The Elizabeth Line or Crossrail opened at last

 31/5/22

A week after its public opening I travelled on the new bit of the Crossrail tunnel in London, now known as the Elizabeth Line.

Not fully functional until later in the year it currently runs in 3 sections. I went through the central London section from Paddington to Abbey Wood. I broke my journey at Farringdon, and also did some DLR riding.

On the opening day 2 You Tubers I follow posted videos.

Anyway here is my account of my day out.

Started by getting the train to Waterloo, then Bakerloo Line to Paddington. Here is the view leaving the underground.

So I turned left and took a few photos on my way to the platform.

Inside the train, the new map (diagram) and a view of Bond Street station where trains are not currently stopping.

Two stops later it was time to alight at Farringdon.

 

Using this great website A London Beer and Pub Guide I went to a couple of pubs I had not been to before. First was the Sutton Arms.

 Then Ninth Ward

Back to Farringdon station for the train to Abbey Wood.

At Abbey Wood

I then got the train one stop back to Woolwich

Woolwich station is very close to Woolwich Arsenal station so it was decision time. Train to Waterloo East or DLR.

I decided on DLR

I travelled to Poplar then wled a shor distance to West India Quay station.

Views from the platform.

I went one stop to Canary Wharf and changed to a train to Greenwich.

Then trains home.

Battle of Alton - May 2022

 1/5/22

Today I was a volunteer safety marshall for the Battle organisers. This is a reciprocal arrangement as some of them help out at the Alton Bus Rally.

My train arrived at Alton before I had to meet my friends who were also helping out. As I crossed the footbridge a Watercress Line was arriving and i took the photo below at the bottom of the footbridge.

 

Eventually I met up with friends in town and we walked to the Flood Meadows to awit our briefing. Our duty there would be first of two that afternoon.

Basically we had ensure that no member of the public entered the battlefield area.

The site had a taped fence with a further taped line a few metres inside. This formed a safety buffer between the public and re-enactors (or no mans land!)

We then moved to our position to awit the public and re-enactors arrival. Tis was the view.

Shortly after 1330 the sound of drums was heard and troops starting entering the area.

Here is a link for more info about the real battle.

Battle commenced at 1400.

Before the battle was over we had to go the churchyard for our briefing about our second job.

This would be manning road closures around the St Lawrence church area from 1500-1700. The map at the top shows where we were.

More photos were taken.

After the Parliamentarians victory the troops headed back to their campsite at Anstey Park.

Finally we inspected the church doors

An enjoyable afterrnoon out for my birthday.