Monday 17 October - Alghero to Arbatax

Pictures will follow

There was a quick ride to the station and we caught the narrow gauge diesel train (two railcars and a trailer) into Sassari. The train was quite comfortable for a commuter run, the track had been upgraded with new ties and some rail, rail joints had been welded.

Alghero - the amount of grafitti was disgusting

At Sassari we took the bus to Mandas where the narrow gauge railway is spending an enormous amount of money on track and equipment repairs even though it is shut down at the moment with no word when it will reopen. They were working on two teak passenger cars which were beautiful. The screws that secured the siding had the slots all pointing upwards – amazing attention to detail. There is a steam locomotive which is steamable – looked like it could be steamed almost straight away although I don't know about the boiler certificate.

The interlocking frame had yet to be hooked up to the trackwork

 

A lot of this equipment will never be used again.

We had an excellent lunch at a local restaurant and then continued on to Nuoro - nothing to see there.

The countryside is very very dry .  It started out through a long wide valley and we then climbed to 1,000 metres before descending to the coast at Arbtax.   I wonder how the steam engine will be able to cope with the climbing tomorrow.

 Click below to see all pictures taken on this line in slide show format

Sunday 16 October - Narrow gauge Palau to Sassari

Pictures were posted on October 26

The shower flooded the bathroom with half an inch of water first thing. Breakfast was a madhouse with three groups trying to get at the food at the same time.

We had to wait quite a long time for the train to arrive at Palau. An old man was asleep on a stool in a phone booth. He was in the sun and out of the wind and could observe everything, ferry boat activity etc. without moving. The train stopped right by him but he only opened an eye.

The ferry terminal was busy.  It had a bar which many used once they realized that you had to buy a ticket at the cash across on the other side of the room.  There were a lot of men watching the motor racing.  Much of the street furniture is carved from solid pieces of rock - planters, benches and even a toilet at one of the stations was fabricated from large pieces of stone. The countryside is strewn with naturally sculpted rocks.

Our train skulked into town.  It had to return in reverse almost as far as the Palau town station.

The two car train finally arrived and we were treated to a wonderful tour of the northern part of the island. There were lots of sheep, goats and cattle as well as vineyards. A hunter was out with his two dogs. There were many dry-stone walls used to keep the animals in. Maquis scrub is everywhere.

  

I found myself in the cab of the diesel electric locomotive #502 with a male driver and a female helper. It was a great trip and was greatly helped by the fact that both crew spoke English. I gave them both Canada pins as well as a pin for her son and his nephew. He was quite a train enthusiast and talked about the TGV and the Italian high speed trains. The train uses vacuum brakes but the locomotive has been modified so that there is now no independent release. This makes sense bearing in mind that the trains are very short. Movement authorities are handled by the conductor but the engineer is in charge of the actual movement of the train. The locomotive has dual controls so it can be driven from either end of the cab. There was no deadman pedal. The crossings were very much overgrown at some places and the engineer was not happy with many of them. At one time people recognized the sound of the train and waited for it to pass, but many nowadays don't care and take risks.

A runpast over a man-made lake.

There was plenty of activity harvesting cork. A couple of yards were filled with pallets of cork. Not many people live in the country and the small towns were very sleepy with just a few old men present.

Surprisingly we had a meet with another special passenger train – there are no regular trains on this section.

Meet with another passenger train.

We stopped at Tempio Pausania to look at the old, belt driven, machine shop and then found lunch in the town. The prosciuto was very tender and the caprese salad (tomato and boconcini) was flavoured with and fresh basil. Pasta was excellent. The restaurant filled up after us as others from our group found the place and there was a large party in a back room. A cafe provided Mary with coffee while I tried a comparison taste testing of red and white myrtle liqueurs. They were both very good but I think I prefer the red.

A comparison tasting of red and white mirto liqueur.

Tempio Pausania

Murals in the Tempio Pausania station booking office.  Glasses of red and white mirto liqueur are shown bottom left.

After lunch we continued on with a couple of run pasts including one at the spiral at Bortidigiadas. Our progress was delayed at one point by a donkey which didn't want to get out of the way.

Runpast at the spiral tunnel

John Bennett suggested that, by keeping the camera settings the same we could Photoshop an image of the train passing under itself.  The result turned out pretty well.

Good bridge location

We arrived late at Sassari and went straight to the hotel in Alghero. It took a little time to check in but the room is good and the dinner was excellent.
Click below to see all images of this day in slide show format:

Saturday 15 October - arrival at Olbia

Pictures posted October 26

The sea was surprisingly smooth and we were able to get a reasonable night's sleep. The shower worked well. We were about an hour late into Olbia, the sunrise was hidden behind a bank of clouds. We had a cool latte on the boat and waited a long time for it to dock. Luciano went missing – it turned out that he was waiting for us at the garage exit while we were waiting for him in the saloon.

