London to Belfast, with some style

A trip report with a slight difference - I wanted to travel to Belfast but had quite a lot of time on my hands. I wanted to travel slooooooow and so I did!

I am slightly concerned that one reason for travelling this way was to do a trip report for a website called V-Flyer. A case of the tail wagging the dog? ):

My route, by choice, was London > Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton > Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury > Holyhead, Holyhead > Dublin, Dublin > Belfast.

So here goes...

If you are travelling to Ireland, there's a little known ticket called RailSail.
You can buy it on the day and it includes rail travel to the port and the ferry crossing. From London to Dublin, the fare starts at £32.00. But that's standard class and I knew there were bargains to be had in 1st Class. However you have to buy those tickets separately.

LEG 1
LONDON to WOLVERHAMPTON Virgin Trains 1st Class £22.00

On weekday services free food and alcohol is included in 1st Class. They also allow access to their First Class lounge at Euston. In retrospect this is a mistake as the lounge was packed and any sense of exclusivity is lost.





Some of the refreshments today included Strawberries & Cream, all self service. Which I didn't like.

The train was called soon enough and this was one of the First Class carriages. It remained virtually empty throughout.



I found my seat, and was pleased to see that the crockery was clean. (Compared to last few trips on rival East Coast)

The announcements were practically unintelligible. A few orders barked about having the correct ticket, but a pet hate of mine was announcing the arrival times casually, Like "we'll arrive in Wolverhampton at about quarter past three". No, we will arrive in Wolverhampton at fifteen thirteen hours. We can understand 24 hour clock you know! The same person checked tickets and was a cheerless lump. I wondered if he was the one who famously called the police after an old lady got on the wrong train?

Tea and coffee was served almost immediately, by charmless staff, and the complimentary 'light bites' included a chicken and brie roll, with chilli jam. I really liked it. Crisps, fruit and juices were also offered. I opted for a G&T. And a banana. And crisps.


The train journey was uneventful - I noticed the train tilting a few times which is awesome as you do feel a sense of speed with these trains.

Before long, I arrived in Wolverhampton and waited for the next train - a short hop to Shrewsbury.

Wolverhampton Station.

Shrewsbury is a lovely town and I was sad that I only had a few hours to kill here. I did that by heading to the local coffee shop.


I nursed a coffee as a threatening sky was developing!



Thankfully the weather cleared again and I waited for the next train.

LEG 2
Shewsbury to Holyhead Arriva Premier Service 1st Class £54

This was the reason I travelled via Shrewsbury. Arriva operate a special train between Holyhead and Cardiff which has a fab 1st Class service - a three course dinner is included in the price.

The train is a good old fashioned one - hauled by a growling locomotive that just oozes power, with comfy seats that line up with the windows!

I will let the pictures do the talking for this one:

This soup was really tasty!

I dived straight into the divine main course without pausing to take a pic. Sorry! It was the chicken leg braised with cider and bacon, with onion and mustard mash. The passenger sitting opposite had seabass...

I ordered a bottle of wine which was extra - £12.95.

The staff on this train were superb. Had a chat with the hostess and the chef as we approached Holyhead and they both loved working on it.



The train arrived on time, to a gorgeous evening in Holyhead...

I had several hours to kill - the drawback of my route was that I would arrive in Holyhead hours before the 'official' boat train. There's not a great deal to do in Holyhead at 9pm on a Thursday evening. So to start, I watched the train I was on being prepared.

This was the walkway into town...


I then went to the pub, another pub, had a wander around the sorry streets - full of boarded up shops including a dead Woolworths.





I headed back to the terminal.

LEG 3
Holyhead to Dublin Stena Line £26

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And dozed off.

And waited.

And waited.



Finally it was time to board.

The ship is some way away from the terminal, so after 'check-in', you wait for a little bus to drive on board. The same bus drives you off when you arrive in Dublin.

Our ship was called The Stena Adventurer. How exciting.









I had a wander around again, before tiredness got the better of me.

By this time I was whacked so I booked a cabin. And got this.


It was surprisingly comfortable and I had a good couple of hours sleep. The gentle vibration of the ships engines was almost like a lullaby and I slept well.

I awoke at around half five, to these scenes:









TOP TIP!
When boarding - remember which deck your little bus dropped you off at.

