'where you can go pretty much anywhere on the network for £10.00 each, quite good we thought. So on Sunday 16th we booked to go to Weymouth and although the weather did not look to promising we did hope for a good day.
So we caught the train as planned from Weybridge to Wo
king where we changed platforms and on the signboards it showed that only the last five coaches were going to Weymouth and that the train would be split at Bournemouth. So we dutifully got in the correct coach and off we went to towards Bournemouth where they realised their mistake as the sign should have said the first five coaches. So we all moved out of the back five coaches to the front five coaches and there was nowhere to sit or even stand and the only place was in the First Class compartment and so we thought 'bugger it' we shall sit here, as an OAP it's not good enough. We think they realised their mistake as the ticket collector never came in the carriage during the next 90 minutes or so as otherwise he would have been lynched by me and others.
Weymouth was quite busy as we arrived and also the sun came out just after lunch and the masses arrived on the beach to enjoy the usual burgers and chips and 'punch and Judy' show and the usual fairground rides. We did a long walk around the town and passed by many pubs and restaurants which all seemed pretty full and with many others tucking in to take away fish and chips etc. The port is quite nice with many nice boats and we think that it would a much nicer place to visit out of season. Whilst walking alongside the port a fishing boat came in and
started unloading buckets of largish crabs and also Lobsters. See photos.
We walked around by the old Fort called 'NOTHEFORT' then along the sea front for a while and then headed back to the train for a 1650 departure. At this point the train was not too busy and the advantage of being at the start point also had merit.
After a few stops there was an announcement that we could upgrade to First Class for £ 5.00 which seemed quite reasonable and so we moved and what a good decision it turned out to be as by the time the train had left Bournemouth it was packed and then we arrived at Southampton where at this point the train reminded me of my old days in Tokyo where people were employed to push people in to the train and it was chaos. Well done South West Trains for promoting something and then not recognising the amount of ticket sales will require the need to add extra trains.
All said and done we had a nice day out with lunch at '
Prezzo' a good chain of Italian Restaurants.
We now must think where else we can go.
and Chip shop. The lunch together with a bottle of Chardonnay was excellent and then we headed for another walk before arriving at the Bandstand on the beachfront. It was the Wealden Brass Band playing a selection of Show and film tunes and it lasted about 90 minutes. Sitting in the sun after a great lunch and listening to a brass band is a lovely way to spend a birthday.
