An alternative to Xmas & New Year, in the days we could still get away, was to go on the Bash somewhere instead. To that end, and with our 3rd National Lockdown just started today, time for this four man bash to show it's face. All in the words of Howie (Howard Jolley), accompanied by myself Poodle (Richard Mann), Betty (David Icke) & Flossy (Andrew Jones). No train photo's as mine were digital but since all lost & Howies are currently in storage. I will add these at a futur date once he has unearthed them. Here we go.
‘A Yuletide Balkan Bash’ or
‘2 Submissions & A Knockout’.
By ‘Howie’ (a.k.a. Farmer Barlovich).
This was initially going to be a three man trip to
once again sample the thrash of Croatian 2062s over the mountainous route
between Zagreb and Split (seeing as we’d not been there since 1996/7) and then
to see what diesel haulage awaited in Slovenia whilst at the same time avoiding
the usual tedium of a British Christmas and New Year bore-o-thon which would
undoubtedly include shouting at the television when Steve McQueen failed once
more to jump that fence on his motorbike despite how many attempts?! However,
at the last minute Mr. Andrew ‘Alco’ Jones (a.k.a. Flossy) also decided to
temporarily put on his GM head and thus make up the 4-man drinking team (erm ….
I mean bashing team, of course!). One further requirement for the holiday was
not to mention the word “Christmas” and to instead simply refer to it as
“Tuesday” and as a consequence to refer to all related items as “Tuesday” items
i.e. ‘Tuesday trees’ or ‘Tuesday lights’ etc.
Saturday 22nd
December 2001 - “To me Sir, you look drunk”.
Having embarked
on a typical after work drinking jaunt around Manchester the previous evening, I awoke to
find myself battling against the clock to pack and get to Warrington Bank Quay
for the 07.45 train to Euston. Thankfully, my timing was impeccable (mainly
thanks to some Steve Cram ‘esque’ long distance running) and I stepped onto
platform 2 just as the train was rolling into the platform! Flossy was already
on board whilst Betty joined at Crewe and all ran smoothly to London where we were to meet Poodle at
‘Wetherspoons’ (Liverpool Street).
The first problem was then encountered as the pub was shut thanks to the Spurs
vs Ipswich game so we risked a pint across the road until all their real ale
supply ran out (about 4 pints or 20 minutes later) whereupon we decided to head
to Bishops Stortford as things couldn’t get any worse on the lunch front. After
a better attempt at lunch here (liquid only), we headed for Stansted as
check-in times these days are somewhat unclear following a certain incident on
September 11th.
No sooner had we cleared passport control and the
security check then we discovered that our flight was delayed so we retired to
the restaurant for a snack-attack. The next few hours were pretty unbearable as
our comfortable plus onto the Zagreb overnight
out of Trieste
vanished without trace through a combination of late inward flight and then
awaiting the de-icing unit as the aircraft rapidly froze up with the snow
getting heavier by the minute.
Needless to say, Ryanair were not interested in
the problems this delay was causing mere passengers and set about extracting as
much money as possible out of everyone through their bar and duty free service
(no free brews here) although they were unable to flog us any sandwiches
despite handing everyone a menu as they had neglected to take any on board
(much to the chagrin of the Slovenian fella sat next to Betty whose ability to
swear and slag off Ryanair in English was very impressive)!
We decided to crack
open some port and drink away the problems that we were about to encounter in
Trieste until the Ryanair crew caught us drinking our duty free stash and
promptly lectured us on our wrong-doing finishing with this little ditty to
Flossy – “To me Sir, you look drunk”! I felt like retorting “You should see him
when he’s really muntered” but decided that discretion was perhaps the order of
the day.
Having landed at
Trieste and not
been given any of the promised info as to how to get into town at such a late
hour, we were left to our own devices. First port of call was the ATM but this
wasn’t working and seeing as the Bureau de Change was shut, we were stuck
without any lira. Luckily, Flossy persuaded two New Zealand girls to stump up
the necessary 60,000 lira for our bus fares in exchange for £20 and so we could
at least get into Trieste although the journey didn’t exactly pass without
incident as he then managed to upset firstly an Australian lad by calling him a
septic then 2 septics by slagging off Americans in order to appease the Aussie!
We arrived at Trieste Centrale at about 00.25 hours and wandered around for
about 20 minutes before falling on the Hotel Centrale where fortunately we
managed to get 2 rooms between us all. A beer was desperately needed to erase
the last 8 nightmare hours and so we finished the night off drinking Prinz
Luitpold Weissbier on draft in a small bar just a few minutes walk from the
hotel.
87001 07.45 Warrington Bank Quay – London
Euston (via West Midlands).
1A16 06.00 Carlisle
to Euston.
TUBE Euston Square – Liverpool Street.
317656 Liverpool Street – Bishops Stortford.
2H24
12.19 Liverpool Street to Cambridge.
317710 } 14.06 Bishops Stortford – Stansted
Airport.
317714 } 1B56
13.30 Liverpool Street
to Stansted Airport.
EI-CSJ FR168
15.45 London Stansted to Trieste.
BUS 23.50 Trieste Airport to Trieste
Centrale (15,000 Lira).
B & B Hotel Centrale, 10 minutes walk
from station. (225,000 Lira Triple/Single).
Sunday 23rd
December 2001 - “Why do you have three names?”
A little hung over this morning but
nevertheless eager to get to Zagreb courtesy of
the “Drava”. Our initial thought was to change
at Ljubljana but upon interrogation of the SZ/HZ timetables, we discovered that
we could cover part of the SZ diesel-hauled leg of the ‘Drava’ as far as Ormoz
for a local cross-border unit move to Cakovec and fall straight into a hauled
(hopefully) Kotoriba-Zagreb service.
This turned out to be a well sociable move
as we decided to take advantage of the excellent dining facilities in the MAV
restaurant car whilst still caning in the 664 thrash! A sumptuous 2 course meal
with beers and coffee was enjoyed by all and paid for in lira (the manager was
happy to accept a number of currencies) before we had to bail at Ormoz for the
cart forward. This was our first 664 and it certainly sounded different to any
other GM that we’d encountered – lots of whistling and jet engine type noises!
664 111 at Ormoz (from a later trip) The cart had a stop of three minutes at Sredisce for a customs/passport grip
which would normally be ample time but, of course, now there were 4 dodgy
looking Englishmen on board which was quite baffling to the Slovenian
grippenfuhrer! After a short bag search and questioning, we set off into
Cakovec where we had to undergo the same thing again in the police office on
the station.