I went to the wrong deck and was darting in between massive trucks looking for it. Very scary!

I finally found it, and marks deducted from Stena because the driver hadn't put the lights on so those on board stood or sat in darkness. Not good.

Stena (at the time) operated a free bus to the railway stations, and I headed to Dublin Connolly for Leg 3 - Dublin to Belfast.

LEG 4
Dublin to Belfast 1st Premier Walk on fare: €66.00

The Dublin to Belfast train was, for many years, the only international rail service in the British Isles. That's before the Channel Tunnel arrived.

It's marketed as "The Enterprise" and has been since 1947. The trains have their own branding, distinct from the colours of Iarnrod Eireann and Northern Ireland Railways.

Despite vast improvements to the Dublin Belfast road, this trainis still busy, as the size of the waiting room shows. Mind you, at 0635 it was pretty quiet.



Tickets were checked prior to boarding the train.

It's quite cosy inside, the seats are power assisted. Which is odd as they haven't yet installed WiFi or power points.



The complimentary service in First Class (along with a newspaper)



Next, the best value breakfast on a train, anywhere! £8.95 gets you all this, AND a cafetiere of coffee which is refilled when you like!

The staff were very friendly on this train, and they did a roaring trade with a range of good value breakfast options.



Another uneventful journey with just four stops - Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry and Portadown. Our arrival in Belfast, like all the trains during my journey, was on time.



I then went to check-in at a wonderful little hotel: Tara Lodge. No. 1 on Trip Advisor!

So - here are my observations:

VIRGIN TRAINS
On time, train clean, didn't smell at all. (Strange that it should be a consideration. Good to see they've finally fixed that toilet smell!)
Staff indifferent. Overrated, but at £22 whose complaining?

ARRIVA TRAINS WALES
For the short hop from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury.
On time, train looked tired. Trolley service passed twice in thirty minutes.

ARRIVA TRAINS WALES Premier Service
On time, service surpassed all my expectations. I never thought I'd say that in the same breath as "Arriva"!

STENA LINE
On time, staff odd, ship spotless.

ENTERPRISE
On time, staff great, train clean.

Wow. Those seats are really nice! Even the ones in the dining car look pretty cushy.

I love that shot of the stormy clouds behind the clock tower.

Interesting report. I did the same rail sail from Nottingham to Dublin a year or so back. An early start, but arrived in Dublin the same day about 5pm, (or 17.00 as you might prefer...)

Just recently posted a report on AU of my Dutch Flyer trip, a rail sail to Holland.

Cheers,

Ed

Love the reports. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, some great photos. Your report is particularly interesting to me as my husband and I may well be travelling from London to Belfast later this year, probably late August. Not sure yet just how, but not by air. The number of different rail companies in Britain is confusing. I am presuming it is possible to use fewer train companies than you wrote about. We may yet hire a car in London and cross by ferry. After Belfast we will try out the Chunnel on our way to France. Any advice is welcome.

Jean

I enjoyed those . Makes me want to win the lottery so I can take more trips to the UK and Europe to ride trains.

Jean said:

Thanks, some great photos. Your report is particularly interesting to me as my husband and I may well be travelling from London to Belfast later this year, probably late August. Not sure yet just how, but not by air. The number of different rail companies in Britain is confusing. I am presuming it is possible to use fewer train companies than you wrote about. We may yet hire a car in London and cross by ferry. After Belfast we will try out the Chunnel on our way to France. Any advice is welcome.
Jean

Click to expand...

Thank you!

There's a much easier way to get to Belfast from London. My report above was specifically to take advantage of the train with meals included.

The easier route is:

LONDON - HOLYHEAD 9am train - direct

HOLYHEAD - DUBLIN Stena Line OR Irish Ferries (prefer Irish Ferries as their ship is massive!)

DUBLIN - BELFAST Enterprise Train

There's also a route via Scotland but it's a real ache as it requires multiple changes. The ferry moved from Stranraer (with a train station) to Cairnryan (four miles away but without a station) the Rail and Sail ticket now requires a 45 minute bus journey from Ayr to Cairnryan, rather than use the station on its doorstep.

Sorry for confusion, I meant "direct" for London > Holyhead, not "non stop"

Thanks for the info, very useful

Jean