Dublin to Salisbury

Thursday, May 15, 2014, 5:44 AM Arizona, 1:44 PM England

I am currently at my favorite pub the Kings Head in downtown Salisbury having arrived this morning at 12:30 AM after, practically, a non-stop trip from Phoenix.  The ferry trip to Holyhead was very relaxing and gave me time to nap, nosh, and writes a bit.  However, after arriving at Holyhead it was anything but relaxing.  Retrieved my bag from the ferry and headed to the train station which is attached to the ferry terminal.   The train was already there so quickly trotted to it then sat there for ten before we were off.  I keep thinking there has got to be a faster way to get to Salisbury and ask the conductor who does not know.   We are traveling through the Wales then down into the England watching the beautiful country side slid by.  Just an aside I’m watching an older gent across from me eating lunch which consists of Curry, a beer and a glass of wine.   So my travel will take me across half of England in order to get from Holyhead to Salisbury.   We reach Shrewsbury where I again ask the conductor if there is a better connection.

He tells me to ask again when I reach Birmingham which will be a train change to start heading south.  At Birmingham I ask the conductor and he looks at his little time table.  I ask if it isn’t faster to head to Southampton Central rather than Bristol Temple Mead.  I have in my head that all trains gong to Southampton Central go through Salisbury, from the north, first.   He agrees with me and tells me to wait for the next SC train in ½ an hour.  My train for BTM leaves and I call the YHA while waiting.  There is a fellow there who is going to wait for me as I’ll arrive after the desk closes.  I explain that I think I’ll get there a bit earlier then I told him; we are both happy.

As the train pulls into the station the stations it will go through are announces; Salisbury is not one of them.  I ask the train conductor if this train will get me to Salisbury.  He say’s “We’ll get you to Salisbury Mate,” and off we go.  I have this sinking feeling I’ve made a grievous error.  As we travel along I make my way to the front of the train where the train manager hangs out.  I tell him I was told this train would get me to Salisbury.  He taps away on his little machine and prints out an itinerary.  I have to change trains at Blazing Stoke which will get me to Salisbury at 12:33 AM.  Had I stayed followed the original time table I’d have been there at 11:33 PM.  My confidence is waning “If I were not along this would not have happened.”

We arrive at Blazing Stoke where I’ll wait for the train to Salisbury.  I enter the waiting room and instantly I recognize the place and another mess up pops into my head.   I think it was about four years ago I had to make a train change here for Salisbury also.  I had put my back pack on the luggage rack, which I had never done before, and found a seat.  When I left the train, not paying attention, the back pack remained.  I leisurely made a call to my mother and as we were hanging up I realized there was no back pack on my back.  This particular station as a fellow how monitors trains on a large desk.  In a tizzy I tell him my plight.  About twenty minutes later he tells me they found it.  I can retrieve it at the Southampton Central station.  I was to arrive in Salisbury at 9:30 PM and I’ll now arrive at, oh guess what time? 12:30 AM.   I call the YHA again and tell the fellow waiting for me to go to bed I’ll pitch my tent when I get there.  The train to Salisbury pulls in and off I go arriving at 1:00 AM.

I grab a cab to the YHA find a patch of ground and begin to put my tent together.  There are other campers here and I’m trying to be very quiet.   However, there is this motion activated light that is now flashing on and off every time I move.  Oh wait not one but two are not blinking at me.  The fellow in a tent near mind gets up and tells me the lights are flashing…NO Shitthink I, but I smile and apologize.   I settle in to my sleeping bag and look at my watch it is 2:00 AM.  I left my son’s house in Phoenix at 6:30 AM on Tuesday.  I have been on planes, trains and automobiles, and let’s not forget buses and ferries for 44 hours.  H