Approaching Olbia - passing the mussel beds.

A young lady came up to me and asked in a New Zealand accent “Do you know how to get off this boat?” My first reaction was to say something like “You get out the same way you got in,” but in New Zealand the ferries usually have a passenger gangplank. We me up with her a little later looking for the No. 9 bus stop which Colin found for her. She was taking the train to Cagliari. As I left I said, “I hope the All Blacks get beaten in the World Cup – she was not amused.

We took a taxi to the Hotel Plam and then walked into Olbia. The main street is nicely kept for the tourists but the rest of the place is not particularly pleasant. The standard gauge TrenItalia station is somewhat run down and we saw an ancient diesel railcar move out into the sidings. There are very few trains but a number of people were hanging around.

We looked for Seadas in a bakers but what we were given was raw pastry with a cheese filling. Later on Mary found some Pardulas or Casadinas which are pastry filled with fresh cheese flavoured with cinnamon, raisins, saffron and lemon.  There is a market on Saturdays but it is nothing special. I bought a cheese with wax on the outside and strung up with a piece of string.

In the Saturday market

The cheese lasted us a couple of days.

Date carved in a stone lintel

We don't need to see any more of Olvia!

The bus picked us up at the hotel and took us to the airport to pick up the rest of the group. There was a delay as one woman had lost her bag.

The drive to Palau was interesting. The countryside was very rocky in places yet where there was reasonable soil we saw cattle grazing and the hillsides were covered in vineyards. There were many outcrops of rock that had been weathered into fantastic shapes.

The hotel isn't bad although it escapes me how they can claim four stars.

After settling in we went to the local supermarket and bought a bottle of Cannonau red wine – from Sardinia. The initial taste is good – full and fruity but there is a somewhat bitter edge. Dinner was nothing special but it did allow us to get to know some of the group.

Friday 14 October - Torino to Genova

Pictures posted 26 October

The bed was rock hard as was the pillow but we managed to get a reasonable sleep. The trams were running past until quite late. We had a good breakfast in the hotel and then walked over to the Porta Nueva railway station where we found that day passes on public transport (trams, buses and Metro) cost 3 euros 50. This is a great deal. We decided to explore the main north south route (No. 4) to see what there was. We went out quite some way and decided to take a look at the market and the Duomo.

The No. 4 trams all have conductors who check tickets frequently. Expect to have your ticket inspected at least twice on each trip. They check whether a ticket has been stamped in the machine and also the period of validity. Transgressors were given a hard time.

The market is the largest outdoor market in Europe. Even conkers were on sale presumably to be boiled and eaten like sweet chestnuts. There was lots of sausage, cheese, meat, fruit, vegetables, spices, olives etc.

We overshot the Duomo on the return into the city and went a way south along a stretch of the No. 4 tram route which is on a separate reservation and with left hand running. The Duomo is in good condition and we were surprised to find out that the Shroud is actually stored in a large box there.

We walked through the Palace Square and then back towards the station stopping for lunch at L'Infernot:

Proscuito e melone/mixed salad

Agnolotti (stuffed with meat and served with a brown sauce.

Warm peach and custard tart.

Bottle of Barbera d'Alba 2008 (local red).

It was excellent with good service and we have tried the local pasta – agnolotti. The gebts toilet was through a door marked “pus”. I stood for some time with my hands under the hot air drier waiting for it to start only to find out it was a paper towel dispenser.

Seen on a lamp post near a tram stop “Jesus is comming very soon.”

High speed train at Torinbo Porta Nuova.

We met Luciano in good time at the hotel and walked the short distance to the Porta Nuova station. The 1520 train left on time and was only some 5 minutes late into Genove Principale. The land is very dry and burnt looking as the rains have not yet come to this area. The journey was uneventful, our car didn't have air conditioning. We had a drink at the station and Luciano found a taxi driver who knew the routing for the ferry and we were able to board after only a short wait.

Our cabin was a great surprise. Bigger than we had feared, better than many hotel rooms and there was a sink with a shower, towels, soap etc. We went up to the lounge to have dinner and we left the berth precisely on time at 2000. The meal was pretty good for self service:

bocconcini y pomodoro/squid salad

Lasagna/penne with seafood

Bottle of white Sardinian wine from Monti.

We spent some time on deck watching the moon rise then turned in early as we have to be up early.

