Cardiff 4 July 2007

I've been meaning to go to Cardiff Bay for ages. The tiny branch lines that reach either side of it from Cardiff Central seem like curiosities in an age of culled branches. Also I love maritime landscapes. Finally thanks to Dr Who and Torchwood, the bay has been getting a lot of free publicity on the television, and it looks an interesting place to visit. Despite the frequent trains and the short journeys, these branches had somehow eluded me in past trips to Wales. So with a few days off whilst changing jobs, the chance to tie a visit and some line-bashing together in one day presented itself.

Some days are just destined to go wrong from the word go. This was to be one of them! I was quite pleased as I'd managed to get two singles for around £30, pretty good at a couple of days' notice. When I turn up at Paddington there are no fast ticket references on the print out from the online booking site, and when I ask FGW to check my credit card against bookings, they confirm that nothing has been booked! Having got this far I decide to continue. Luckily the turn up fare is £54 return, so it's not an unfeasible amount more. Also I can come back on any train - something, with hindsight resonates with irony.

I get the 9.45am 125 to Cardiff, arriving at around 11.45am. I buy a Valley Rover and go for a wander around the city before the first connection, taking in snippets of the Castle and the Millennium Stadium. Then it's off to Maestag and back on a two coach 158. This is the last of the Valleys Lines for me. Party because it has no links with the other four, it always seemed as if it was more remote, yet it's probably the same distance and time to do the round trip. Before the 1970s, Maestag and Treherbert were joined by a massive loop, but now you just have to go out from Cardiff and back again. I'd only read in the last couple of weeks that most of the population of Wales is in the south, and having done today's trip I can believe it. There is not much truly open countryside even once we get out of Cardiff, and indeed there is continual urbanisation along much of the line. The conductor doesn't say anything when he sees I am on the same train back, another one who must be used to the line bashers!

Back at Cardiff Central I get an "Oggy" a pasty with leeks in it, before getting on the Pacer/Sprinter combination to Penarth. This is a shortish trip, Penarth and Dingle Road practically touching platform ends, such is the tiny gap between them! I head down to the beach, my idea being to follow the coast round to the barrage, an artificial embankment built across the bay mouth in order to provide a harbour for water pursuits, before crossing it to the eastern side. My first obstacle is that there is no path along the beach, only the cliffs. The second is that even though you have reached the opposite side of the bay, the walkway ends at the gates of the port itself. Great. I have walked across in a howling gale and driving rain and am not best pleased. There is not a soul to ask about if there is any way through. It is somewhat ridiculous, as I can almost touch the Assembly, Norwegian Church etc. Ggrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! Back I go to Penarth station to get the train. A middle aged man strikes up a conversation with me, something that only seems to happen outside London and is always pleasant.

I get the train back to Cardiff Queen Street where the Cardiff Bay shuttle runs from. This is an interesting one, an original DMU "bubble car" with slam doors and the noise of a bus, even down to the changing gears. The sight that greets me at the terminus, a short ride away, is disappointing. The bay is another car-ridden traffic system. The Millenium Centre and the Basin are behind a roundabout. Even the "Torchwood Fountain" is switched off. Never mind, once I get away from the cars, it's quite pleasant. I'm determined to drink some Brains Beer before I leave and to my delight one of the new trendy bars there is a Brains pub, with four different beers, three of which I try. When I sit down and look out of the window, they are filming Torchwood just outside - a not entirely surprising coincidence. TV appears to suffer from British Leyland style overmanning, about 30 people are needed to get a shot of a girl walking along in a trance.

Arriving back at Cardiff for the 20.25 train home, I discover that it has been cancelled. And my final nightmare begins. It's also a demonstration of what is wrong with the railways. When there is a problem, everything falls apart. There are no explanations given and no instructions on what to do and no staff around to ask. I am in the privileged position of knowing that I can get the train to Portsmouth and change at Bristol Temple Meads, but not everyone will know that. Oh, but surely privatisation ended such poor practice? At Bristol the London train is running half an hour late. As a consequence my chances of getting my onward connection home from Paddington are very small. Again there are no announcements apologising, explaining or instructing. The train staff don't even announce the new ETA for London, and are not remotely interested in my dilemma as to how I am going to get home. It's past midnight when we reach London, an hour later than I should have arrived, and I am forced to pay £15 for a cab to Victoria for the 12.35am train, just to avoid missing it and having to pay £35 for a cab all the way home. I arrive home in a very bad mood indeed.

New lines this trip:

Cardiff-Maestag
Cardiff-Penarth
Queen Street-Cardiff Bay