The officer on duty didn’t seem fazed by our apparent long-winded
circular journey from Ljubljana to Zagreb but was more
interested in our FIP boxes and why some of us had more than one Christian name
– he was finished when told that some people such as ‘Gruntle’ have 4 names
(“very confusing” he said)! This border grip was a little more intensive and we
only just had time for a quick pivo in the station bar before catching the
Zagreb train which was formed of a 2044 on bogied biscuit tins. Thankfully,
this was a semi-fast service with few stops so we were in Zagreb at about 8pm
with plenty of time to visit the ATM for some kuna, check in to the Hotel
Astoria and finish the night off with beers and a Chinese meal in the hotels
own Chinese restaurant.
444-108 10.36 Trieste
Centrale – Villa Opicina. 26km.
IC245 08.14 Venezia Santa Lucia to
Budapest-Deli. “Drava”.
342-023 11.35 Villa Opicina - Pragersko. 254km.
IC245 08.14 Venezia Santa Lucia to
Budapest-Deli. “Drava”.
664-104 16.00 Pragersko - Ormoz. 40km.
IC245 08.14 Venezia Santa Lucia to
Budapest-Deli. “Drava”.
836-013} Ormoz - Cakovec. 22km.
836-014 } 7870
16.40 Ormoz to Cakovec.
2044-017 17.35 Cakovec – Zagreb
Glavni. 115km.
995 17.00 Kotoriba to Koprivnica.
B & B Hotel Astoria, 5 minutes walk off
platform, Zagreb.
(500kn Twin).
Monday
24th December 2001 - “F***’in 007 again! Why do I bother?”
Having decided
to spend “Tuesday Eve” in Zagreb,
we were looking for a reasonable move that would get us back into the capital
early enough to find a decent bar. To this end, we opted for a wander around
the city in the morning before covering the 2062 local turn out of Ogulin. In
true crank style, we’d never walked anywhere around Zagreb before save for between the station
and the hotel so we were most impressed by what we saw. The city centre was
busy with people doing last minute “Tuesday” shopping whilst quieter areas
proved a little iffy underfoot thanks to the recent snowfall.
The lunchtime
international Rijeka
service was down the pan when we arrived back at the station and, by the time
we left, our +39 had become a –6 but we were still fairly confident that the
local train would be held. On the outskirts of Ogulin somebody asked me if the
other line looked shiny and used at which point the Plaski local screamed past!
This wasn’t exactly a disaster as the 2nd trip is the longer of the
two so we headed into town and had a beer before locating a café for a spot of
lunch where Betty managed to overcome his fear of fish heads and Poodle asked
the girl behind the counter which toilet he should use as he couldn’t
understand the Croat wording – this provided plenty of amusement for all
concerned particularly the waitress who’d probably never encountered anyone
asking “What am I? Murski or Zenski? (Male or Female)!
We returned to
the station for the 16.07 Vrhovine service which was a 2062 on load one bogied
biscuit tin! Betty and Poodle had only had one 2062 (007) after their 1996 bash
had resulted in the Ogulin local engine being commandeered to work the
northbound day train following a failure so imagine our surprise and amusement
and Betty’s expletive explosion when we found a snowy, iced up 2062-007 sat
awaiting departure!
This was one of those journeys that made you wonder whether
or not you’d get stuck somewhere especially when we arrived at Vrhovine where
the snow was about a foot deep and all the pipes/couplings at the other end of
the coach were frozen up! There was a pair of 2062s on a northbound freight in
the loop but no loco swap for the 2062-007 appreciation crew – a short snowball
fight took place prior to the return run to Ogulin.
The train forward from
Ogulin to Zagreb
was about 40 minutes late but this didn’t really make much of a difference to
our night as the Chinese restaurant at the hotel was closed anyway so we were
forced to explore more of the city in order to find somewhere to eat and
inevitably drink the night away.
Our first port of call served Erdinger Weiss
on draught but the quality was poor so we moved on. To be honest, there weren’t
all that many places open so it was a real find when we fell upon the ‘Bulldog’
pub – a trendy, multi-roomed pub which was open until 6am, had a choice of
beers on draught (the Tomislav was in good form) and was wall to wall with
Sophie Dahls.
As much as staying in there all night admiring the Balkan babe
contest and quaffing the local brew seemed a good move, we’d have been mullered
in next to no time so we opted to see in “Tuesday” outside at the hot mulled
wine (kuhano) and hot-dog stall which had quite a crowd around it.
1141-011 12.05 Zagreb
Glavni – Ogulin. 109km.
IC200 06.45 Budapest-Deli to Rijeka. “Kvarner”.
2062-007 Ogulin - Vrhovine. 68km.
5423
16.07 Ogulin to Vrhovine.
2062-007 Vrhovine - Ogulin. 68km.
5422
17.40 Vrhovine to Ogulin.
1141-027 19.08 Ogulin – Zagreb
Glavni. 109km.
IC501 17.00 Rijeka to Zagreb Glavni.
B & B Hotel Astoria, 5 minutes walk off
platform, Zagreb.
(500kn Twin).
Tuesday
25th December 2001 - “Fancy having to go to school on Tuesday!”
Without going
into too much detail, our “Tuesday” started off rather poorly whilst stood
outside the kuhano stall after a Croat psycho went ballistic and decided that all
Englishmen with “F’in pig-dogs” before chasing Betty up the street and then
flooring Flossy with a right hook that our very own Henry ‘splash it all over’
Cooper would’ve been proud of! Obviously Floss didn’t take too kindly to this
totally unprovoked attack but the rest of us managed to get him away from the
scene after a lot of persuasion as there would undoubtedly be only one (or even
4) losers in this one if the authorities had got involved – it was somewhat of
a subdued ‘Merry Tuesday’!
Later that morning
and we were in better spirits although Floss looked a bit like Frank Bruno
after one of his encounters with Mike Tyson. We’d decided to go to Sarajevo having heard that much of the journey was
diesel-hauled through Bosnia
and there was also the possibility that a 2062 might work the train out of Zagreb. Besides,
“Tuesday” in Bosnia & Herzegovina was
about as far removed from home as we could get. This journey is just short of a
10 hour trek so it was a good start to get a compo between the four of us even
if the slender chance of a diesel to the border had been dismissed by the sight
of 1141-108 on the front - I reckon that the total journey time could be
reduced to around 8 hours if the border grips were to be done en route through
‘no mans land’ and the train became through electric. For aficionados of
evidence of war, this trip could be quite rewarding as there are still many
buildings sporting bullet holes and mortar damage although thankfully a lot of
recent building work can also be seen supporting the notion that things are
getting back to normality – other signs being the crowds waiting to travel at
Banja Luka and Doboj stations and the children at Novi Grad returning home from
school - even on “Tuesday”.
