Train, Travel and Temperature Chaos in the UK

My visit to the Lake District ended this morning and I made my way down to a town near Cambridge to visit Michelle, whom I met when she was an au pair for my cousin long ago. We have stayed in touch and when I was working on my Master's degree in Ireland I began to visit her and her family every summer. I haven't seen them for about 4 summers.

The goodbye picture from the Lake District Adventure

My journey happened to coincide with the hottest day ever recorded in the UK.  There were travel advisories all over the place telling everyone to stay home and not travel on Monday and Tuesday unless it was absolutely essential. Here's one warning from the Trainline App (an app I highly recommend for booking and following train travel in Europe). 

As another aside, I wasn't sure why trains + extreme heat = trouble, but I found this page on Network Rail explaining what happens in the hot weather. It is actually very interesting reading, especially as someone not familiar with rail travel.

So my original journey was from Lancaster to Ely, leaving at 12:45. However, that got cancelled the day before and I rebooked for this one.

 

But I decided to get to the station early for the 9:39 train out of Lancaster, as I was pretty sure all tickets would be honored on this crazy travel day. 

The train left Lancaster about 15 minutes late and plugged along at a pretty good clip. There were 3 more stops before we sped on to London. We were late but making progress. The train manager kept updating us on the estimated arrival time, which varied from one hour to about 30 minutes reported on the app.

          

With about an hour left we came to a stop at a station called Apsley and shortly the air conditioner went off as well. After sitting there for about 15 minutes the train manager said she wasn't sure what the problem was but she would keep us informed. My app now said this. Not good:

 

We sat for about 10 more minutes until she returned and said that it seemed a train hit a tree and there was no word on how long it would take to clear. If we wanted to offload, she would open a door at the front of the train. People began pouring down the aisle to get off the train. I wasn't sure what to do. I tried calling Michelle but she didn't answer. I asked the guy sitting kitty corner from me and he said he was trying for a taxi. I made a call but it they didn't service the area I was in. After a few more calls and no luck I decided to get off the train. Although the train was headed to London I didn't really need to go there to get to Cambridge.

Because of the disruption I had to go to London to change trains, but I
didn't really need to go all the way into the city to get to Cambridge.

Of course it was a little station where you have to climb stairs up and over the tracks to get to the exit (see the blue bridge in the picture?)! A very nice gentleman saw me struggling with my bag and carried it up and down the stairs for me. 

I joined the crowd waiting for Ubers and ordered my own--well, I tried to. Twice I was connected with a driver and twice the driver cancelled my order. It was over 100° F, but I have to say that was the least of my worries. Aside from adding some irritation to the circle of death I kept seeing on the Uber app, the heat felt just like being in Texas, and less oppressive than Tel Aviv or Abu Dhabi.

What you don't see here is the closed and locked door of

the car hire office to the left of the sign!

Eventually I made contact with Michelle and she suggested I get a ride to Stevenage, a town about 1/3 of the way to her house; in the meantime she would start driving towards me. Once an Uber driver finally accepted my ride I only had to wait about 10 minutes to be collected. My driver was a lovely British/Pakistani man who was very happy to chat as we went and knew exactly where Michelle had requested I get dropped off--a Novotel near the A1 motorway. I only had about 20 minutes to have a Diet Coke and a bag of potato chips before Michelle arrived to take me to her house.

This morning (Wednesday), the day after the two days of scorching heat, I am super grateful the train stopped where it did and that I didn't have to go all the way into London. There were just a bunch of dramas closing down lines all over the country north of London. I may have gotten stuck in London if I had made it that far. 

As usual it was an opportunity to practice knowing that I am okay no matter what happens and to be grateful for all that does happen in the way it happens.