Nigel Has A Date With A Cornish Pasty!!

Well …….Nigel left for his solo travels this morning, he has never travelled so far on his own before, so although I am not averse to a tranquil few days, I shall still be on tenterhooks until I know he has arrived safely.

Darrell had kindly offered to sort out Nigel’s tickets for him, but, since it was such a long way and no cheap returns were available,  Darrell decided to attempt some “train splitting”, something he had heard about while listening to Money Box on Radio 4.  It all sounded a little too complicated to me …….

….. but Darrell soon returned, in triumphant mood, brandishing a mahooooooosive assortment of tickets for Nigel. Although Nigel would only be travelling on two trains, Darrell had had to reserve four different seats for him, so he had told Nigel to think of it as a bit like speeding dating on wheels, but without the prospect of romance!!! However, the money Darrell had managed to save would certainly pay for several large pasties and a couple of Cornish ice-creams during Nigel’s visit.

So, a win win situation, which held no fear for Nigel, who was also went armed with the Cornish bus timetable, as his train journey was only the beginning of his adventure ……..

An adventure which could have started with a pasty at Birmingham Station, but Nigel reckoned that it wouldn’t have been anything as lovely as the ones he has hoping to chow on down on reaching his destination.

The journey down to Exeter was pretty uneventful, and the seat hopping went OK and helped break down the long journey ……. with Nigel being offered several fruit pastilles and a sherbet lemon by his fellow passengers (so, indeed a bit like speed dating as Darrell had said, only with confectionary!!!)

From Exeter Nigel had to navigate his way to Sunny Bude, which fortunately only involved one bus ……..

……. but it was a journey that would take  two and a half hours, Nigel, though an experienced and accomplished  bus traveller had never been on a bus for quite so long before.This was a true adventure for which he had reserved a hard boiled egg, two bananas, a corned beef and Marmite sandwich, several Hob Nobs and a carton of Umbongo to stave his energy levels.

But sitting on the top deck of a double decker, travelling across the wilds of Cornwall was just sooooooooo romantically Poldark that the journey flew and as such the aforementioned Hob Nobs were barely touched.

And just over seven hours after the start of his journey, Nigel finally landed in Sunny Bude, to be greeted rapturously by his friend Beth who immediately suggested a celebratory double scoop Cornish Clotted Cream ice-cream …….. which Nigel accepted, well, it would be rude not too!

This, he declared was just the perfect start of a WONDERFUL holiday, where, for once, he didn’t have to worry about the intricacies of a foreign monetary system or speaky zee language!!!! Happy Days