It's been a while since we've been here and, as the Walton C&CC site closes (for some reason), during the winter, this site was an obvious choice for a visit to the west of London. We had forgotten what a right royal pain in the butt it is to get anywhere from here by public transport.
On Thursday we arrived and immediately headed across to Chiswick to visit Mother on the incredibly slow and hideously expensive South west Trains. It would have been cheaper and quicker to go from home. The British Railway system is a bloody joke! Anyway, ranting aside we had a very enjoyable evening with Mum, eventually got home (Chertsey town centre is not a particularly nice place to walk through at night) and tried to sleep through the motorway, river weir and aircraft noise.
On Friday we wanted to visit Hampton Court. Again we negotiated the stupid rail system (2 changes and 1.5 hours to go 7.5 miles). It was a bitterly cold day. Inside the palace was freezing. We had a good look around, got lost in the maze, eventually got back to Chertsey and went out for dinner in the Kingfisher Pub on the other side of the bridge. The food and beer were just as good as they were the last time we visited here in the old van.
On Saturday we were going to go to the Stoop to watch England Women v Wales Women, but the weather was atrocious, Harlequins had cocked up all the arrangements (they are getting more and more inept as the weeks go by) and we didn't fancy braving the awful SWT trains again so we stayed in the warm and dry, drank wine and watched the match on the telly, followed by the England v Wales 6 Nations match.
Sunday it was an early start to go to the Stoop. The trains were bad enough during the week - imagine a Sunday service when Notwork Rail has decided to screw the Trains to Twickenham yet again. It wasn't pleasant but you know the score by now. We met our friends for breakfast, had a few pints to dull the pain of an embarrassing performance on the pitch, had a few more pints to moan about the club, game and trains and then went home. However, we missed the one train per hour (can you believe that?) by seconds as we arrived at the station at the same time as the train, but the moron train driver stopped halfway down the platform instead of at the normal point and we didn't have time to get it. We love trains. Also, whilst I am on a rant, what is it with SWT that they have to be stopped for at least a minute before they deign to open the doors? Is the system run by the same idiot who puts the "wait half an hour until you can open the door" timer on washing machines?
On Monday it was a glorious, but cold, morning. We had a slow start and eventually arrived home after doing a bit of damage in Costco in Milton Keynes en route.
What a moaning, miserable blog this is. Chertsey site itself is probably alright in the summer when you can use bikes instead of the ridiculous trains, but we won't be hurrying back.
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