Against all odds

Week ending 26th August was a long weekend and Ro and I decided to put to good use at least 2 of those three holidays. An overnight trip was out of question due to lack of advance planning. So I decided we would go to Leeds Castle - just a hour's journey from London, the websites promised!



After a whole lot of surfing and info-sorting on Friday, I decided on our schedule for the next day and kept reminding Ro to get to bed early. Inspite of getting a little delayed we managed to reach Victoria with tickets in hand at 11:00 (for a 11:18 train). Then onwards started our adventure. Read on to find out what transpired next..

We were informed that due to ongoing engineering work there was no direct train to Bearsted (the station for Leeds Castle) and were advised to change trains inorder to get there. Fair enough, we thought, the same tickets are still valid. We got onto a train which got us to Swanley - as deserted a station if any. Ro commented even Tiruvalla is more crowded! We had a half hour's wait here until the next train. We had our lunch soon as we got onto the next train - sumptuous sandwiches from Waitrose. No sooner had we finished lunch and were enjoying the scenic surroundings than we were interrupted by an announcement. Owing to a major gas leak at the station we were heading for, all train services were terminating at the next station!!!

We were already beginning to feel that this was not going to be a good day. At the station we were given no definite information on when the services would start again. There we 3 choices - head back to London, wait it out or take a bus. We were not guaranteed a refund on our tickets since the leak was beyond the control of the railway. Ro and I decided to wait for a while to see if the situation improved. After an hour we decided to take a bus (an additional 8 pounds!). The bus got us just one station short of Bearsted. We trekked a short distance to the railway station and got onto a train again (fortunately our original tickets are valid on the train journeys). We managed to reach Bearsted just in time for the last coach to Leeds Castle!

I dont know about Rohan but by this time I was quite tired due to the innumerable journey changes and waits. After having left at 9.30am, we reached Leeds only by 2.30 - 5 hours instead of the promised 1! The Castle of course was worth the effort aptly called the 'loveliest castle in the world' (not that I've seen many). After the view of the castle we had an hour to kill so Ro and I spent it wandering the grounds and gardens around. Nearing the end of the hour I suddenly jumped up realising we hadnt visited the aviary and maze - a significant section of the castle!! It was too late to make the visit and I was dead tired by then. I felt a lil foolish at not having remembered inspite of my meticulous notes-making the previous day. But well, we were happy anyway at having made the trip 'against all odds'.

We returned in 3 short journey changes, as against the 7 changes we had to make on our onward journey. No pics to post yet since we are still on the film camera. Despite everything it would remain a memorable trip for us.