The previous two
trips made by cranks on this service had reported that a Bosnian 661 hauled the
train across the border and then another 661 worked between Doboj and Sarajevo
(on and off in tandem with a class 441 electric) because of gaps in the
overheads. On our trip the second diesel only worked as far as Zenica thus
illustrating the rapid work being undertaken to repair the missing sections of
electrified line – it surely won’t be very long before the only diesel-hauled
section will be between Volinja and Dobrljin (across ‘no mans land’) and this
could possibly be eradicated if the two railway companies can come to an
agreement over who will pay for the electrification of the bridge in the middle
of this 6km stretch of line.
At Doboj there was a real hive of activity with
three other trains also present – another 661 was steaming away on the 15.40
service to Modrica (train 6582), a class 441 electric was about to depart with
the 15.27 to Banja Luka (train 6408) whilst ex DB 212-019 was also steaming
away merrily on the 15.38 to Maglaj (train 6525).
We arrived at a grim looking
Sarajevo only a few minutes late and headed to the far end of the platform
before crossing the line and making our way up the icy path to the Hotel Grand
which apparently had no heating on the third floor so we all had to take a
single room each (a snip at 149KM or £50)!
We’d been led to believe that the
deutschmark was widely accepted vice the Bosnian Konvertible Mark as it had
exactly the same value and this proved to be the case throughout the hotel.
On
reflection, our decision to eat and drink in the hotel and then catch the 06.11
train to Ploce the following morning was perhaps not the correct one as it was
unfortunate to make such a long journey and not actually see anything of the
city itself but the local timetable didn’t seem to throw up any reasonable
moves and if everywhere had been closed due to a public holiday then we’d have
wasted a day and another £50 each with nothing to show for it.
1141-108 Zagreb Glavni – Volinja. 92km.
B397 09.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Sarajevo.
661-302 11.10 Volinja - Dobrljin. 6km.
B397 09.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Sarajevo.
441-301 11.45 Dobrljin - Doboj. 226km.
B397 09.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Sarajevo.
661-307 15.25 Doboj – Zavidovici. (Drag
441-403). 46km.
B397 09.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Sarajevo.
661-307} 16.26 Zavidovici - Zenica. (In Tandem) 48km.
441-403} B397 09.00 Zagreb Glavni to Sarajevo.
441-403 17.17 Zenica – Sarajevo. 78km.
B397 09.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Sarajevo.
B & B Hotel Grand, 5 minutes walk off
platform, Sarajevo.
(149KM Single).
Wednesday
26th December 2001 - “No Deutsch!”
Having decided
not to stay and view the sights and delights of Sarajevo
and having also come to the conclusion that we couldn’t bear the thought of the
trek back to Zagreb,
we were left with one remaining option – get up at 5am, def breakfast and catch
the 06.11 train to Ploce.
This wasn’t a bad move on paper, even though it was
electric-hauled throughout, as the line was supposedly very scenic and there
was the added bonus of getting to Split by lunchtime.
There was a very dodgy
moment at around 05.59 hours this morning when we were queuing at the ticket
office and this rancid woman who was sat behind the bloke on the ticket window
screamed
“No Deutsch!” All of a sudden our well timed move was on the verge of
falling apart as we only had about 13KM and a ruck of DMs but needed at least
70KM for the four train tickets. There then followed a lot of scampering about
and some very dubious money exchanging before we managed to get enough KMs for
the tickets and get to the train with barely a minute or two to spare.
The
train itself was load two (former Swedish stock) and there was a small buffet
compo where we managed to get some sandy coffee - the bloke also took DMs
(surprise, surprise!). True to what we’d been told, the first part of the line
through the mountains was spectacular to say the least although unfortunately
it was too dark for phots.
Further down the
river valley lies Mostar, a grim looking town whose name was synonymous with
the recent Balkan crisis, and even further south is the still bullet-ridden
border station of Capljina.
At Ploce there is a connecting bus service to Split
(56kn + 5kn to store bags underneath in the baggage hold) and this turned out
to also be a very scenic trip as it follows the coastal road around the
mountains.
On arrival at Split,
there didn’t seem to be any old crones about touting rooms for rent so we
walked along the Riva to the Hotel Bellevue. Unsurprisingly for this part of Croatia, the
weather was scorchio and in total contrast to everywhere else that we’d been to
prior to descending through the Bosnian mountains. The cafes along the Riva
were full of people chatting and watching the world go by which is a typical
view of Split at any time of the year so it was only right that we found a
table outside a bar and had a beer prior to covering the two afternoon
departures.
Amusingly
2062-007 was on the northbound day train and seeing as none of us wanted to
spend any time whatsoever in Knin after an enforced stay there in 1996, we
opted for a three hour visit to Sibenik where we went for a meal at the Hotel
Jadran.
The move itself doesn’t exactly yield much in the way of mileage but
there is a reasonable amount of thrash up to Perkovic despite only being load
two and is also fairly sociable with “Tuesday” beer on sale in the station
buffet at Sibenik.
Unfortunately one of the grippers didn’t sign FIP boxes so
Betty copped for a spoilt box, which isn’t the first time that such an incident
has happened with HZ staff. Poodle and I were weighing up the pros and cons of
doing the northbound overnight tomorrow so this move provided a chance to view
the wedge factor as we passed at Kastel Stari – a heaving train B824 eventually
appeared somewhat later than booked and we decided to knock that move firmly on
the head!
As two of us had only checked in for one night at the Bellevue and it
was out of season, we’d been given a suite overlooking the Riva and containing
bedroom, kitchen, dining room, bathroom and most importantly lounge complete
with two massive settees and a TV (all at the same price as a standard twin!)
so it was back to room 200 for a beer and wine sesh.
441-100 Sarajevo – Capljina. 163km.
B391 06.11 Sarajevo to Ploce.
1141-031 10.04 Capljina - Ploce. 31km.
B391 06.11 Sarajevo to Ploce.
BUS Ploce to Split
(56kn).
2062-049 Split – Perkovic. 48km.
5504 15.15 Split to Knin
2062-042 Perkovic - Sibenik 22km.
5809 16.27 Perkovic to Sibenik.
2062-042 Sibenik – Perkovic. 22km.
5810 20.07 Sibenik to Perkovic.
2062-049 20.50 Perkovic – Split. 48km.
5507 19.43 Knin to Split.
B & B Hotel Bellevue, 10 minutes walk
along the Riva, Split. (490kn Twin).
Thursday
27th December 2001 - “We’re at Predgrade, don’t ask why!”
