Getting Home

I said my farewells to the family who were staying on in Richmond and had an interesting day travelling the country using public transport - starting back where it all began around two weeks ago at Darlington Station. 

A rather slow regional train got me to Leeds, where I changed trains to get to Chester.

A dash across platforms saw me straight into the waiting carriage. Thankfully, I was well supplied with sandwiches as there was no time for browsing the station! The countryside rolled past without incident and as we approached Wales, the skies brightened... for a bit!

The darkened to a thunderous black, before producing a fantastic double rainbow as we neared Colwyn Bay.

I only had 5 minutes to complete the 12 minute walk across Bangor to catch the bus. Unwilling to have to wait a further 30minutes for the next bus, I sprinted as fast as I could and made it to the bus stop just as the doors were about to close! My heart was beating so hard it felt like it might burst out of my chest, but I'd made it!

The bus was crowded, hot and sweaty. The windows were steamed up and I had sweat pouring off me thanks to my cross town dash. If you drive direct, you can be in the village in under 10 minutes, but each time we got close, the bus would turn off up to a small village nearby and literally go 'around the houses'! Eventually, I got dropped off in the high street where I could purchase a few bits of food for dinner. The final section of walking back to The Cottage was very pleasant, despite the moist air. Over the river...

Past the hills...

And along the footpath..

And finally I was home - a mere 8 hours after leaving Clare and the gang and with my wallet exactly £100 lighter! It was good to get into The Cottage, which felt surprisingly warm inside. Only after I started to cool down did I see that it was 10 degrees in the living room - warmer than outside, but still a bit of the low side! I got the fire lit pronto...