Thursday 11 October - Travel London to Paris and on to Torino

1025 London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord 1347
1524 Paris Gare de Lyon to Torino Porta Susa 2055 (actual 2130)
The worst part of the journey was the short ride on the Hammersmith and City line from Paddington to St. Pancras.  People were waiting ten deep at the platform and we were unable to get on the first train but were successful on the second.  London Transport only provided four car trains.  People have to do this every day!

Eurostar from London to Paris left on time and arrived a couple of minutes early into Paris Gare du Nord.  We found RER line D quickly and were in Gare de Lyon within 20 minutes of arriving in Paris.  There was just not enough time to have a sit down meal so we munched sandwiches on a bench near the departure board.  I looked longingly at Le Train Bleu but that will have to wait until Christmas.   SNCF is building a big new circulating area on the northern part of the station.   Gare de Lyon was giving people lots of time to board the trains, mostly about half an hour, in great contrast to Gare Montparnasse which makes people run after waiting an inordinate amount of time.  The TGV going to Milano left on time and was only two minutes late into Milano but extended stops, no reason given, meant that we were about 30 minutes late arriving into Torino.

This line is pretty tortuous after leaving the main high speed line south of Lyon.  There was double track until we branched off the line to Grenoble and then single line to Chambly.  The small villages were reminiscent of Switzerland with large houses and many shutters. 

Waiting for the French customs to clear at Modane.

Luciano was waiting for us on the platform at Torino and quickly brought us to the hotel where we crashed.  The room had a lot of lights and even more light switches.  It was pretty confusing trying to work out which worked what and it was quite an effort walking around last thing trying to ensure that all the lights were out.

The hotel is located on the main street close to the main railway station, Torino Porta Nueva (we arrived at Torino Porta Susa), and there was a tram route right below our window which had three windows/shutters to keep out the noise.

Wednesday 12 October

Sausage, fried egg, back bacon, mushrooms, fried potato, baked beans and toast

Today was a sightseeing day.  We got up late and had a full English breakfast at the Angus Steakhouse on Praed Street.  This fuelled us for the day.  We walked by the Serpentine across Hyde Park, in front of Buckingham Palace, across St. James' Park to Horseguards Parade.

From there we followed a group of schoolkids in green uniforms as far as Trafalgar Square, down the Strand to Fleet Street, past the Law Courts, pausing for a coffee, then into the Courtauld Gallery.  The bad part was that tghe second floor with the impressionists was closed until the afternoon but the good news was that entry was free.  This is a beautiful small collection, well displayed in exquisitely decorated small rooms.

The London buses still use roller destination blinds, even worse, one of the franchises is let to the RATP which operates the Paris Metro and they even use the RATP logo on the buses.  I was surprised to see some RM  buses in regular operation.  These have a back platform with no doors at all.

We paused for a pint/half pint of Bombardier Best Bitter which was very well hopped and then continued on to St. Paul's Cathedral which was closed for the day.

Fleet Street

Plan B was to back track to Portsmouth Street to find the Old Curiosity Shop, made famous by Charles Dickens.  This is an interesting building almost hidden away by the London School of Economics.

To get back to Paddington we used our Oyster Cards on the top deck of a No. 23 bus.  This was much cheaper than the Hop-on, Hop-off tours and we saw a great deal:
Charing Cross, Trafalgar Square, Regent Street, Picadilly Circus, Regent Street Oxford Street, marble Arch and St. Mary's Hospital.

Tuesday 11 October - to Burnham to see Pam, Len and Hilary

A quick trip on a suburban diesel unit brought us to Burnham where Pam, Len and Hilary were waiting on the platform for us.  Elena, Hilary's guide dog is still pretty young and was very excited to see us.  We all piled into their car, Elena in the trunk of the hatchback and went back to Cheveley Gardens for a very pleasant visit.  Hilary had come up from Newport by train with a transfer at Reading on Sunday. Elena is very good when she is working but she likes to play a lot and she is a big dog.

We had a long chat - family stuff.  Pam and Len still have the occasional heron in the back yard as well as deer but the family of ducks has not been back for a couple of years.  At lunchtime Len drove us all to the Blackwood Arms, a delightful little country pub in the middle of nowhere, although it is only 10-15 minutes drive away.  It is rustic but the food was good (beef pie and sticky toffee pudding) as was the beer.  I had an excellent Brakspears Best Bitter.  Elena laid down quietly under the table and we didn't see or hear anything from her for a couple of hours.

Back at Cheveley Gardens it was time for Elena to work off a little energy, after which she came in and slept at Hilary's feet.

Both Mary and I were feeling the effects of jet lag and left quite early.  I even dozed off for part of the trip, unusual for me on a train, so I even missed passing Acton Yard, where I was nearly run down by a train - not so pleasant memories.  We came back to the hotel and crashed.