Time Departed: 9.50 am

Time Arrived: 5.15 pm 

Weather: Overcast, cool, light rain in the morning, sunny afternoon  - Min 8, Max 17

Accommodation: 42 Yeldham Rd, Hammersmith

This was a day of travelling from Barnstaple to our AirB&B at Hammersmith, London where we will be staying for three weeks. We travelled from Barnstaple to Exeter Station to Paddington Station to Hammersmith Station. However, all did not go smoothly. 

We walked for fifteen minutes from our lovely hotel, over the old, stone bridge which we walked on 17 years ago to the small Barnstaple Railway Station. On arrival at 10.10 am we found that the trains from Barnstaple to Exeter had been cancelled due to a train breaking down on the line. Our train was due to leave at 10.36am. The earliest expected train was 1.36pm with the delay caused by the need to remove the train off the railway line. Our Exeter to London train was leaving at 12.36pm.

The option offered to us was to catch a one hour ten minute taxi ride to Exeter which would be paid for by the railway. The railway station officer said there were no buses because all the bus drivers had gone back to Poland. We duly lined up outside the station with the rest of the passengers under an overcast sky.

The first group of passengers had to dismantle their high-end expensive bicycles into a million pieces to fit them into the first taxi. It was quite an effort. 

It took very little time for us to realise that even though the railway station officer had rung 30 taxis to come to the station that none were coming. The cyclists were the lucky ones. We were told it was because it was a Sunday and also a bank holiday weekend. Waiting was made more bearable with friendly fellow passengers. It did drizzle at one stage but we didn’t want to lose our position in the line so we popped up the umbrella.

We finally got a taxi at 11.50am and arrived at Exeter Railway station at 1.00pm. I had to take a photo of evidence of our journey.

Prior to leaving, the railway station officer reserved our seat tickets for the 2.06pm train from Exeter to Paddington Station. Henk sat in the front of the taxi and I sat in the back with two English women and we talked the whole way and enjoyed each other’s company. The taxi driver drove like a maniac most of the way and when we got out of the taxi two of us were a little bit carsick. The trip cost £193 (about $400 Australian dollars). This included Sunday rates due to time and a half on a Sunday. The two English women are also able to apply for a reimbursement of the total cost of their train tickets due to the inconvenience. We were all left wondering how the railway company makes a profit as apparently the Barnstaple service is often unreliable.

Henk and I had time for a quick lunch and we shared a toastie at the station’s Starbuck Cafe before catching the train. 

We settled comfortably in our train seats only to find the tickets we were given at Barnstaple by the station officer were for the 10 May instead of 3 May. We only found this out when another couple wanted our seats. There were plenty of free seats so we resettled for the two hour twenty minute journey.

The transfer from the Great Western Railway Line at Paddington Station to the Circle Line to get to Hammersmith went smoothly. The walk from the station to our AirB&B was about ten minutes and the unit is ideally situated. The host is very organised with information and furnishings for a comfortable stay. 

We quickly headed out to acquaint ourselves with the neighbourhood. Ten minutes from our unit is the Thames River with many cafes, restaurants and bars and it was busy on the sunny Sunday evening. The Hammersmith Bridge is a beautiful looking suspension bridge and is for pedestrians and cyclists only. We walked across it to get better views of the area. The tide was high. (I think I’m a bit obsessed with tides at the moment!).

After a long travelling day we decided to have dinner in our unit as we had to go shopping to pick up basic supplies. I cooked pasta. It was an early night for us.