The social
morning moves that were once contained in the HZ timetable have long since gone
and there is a simple choice of getting up for the 07.11 Knin local or
festering all day until the two mid-afternoon trains. Betty and Floss had
already declared after beers last night that they had no intention of getting
up early so it was only Poodle and I that covered the morning move. Having
reached Perkovic without passing train B825 (the southbound overnight), we were
faced with a choice of moves:
(a)
Continue north on the local and
hope to leap for the overnight at the crossing point;
(b)
Remain at Perkovic to view the
locos on the overnight and Sibenik portion;
(c)
Catch the booked Sibenik
connection and hope that the loco is swapped with either the one off the freight
or the overnight portion.
There is always
a dubious element in trying to make late running trains when you’ve no idea of
the potential passing points and we didn’t exactly fancy hanging around
Perkovic so we caught the booked connection into Sibenik and went to check into
the Hotel Jadran.
When we emerged from the hotel a few minutes later the rain
had turned into large flakes of snow, which we thought unusual to say the least
for this part of the country. We visited a few café bars and wrote a couple of
postcards to while away the time whilst sampling a couple of bottles of the
excellent Velebitsko pivo 1997 (6.1% barley-wine type beer) in a bar next to
the fruit and veg market where Poodle decided that he was in with the barmaid
and would be back later to try his hand!
Sat in the front compo of the 11.52
Sibenik to Perkovic when one of the grippers came in and asked if we minded if
he and his mate sat in there – actually we’d forgotten that the grippers tend
to occupy the front comps so we offered to leave but he said there was no
problem and that he needed to practise his English.
So for the next 30 minutes
in between grips we explained that we also worked on the railways and for how
many years before moving on to more day-to-day topics like football and how it
was unheard of to see snow in the region. At one point, I told him about the
problems encountered with FIP free passes and he said that the wording on the
boxes stated that each box was valid for one day instead of two which explained
why we’d run into problems the day before. Turns out that Sibenik guards only
work the branch and get one free return trip to Zagreb
per year - not exactly an overgenerous benefit compared to a lot of rail
workers in the U.K.
This fella was a Hadjuk Split fan and also a Sunday league ref having retired
from the amateur game with a knee injury that was then cured by a faith healer!
At Perkovic
there was a blizzard and the southbound day train was running late so we sought
sanctuary in the waiting room. The timetable interestingly showed a 07.25 train
to Martin Brod and return arrival at 19.20 but Mr. Hadjuk said that it wasn’t
running at the moment as Martin Brod was in a war zone! Will this train be hauled when it starts?
It was soon apparent that
there was a heavy snowfall on the mainline from Zagreb as firstly 2061-101 came through on a
Razine bound freight then 2062-036 arrived with IC521 - both locos covered in
snow! This train is supposedly rezzo only but the gripper wasn’t interested
once he’d seen the front cover of our boxes – he was probably more concerned as
to whether or not 036 would make it to Split
as it was staggering to some fine order despite only being on load five!
Floss
sent a text saying that he and Bets were at Predgrade but not to ask why so we
thought that they’d decided to phot the day train – surely they didn’t think
that it stopped there? Sure enough there were two frozen souls on the platform
looking slightly miffed as we staggered through and the same two people duly
arrived in Split
on the empties for the 15.15 Knin local before saying that trains were
“rubbish” and heading off to get muntered!
On reflection, Poodle and I should
then have done the northbound day train up the hill with 044 as it left after
the stopper but I personally couldn’t face the thought of any kind of fester at
Knin so we ended up doing the stopper to Primorski Dolac for the 15.15 ex Knin
– an enforced early bail (always makes due to gripper swap over) due to sitting
at Kastel Stari to wait for 044 to pass and clear section – and then back into
Split for beers with the “I don’t know why I bother” duo! Back at Sibenik
having done the 19.35 stopper ex Split, Poodle and I found a well lively bar
which was hosting a disco and gig night and we set about getting lashed on
Lasko pivo at 10kn per half litre whilst trying to book some flights for Greek
Easter with Easyjet through ‘Ned Chester Text-o-Travel’.
Move (i) “Trains are ace” (Poodle and Howie
approved):-
2062-056 Split – Perkovic. 48km.
5502 07.11 Split to Knin.
2062-042 Perkovic - Sibenik. 22km.
5805 08.34 Perkovic to Sibenik.
2062-042 Sibenik – Perkovic. 22km.
5804 11.52 Sibenik to Perkovic.
2062-036 12.35 Perkovic – Split. 48km.
IC521 06.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Split.
“Marjan”.
2062-020 Split – Primorski Dolac. 41km.
5504 15.15 Split to Knin.
2062-056 16.30 Primorski Dolac – Split. 41km.
5505 15.10 Knin to Split.
2062-049 Split – Perkovic. 48km.
5506 19.35 Split to Knin.
2062-042 Perkovic - Sibenik. 22km.
5813 20.52 Perkovic to Sibenik.
B & B Hotel Jadran, 12 minutes walk from
station, Sibenik. (507kn Twin).
Move (ii) “Trains are rubbish, I don’t know why we
bother!” (Betty and Floss):-
WALK Split – Split Predgrade. 4km.
All singing, all dancing, all morning sightseeing
extravaganza
2062-020 Split Predgrade C.S. – Split. 3km.
ECS t/w 5504 15.15 Split to Knin
B & B Hotel Bellevue, 10 minutes walk
along the Riva, Split. (490kn Twin).
Friday
28th December 2001 - “For F.I.P. – its free!”
Having texted
the Split contingent and found out that the weather there was scorchio, I
decided to head south for an easygoing morning on the Riva whilst Poodle
decided to make a decision based on what locos appeared at Perkovic on the Knin
locals.
Just as Poodle was weighing up the klickage involved with going to Knin
for the southbound day train into Split, the red cap appeared and waved away
the 07.11 Split to Knin without any sign of the 07.16 ex Knin arriving. We sat
on the Sibenik stock in a bid to avoid the chilly Perkovic morning air until
the southbound local arrived whereupon Poodle decided to go back to Sibenik and
I headed off to Split to meet up with Betty and Flossy.
For the next few
hours the three of us had a relaxing wander around the remnants of the old
palace of Split and had a few drinks outside one of the cafes on the Riva
before a top meal in the Luxor restaurant (the local dish of sweet and sour
beef – ‘pasticada’ with dumplings was very good).
Back at Split
station for a pre-train beer and we met up with Poodle who informed us that 007
was knocking about and was looking likely for the day train! Thankfully 001
appeared with the empties although it wasn’t looking good for getting a seat as
the platform was awash with people and the woman in the booking office wouldn’t
sell us any rezzos.
We decided to let everyone get aboard and then see what
seats were left on the basis that we could always sit in the buffet and drink
our way back to Zagreb.
For some reason the grippers had chosen to occupy the rear compo of the front
FC coach whilst the front compo was still empty so we bailed in with the
intention of upgrading if possible.
