Because I work for the rail industry, and have done for over 33 years now, I get travel concession’s throughout Britain and Europe. Costs of travelling are, therefore, virtually none existent, but this perk does not make me immune to various travel problems etc. My railway knowledge and ‘inside’ information can sometimes help to avoid potential delays. There are, however, some restrictions with these travel facilities and I can’t use certain trains at certain times. I can’t, for instance, use the overnight sleeper services without paying a supplement for the berths. There are only a few berths allocated on each service for staff and these are greatly reduced during busy periods for obvious reasons. Restricted services are advised to us and it is easy to avoid them and doesn’t really cause any problems.
From Coventry there are two main routes north available. The easiest of these is along the West Coast Main Line route, which runs via Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Glasgow/Edinburgh thence via Stirling and Perth. The other route is via the East Coast Main Line, which again involves Birmingham then, Derby, Sheffield, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Travelling over a weekend can be troublesome at times due to engineering works on the line at various locations. Sometimes these works overrun their allotted time scales and then cause serious disruption the trains resulting in heavy delays. ‘Inside’ information can very often pick out the potential trouble spots and an alternative route can be chosen. It doesn’t always work though!
In recent years, however, my travelling by rail has been severely curtailed by the introduction of new trains and rolling stock by the Virgin Trains Company. These new trains operate along the West Coast route and are noisy, smelly and uncomfortable – even for free travel!! The journey to Glasgow or Edinburgh takes the best part of 4-5 hours and there is no way I could sit on one of those things for that length of time. So, what’s the alternative?
Flying – that’s the answer. The introduction of Budget airlines from Birmingham International Airport have helped my quest to watch ICT. Flybe operated to Glasgow and Edinburgh, BMIBaby fly to Edinburgh and there’s always EasyJet now, who have introduced flights from Bristol to Inverness. Booking these flights early enough can reveal some very attractive prices and my journey time is vastly reduced into the bargain.
The only other option remaining is to travel by road which has only been done once, and, as I do not own a car or drive, I us my trusty motorcycle which was used to enable me to get to see the Cup semi final at Hampden.
As you can see there are many ways of getting – I've even walked to a couple of games!
