Transit

Thursday 4th August 2022

Today was a transit day so I woke early and realised that I hadn't gotten up in the night after my 11pm trip to the loo. Even with the noisy guy dropping everything in the pod above me when he checked in late. I decided to take some paracetamol at 11pm because I couldn't tell if it was a fever or hot flushes or the tiny box I was sleeping in that was making me feel achy. The tablets must've worked.

It's only 6 years ago that I was carrying my backpack across Spain, but I felt really out of practice, so I took my time getting my bag down to the station.  I'd figured out the lay of the land around my hostel so I ignored my GPS telling me to go 'up' the stairs, at one point, and I took the longer road around. I then met up with the 'almost fatal' stairs from Tuesday so I hung on to the railing go down them and I was in a more appreciative space when I got to the station. Plus the sun was high and the sky was a brilliant blue for my last few images of Edinburgh.

My train was packed due to the previous London Express train having been canceled 30 minutes before. But I was fortunate to find a seat quickly and watched the countryside change as I left Scotland. It became a lot drier the more south the train traveled and I recognised Holy Island off the coast. I knew that I was getting to close to my change of trains in Newcastle. So I carefully squeezed my way slowly through the narrow chairs with my big bag.

There was a very friendly lady on the Newcastle platform and we chatted the minutes away until my next local train came in. I'm loving the interactions with random people, it is fascinating to hear the locals- once I have figured out their accents.

My sister picked me up, looking all summery and tanned while I sweated under my long jeans. It's amazing how a few hundred miles can make such a difference to the climate. The rest of the day was spent catching up with family and marveling at how tall my great nephews are.

Hartlepool is my base for the next while and I must say that I'm very grateful to not be spending the night in a pod, lol.