The axe fell almost straight away but the
woman gripper would only say that it was first class without showing any
intention of chinging us up but eventually her boss, who’d been doing the rest
of the train, turned up and started his calculations. Finally he reached upon a
figure of 123kn which we thought was between the four of us but then he dropped
the bombshell that it was per person! We’d looked at the prices of tickets at
Perkovic and so been able to work out that this excess didn’t exactly ring true
so in a last ditch attempt to lessen the ching I produced my FIP card whereupon
the gripper immediately disappeared off to his compo saying that he needed to
work it out again – 5 minutes later the compo door opened and he said those
dulcet words “For F.I.P. – its free!”
From then on in it was a top journey with the female gripper bringing
round a cup of coffee for everyone and, of course, there was also the solid
thrash through the mountains with the added interest of some very large snow
drifts.
No journey of
this length would be complete without a dose of cabin fever – you know how it
is when you’ve been storming around on the bash for several days with the same
people and you’ve exhausted every conceivable topic of conversation! One such
occasion was in Greece when Dan Cross, Floss and I were travelling down from
Dikea to Thessaloniki behind the excellent A325 and Dan brought up the subject
of whether or not I’d be prepared to put all my life savings into my beloved
Chester City to help them out of their normal fight against a winding up order
– predictably Floss got this topic firmly between his teeth and a heated debate
took place that was only decided by a timely bread fight!
Back in Croatia and
the Cumbrian internet chat guru (Flossy) had already introduced the lively topics of
hemesex and scat (apparently discussed at some length on his November trip to
Tunisia) so it was hardly a surprise when the question of the day was posed,
namely “If you were starving to death and the only way to survive was to eat
your own scat, would you eat it hot or cold?” – quite the mastermind/Times
crossword challenger! Unfortunately, starving to death wasn’t an option so
after some considerable thought the unique and ultimate answer to todays teaser
was “Try it hot and IF it was
rancid then let it go cold and then eat it”! Strangely enough, that seemed to
end that conversation!
With that line of chat hopefully out of the way, we
arrived in Zagreb
(only a mere ten minutes late despite 2062-001 having been labelled a poor
hill-climber by the Croatian regulars) and checked into the hotel prior to
another Chinese feast!
Move (i) “Split
tourist bit” (Howie approved):-
2062-042 Sibenik – Perkovic. 22km.
5802 07.43 Sibenik to Perkovic.
2062-020 08.28 Perkovic – Split. 48km.
5503 07.16 Knin to Split.
Move (ii) “Desperate for the klicks and new engine”
(Poodle plan):-
2062-042 Sibenik – Perkovic. 22km.
5802 07.43 Sibenik to Perkovic.
2062-042 Perkovic - Sibenik. 22km.
5805 08.34 Perkovic to Sibenik
2062-042 Sibenik – Perkovic. 22km.
5804 11.52 Sibenik to Perkovic
2062-056 12.35 Perkovic – Split. 48km.
IC521 06.00 Zagreb
Glavni to Split.
“Marjan”.
Move (iii) “Trains are still rubbish” (Betty and
Flossy extra kip move)
HOTEL Lie in after a night on the munter.
Move (iv) “2062-001 is a poor hill-climber –
apparently!” (Infamous four):-
2062-001 Split – Ogulin. 326km.
IC520 14.50 Split to Zagreb Glavni. “Marjan”.
1141-051 20.59 Ogulin – Zagreb
Glavni. 109km.
IC520 14.50 Split to Zagreb Glavni. “Marjan”.
B & B Hotel Astoria, 5 minutes walk off
platform, Zagreb.
(500kn Twin).
Saturday
29th December 2001 - “Varazdin supermarket sweep.”
With Ljubljana being our ultimate destination today, I’d looked
at doing the reverse of our move that had got us to Zagreb at the beginning of the trip. However,
the move was nowhere near as convenient as the outward had been and required
either catching the 07.25 “Maestral” or 07.34 local to Cakovec for a two or
three hour fester.
Therefore, we settled upon covering the 09.41 Kotoriba service
out of Zagreb with the intention of having 50
minutes beer time at Zlatar Bistrica before returning to the capital to check
out the brewpub (situated on tram line 4) and ultimately heading off to Slovenia.
Up
until this point, Poodle and Betty had only sampled two 2044s (002 & 017) and both breathed
a sigh of relief as one of those two (002) trundled light through Glavni
station as we walked up the platform to view the loco on the 09.41. However,
this was only a temporary moment of relief as 017 was sat on the front of the
train – very amusing!
We’d all forgotten just how rough riding and slow the
4-wheeled biscuit tins were but the journey was worth making if only for the
phot potential as the whole of the landscape to the north of Zagreb was still
covered in snow unlike the capital where a thaw had well and truly set in.
The station bar
at Zlatar “Biscuit tin” hadn’t changed since our one and only previous visit in
that its décor was still a rather fetching pink formica! Luckily the drunk who
had needed evicting last time by the police wasn’t to be seen! At 11.47 our
planned bash disintegrated with the appearance of a 4-car unit on the Zagreb train and a hasty
timetable consultation was instigated. The only decent move left to do was to
go north on the next train and leap somewhere for lunch but this meant a 17.22
arrival back in Zagreb and a big wave at going to the brewpub.
The journey
north was much smoother thanks to 004 hauling a seemingly new rake of proper
coaches but each time we stopped at a shack, everywhere looked decidedly closed
so we stayed on as far as Varazdin for a +34 onto the next southbound train.
The exception to the rule was of course Poodle who bailed without warning at
Novi Marof and fell upon a bar serving Tomislav along with a form of beef ‘n’
chips! Our leap at Varazdin turned into a Croatian supermarket sweep where you
could buy as much as you liked as long as you could fit it all into one carrier
bag – a snippet of information that would’ve been handy to know prior to
emptying the shelves of assorted goodies!
After Dale Winton’s sister had
dispensed the town’s limited supply of carrier bags, we managed a quick Lasko
pivo across the road from the station before turning the front section of the
leading biscuit tin on the 14.23 Varazdin to Zagreb into a cheap version of a MAV
restaurant car.
Soon the stagger of the journey got too much for all of us and
the remainder of the journey went by in a cloud of zzzzzzzz’s!
With forty
minutes to wile away in Zagreb,
we had just enough time to collect our stuff from the hotel and grab a couple
of drinks in a nearby bar. The Zagreb
to Feldkirch overnight was fairly wedged so Poodle went straight to the
restaurant car to drink up his remaining kuna stash and, with Betty feeling
under the weather, Flossy and I soon joined him.
Shortly afterwards came the
border grip at Dobova which was very intensive judging by the way the
restaurant car panels were searched so Floss and I decided to head back to the
compo but this looked even more dodgy to the passport grippers stood in the
corridor who’d already given Betty the 20 questions treatment – ironically
Poodle just sat in the buffet drinking away and the authorities just asked if
he had three colleagues elsewhere in the train!
Our departure from Dobova was
some twenty minutes late presumably due to taking the sleepers apart and when I
got back into the buffet there were two Slovenian lads chatting to Floss and
Poodle over a beer. It turned out that they’d been to a party in Ljubljana the previous night and then decided to catch the
train to Zagreb
for a haircut! Back on the train and they were skint thanks to a cash machine
riot so they were relying on cadging beer and fags from Floss but insisted on
repaying the good deed at a pub in Ljubljana which was totally unnecessary
seeing as the price of beer and fags was negligible compared to at home.
Neil
Taylor and Pont-Rouge appeared at Zidani Most and told us that they’d booked us
a room at the Hotel Turist (another suite this time costing 26,000 Tolar per
night – bargains!).
Sure enough,
after we’d booked into the hotel, we met up with the Slovenians at the
conveniently placed Kratochwill brewpub (halfway between the station and the
hotel) and had a decent session on the local brews with a selection of snacks
before the two local lads conceded defeat in the drinking stakes and headed off
home – the bill must have cost them a fortune and would’ve been more if we’d
not insisted on paying for some of the beer! One of the lads had obviously been
outside to visit chunder towers a couple of times as he was looking decidedly
ill whilst his mate declared Poodle an honorary Slovenian after watching him
down a pint and a half without blinking!
Move (i) “Dale Winton’s carrier bag convention”
(Howie, Floss & Betty):-
2044-017 Zagreb Glavni – Zlatar Bistrica. 54km.
3006 09.41 Zagreb
Glavni to Kotoriba.
2044-004 12.39 Zlatar Bistrica - Varazdin. 50km.
3008 11.19 Zagreb
Glavni to Kotoriba.
2044-005 Varazdin – Zagreb
Glavni. 104km.
3015 14.23 Varazdin to Zagreb Glavni.
Move (ii) “There’s got to be a bar open somewhere
around here” (Poodle plan):
2044-017 Zagreb Glavni – Zlatar Bistrica. 54km.
3006 09.41 Zagreb
Glavni to Kotoriba.
2044-004 12.39 Zlatar Bistrica – Novi Marof. 33km.
3008
11.19 Zagreb
Glavni to Kotoriba.
2044-005 14.47 Novi Marof – Zagreb
Glavni. 87km.
3015 14.23 Varazdin to Zagreb Glavni
Move (iii) “We’re going to drink those kuna right
out of our wallets!” (Fab 4):-
1142-014 18.05 Zagreb
Glavni – Dobova. 29km.
EX414 10.30 Belgrade
to Feldkirch/Zurich.
342-010 18.52
Dobova – Ljubljana. 113km.
EX414 10.30 Belgrade
to Feldkirch/Zurich.
B & B Hotel Turist, 5 minutes walk from
station, Ljubljana.
(26,000 tolar, suite).
Sunday
30th December 2001 - “Yes, but where have you come from?”
Our intended
move to cover the diesel under the wires turn had been aborted due to the train
only running during school term so we were left with a choice of either the
‘autovlak’ or the two Hodos turns. As the second Hodos move of the day only
gave a somewhat late arrival of 22.46 back in Ljubljana,
we opted for the first train, which involved an 07.25 departure and which Neil
Taylor and Pont-Rouge were catching as a move out of Slovenia.
Our other choice was
whether to get off at Murska Sobota for beers and also to avoid a potential
border grip riot or to go all the way through to Hodos for the mileage and hope
to avoid getting hossed during the 45 minute fester for the return train –
Hodos was the chosen move.
At Pragersko, the train divides and an electric
continues north with the front portion for Vienna
whilst a 664 takes over the rear portion, which is for Budapest – this move requires a shunt
reversal out of the station and then back into the correct platform. It soon
became obvious that our previous 664 run with 104 had been behind one that was
mechanically challenged to say the least as 109 thrashed along with an
impressive and gutsy GM drone.
At Hodos, we
vacated the station area immediately and headed into town so as to avoid
looking suspicious seeing as the platform sported a selection of armed
personnel including police, passport/customs officials and even a number of
machine gun toting army types wearing camouflaged uniforms - the typical crank
mentality of hanging around on the platform watching and photting the loco
change then festering for the return train was definitely not an option as far
as we were concerned! The size of the station looked out of place as we walked
down the country lanes into the sleepy hamlet that was Hodos but we were
pleasantly surprised when we saw a bar open next to the supermarket and Post
Office. During the walk back, which was timed to allow for the arrival of the
return train so that everyone knew that we hadn’t just come off it, we noticed a lookout tower marking the
border with Hungary
– a clear indication of how seriously they took these border grips!
Sure
enough, just as we made our bid to board the train, we were stopped by a
policeman who wanted to see our passports and know if we’d just arrived on the train!
Having been told that we hadn’t, he then asked where we’d come from so I
replied that we’d come from the café in the town which confused him even more
so he finally said “Yes, but WHERE have you come from?” to which I
replied “Ljubljana – Hodos (for pivo in the café) – Ljubljana” at which point
he said okay and we got on the train!
Seeing as it was
lunchtime, we sat in the MAV restaurant car and enjoyed another top meal, which
this time was improved with a case of Paulaner Weiss. Apart from the soup
starter and pork chop main course, we were treated to some fish which the
restaurant car manager assured us had been caught by the chef and himself!
This
turned out to be a good move as we scooped in another 664 (thanks to 109
dropping onto a freight in the yard) and this one was even more of an animal
seeing as we could hear it from the fourth coach! It was certainly a good trip
for the MAV man as he sold out of Paulaner but the Budvar was a good
substitute! Neil Taylor had told Poodle
about a gronk shunt at Ljubljana where a portion
off IC290 (06.10 Belgrade to Munich)
is shunted onto the ‘Drava’ so Poodle and I
decided to cane it in for a laugh. The sensible adult pairing of Floss and Bets
looked on in disdain whilst we went back and forth through the station as this
particular shunt involves not only the gronk but also the electric off the
‘Drava’ – we then headed back to the hotel for a veg out prior to another night
in the brewpub.
Move (i) “Hodos or bust.” (Everyone):-
342-007 Ljubljana – Pragersko. 137km.
IC512 07.25 Ljubljana
to Vienna/Budapest-Deli. “Citadella.”
664-109 09.47 Pragersko - Hodos. 108km.
IC247 07.25 Ljubljana
to Vienna/Budapest-Deli. “Citadella.”
664-102 12.05 Hodos – Pragersko. 108km.
IC244 07.20 Budapest-Deli to Venice Santa Lucia. “Drava”.
342-039 13.50 Pragersko - Ljubljana. 137km.
IC244 07.20 Budapest-Deli to Venice Santa Lucia. “Drava”.
Move (ii) “Had a drink, have we?” (Poodle &
Howie):-
732-185 Ljubljana stock shunt
IC290 (06.10 Belgrade to Munich) onto
the ‘Drava’.
342-039 Ljubljana stock shunt.
IC290 (06.10 Belgrade to Munich) onto
the ‘Drava’.
B & B Hotel Turist, 5 minutes walk from
station, Ljubljana.
(26,000 tolar, suite).
Monday
31st December 2001 - “Shaking hands with Gerry Adams!”
A very welcome lie in today with time to
raid the self service buffet breakfast in the hotel before catching the 09.40
EMU to Jesenice - these 315 carts are very comfortable unlike the rubbish that
we have to put up with at home. On arrival, I somehow managed to lose the other
three as we headed off for a coffee, seeing as it was freezing cold on the
platform, but I did manage to find the café bar B52 upstairs on the station
unlike the rest of them!
The DMU journey on the Sezana line is another fairly
scenic ride with a view of Lake
Bled at the northern end
of the trip. We bailed at Podbrdo to find 664-119 (a rare beast according to
‘Rubble’) sat in the motorail siding on the ‘autovlak’ train. Floss and Bets
were disappointed not to find the usual 644 on this service but I was more
concerned as to whether it was actually running or not seeing as it had
supposedly only arrived about 12 minutes earlier and was now completely devoid
of passengers, cars and train crew!
We decided to walk into town and see if
there was anything there as ‘Gruntle’ had reported that there was nothing at
any of the two northerly shacks. Sure enough we found two bars and went inside
the second one for a coffee and a sample of the local wine. The owner looked
uncannily like Gerry Adams but was very appreciative of our custom and we
walked away with a handshake and a pub pen/fag lighter!
We’d intentionally
returned in time for the next Jesenice bound passenger service just in case it
looked all over for the ‘autovlak’ but sure enough a couple of cars had
assembled for the short trip through the 6.3 km long tunnel up to Bohinjska
Bistrica. This turned out to be quite a hellfire little train despite not being
a big mileage move (unless you sat on it all day!) – there are four or five
motorail flats and a
4-wheeled biscuit tin which is divided into two halves
(one for bikes and one for passengers) with a portable calor-gas heater in
place of one of the bays of four seats and a selection of historic phots of the
line on the walls!
To cap it all, the shunter who also sorted out getting the
cars on and off the train looked the spit of Flossy’s mate Kev from Carnforth
(a.k.a. Porky the bucket basher).
At Bohinjska Bistrica the station approach
roads were icy and treacherous but we managed to get into the station bar
without any incidents and had a beer whilst the driver and second man took a
short PNB (coffee for the driver and a wine for his mate!).
The run downhill is
through a very scenic alpine valley but devoid of any thrash whatsoever whilst
the train itself was a bit more patronised with a few more cars (one owner of
which kept his lights on throughout the journey which looked quite dreadful
through the tunnels) and several passengers including skiers off the nearby
piste.
At Most Na Soci the train terminates
after a small shunt and the process of unloading and loading up begins again
but its all done very efficiently (almost ‘Charman’ like). Meanwhile, we needed
to check out the bar facilities before the climb back up the mountain – this time
with eight cars aboard.
By now the guard was very curious and asked if we were
drivers so a limited explanation of what we did at work ensued thanks to his
reasonable understanding of English. The thrash uphill was quite good although
the coach could really do with being on the north end of the train to fully
appreciate it.
By the time we got back to Bohinjska, it was cold enough to be
in need of a cup of caj rather than another beer and a tight connection at
Jesenice ensured as quick a journey back to the capital as possible. One of the
grippers was sat behind us on the EMU forward from Jesenice and he seemed to be
making the most of the journey as he was getting very friendly with this woman
who promptly bailed halfway to Ljubljana!
Back at base and we were bowled out by
the closure of the brewpub for the night so we ventured into the city looking
for somewhere to eat and drink which proved a little harder than expected.
Thankfully we found a Greek restaurant and managed a sampler meal in
preparation for the Greek Easter trip – the owner seemed well chuffed to find
four Englishmen eating in his gaff and more so with Flossy’s ability to say
“no”in Greek!
Afterwards we headed back to a bar that had advertised a real ale
but the place was totally wedged and a lot chingier than anywhere else that
we’d been to – the beer (from the Smolnikar Dean Brew Pub in Domzale) was,
however, very drinkable! After more walking around in search of the perfect
bar, we found a small place quite near to the main square with room to sit and
chill out and bumped into a couple of Mancunian lads on leave from the Marines.
Spent an hour or so there prior to returning to the main square to see in the
New Year which was heralded by a huge firework display and a selection of live
music although the bible bashing singers weren’t exactly what we’d hoped for!
We were supping more of the hot mulled wine which was ideal for chasing away
the flu bug that had struck us all down whilst all around us the locals were
toasting the arrival of 2002 with beer and champagne and firing off huge
rockets – this put the wind up Betty especially when he saw a bloke stood
directly behind us brandishing two Apollo XIV galaxy conquerors!
The obligatory
text message frenzy ensued to people back at home who were no doubt celebrating
11pm but, although an all night drink-a-thon would’ve no doubt been enjoyed at
the time, the simple fact was that if we weren’t on the 07.55 train out of
Ljubljana that morning then we wouldn’t be on the flight out of Trieste so, for
once, common sense prevailed and we headed back to the hotel after a bit of a
farce as we all got temporarily lost!
315-208} Ljubljana – Jesenice. 64km.
315-207} 2418
09.40 Ljubljana
to Jesenice.
813-120} Jesenice - Podbrdo. 35km.
814-120} 4205
11.12 Jesenice to Sezana.
664-119 Podbrdo – Bohinjska Bistrica. 7km.
8956 13.15 Podbrdo to Bohinjska Bistrica
664-119 Bohinjska Bistrica – Most Na Soci. 28km.
8957 14.00 Bohinjska Bistrica to Most Na Soci.
664-119 Most Na Soci – Bohinjska Bistrica. 28km.
8958 15.30 Most Na Soci to Bohinjska Bistrica.
813-109} 16.48 Bohinjska Bistrica – Jesenice. 28km.
814-109} 4214
14.30 Sezana to Jesenice.
315-207} Jesenice - Ljubljana. 64km.
315-208 } 2415
17.35 Jesenice to Ljubljana.
B & B Hotel Turist, 5 minutes walk from
station, Ljubljana.
(26,000 tolar, suite).
Tuesday
1st January 2002 - “Srecno Novo Leto 2002!”
A long day ahead
what with the clocks going back an hour and an optimistic arrival home of
midnight (UK time) so I was glad that I’d had a decent kip unlike the rather
green looking marines who’d been supping until 04.30 and 06.30 and were also on
our train and flight!
The train itself was only load two but we managed to get
a compo for the two hour long journey to the border station of Villa Opicina
where an Italian Railways rail replacement bus was waiting to take us into
Trieste after a customs and passport shake up on the train which resulted in
one person being carted off by the Old Bill!
There was no sign of the rateable
looking tramway being in operation between Villa Opicina and Trieste, which turned out not to be too much
of a surprise as, upon our arrival at Trieste Centrale, we found the bus
station closed due to the Bank Holiday – we then subsequently found out that
the airport buses weren’t running! Cheers then and En-F-Joy!
After a
fruitless wander around the city, we decided to get the train to Monfalcone and
see what (if anything) was open there seeing as there was also a local bus
service from the station to the airport.
The small bistro outside the station
was open for a snack-a-doobley and a beer and there was a regular bus out to
the airport although when we boarded there was nowhere to pay (the driver
didn’t want any cash) so it turned out to be chief!
After a beer in the
concourse bar, we obtained some Euros in our change but upstairs at the
restaurant where the only meal available was a tuna salad, we got our change
back in lira (illegal transaction or so we thought)! The flight was more or
less on time coming back and we did our best to get shut of our remaining lira
at the bar although they wouldn’t accept 1000 lira notes (presumably so that
they could rip people off)!
Back at Stansted
and the farce began with a baggage delay – at one point there were seven
flights awaiting baggage with no sign of any action even though there were
unused carrousel! Eventually at 19.05 the imminent arrival of luggage ex Trieste was announced and
Flossy’s green rucksack was second to appear at which point he legged it for
the 19.15 express to Liverpool
Street.
Shortly afterwards as more suitcases and
holdalls appeared, another large, army green rucksack appeared and the
remaining three of us all looked at each other and went for our mobiles having
had the same awful thought – that some poor sod was going to open said piece of
luggage and be greeted by the entire soiled underwear and long john collection
of Mr. A. Jones esq!
When I made contact with him, it was obvious that he was
on a moving train so I told him to check his bag and why - although naturally he
thought it was a wind up! Luckily it was his gear and a few minutes later the
rest of our luggage appeared so we were able to catch the 19.30 fast as far as
Tottenham Hale for a tube to Euston via the Victoria line. Having given up all hope of
making the 20.35 Euston to Preston service, we were suddenly on the concourse
at Euston at 20.18, which was an absolute bargain – Poodle, however, was facing
a £30 taxi fare from Doncaster to Bawtry!
The welcome back
to Britain farce continued as the station was suddenly host to rampaging
Blackburn and Spurs fans who were having a bit of a ruck which the police
managed to attend some ten minutes later while the rest of us waited to see if
the inward working for our train was going to arrive.
The eventual departure
was about 20.58 but the journey was a real stagger and we didn’t arrive in
Crewe until 00.13 by which time David (the train manager) had advised me and
five other unfortunate souls out of the 18 passengers aboard that we would have
to bail here for a taxi to Warrington and Wigan – apparently the staff at these
stations are in dispute with Virgin and won’t stop on if a train is late so the
stations are locked up, the trains go whizzing through without stopping and the
passengers get a taxi!
Hooray for the good old United Kingdom – former world power
and keeper of the Commonwealth!
I was told that the taxi would be only ten
minutes but needless to say that it was 40 minutes before we were ushered
through the GPO tunnel to our waiting minibus – this was a great relief as I’d
been fighting to stay awake in the buffet and feared sleeping through the call
for the cab!
Unsurprisingly someone said that they’d love to see Richard
Branson at that very moment and see what he had to say about it all but then
somebody else said that Virgin would probably blame Railtrack at which point I
slid a little further into the seat until yet another person said that
Railtrack no longer existed!
Thankfully I got dropped off first as the cab still
had one more drop in Warrington, one in Golborne
and three around different parts of Wigan –
the meter was already on £60! The roads around Warrington were treacherous so I didn’t
bother asking the taxi driver to attempt to get onto my estate which left me
with a dodgy short walk to make before eventually getting home at 01.34 hours.
All in all, an
excellent trip except for the British parts but it was good to be home!
342-014 Ljubljana – Villa Opicina. 117km.
IC264 07.55 Ljubljana
to Villa Opicina
BUS 10.14 Villa Opicina – Trieste
Centrale.
646-084 Trieste Centrale - Monfalcone. 28km.
2212 11.57 Trieste
Centrale to Venice
Santa Lucia.
BUS 14.00 Monfalcone – Trieste
Airport.
EI-CSH FR169
16.45 Trieste to London Stansted.
317722 Stansted Airport – Tottenham Hale.
1B11 19.30 Stansted
Airport to Liverpool Street
TUBE Tottenham Hale – Euston.
86401 London Euston –
Crewe (via West Midlands).
(drag 86210) 1P08
20.35 Euston to Preston.
(Note from Poodle - I was living in Bawtry at the time so a 91 out of Kings Cross for me for the aforementioned £30 taxi home)
Wednesday
2nd January 2002 - “Will we ever get home?”
TAXI 00.50 Crewe – Warrington.
Bashing / Drinking Crew:
Howard Jolley
(Howie)
Andrew Jones
(Flossy)
David Icke
(Betty)
Richard Mann
(Poodle)
Hotel Gen:-
Hotel Centrale Hotel Astoria
Via Ponchielli 1 Petrinjska
ulica 71
34122 Trieste 10000
Zagreb
Italy Croatia
Tel: 040 639482 Tel:
++385 (0) 1 48 41 222
Fax: 040 370677 Fax:
++385 (0) 1 48 41 212
E-mail:
hotel-astoria@zg.tel.hr
Hotel Grand Hotel Bellevue
Muhameda ef.
Pandze 7 Bana
Josipa Jelacica
7100 Sarajevo 21000
Split
Bosnia & Herzegovina Croatia Tel: 585-701/585-655/347-175 Fax: 362-383
Tel: (++387 33)
205 444/205 777
Fax: (++387 33)
205 866 or 204 745 (Bookings)
http: www.hotelgrand.com
Hotel Turist Hotel Jadran
Dalmatinova 15,
Sl Obala
prvoboraca
1000 Ljubljana Sibenik
Slovenia Croatia
Tel: +386 1 23
49 130 Tel:
022/212-664
Fax: +386 1 23
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