Gorey To Rotterdam (Mastodon Travel Blog)
I said I wouldn’t travel abroad again this year but I’m now going to visit my brother and his family in Rotterdam in August.
Ferry Dublin-Holyhead, train Holyhead-London Euston, overnight in London and then St Pancras-Rotterdam Centraal the following evening. Return is with my brother and his wife in a Nissan Leaf EV on the Dunkirk-Rosslare DFDS ferry.
So my solution to having an hour to kill in Dublin was to start my holiday a day early and overnight in Dublin in a hotel.
Taxi to the ferry port at 6:30 this morning for a 7:05 last check-in
Check-in took 5 mins and cafe open in terminal from 6am. Coffee and panini made for a decent breakfast.
Boarded the ferry via the gangway at 7:15am
Slán Baile Atha Cliath
The cafe facilities at the Irish Ferries terminal building in Dublin were a pleasant surprise.
It has a clever design allowing service to both the general public and those checked-in for the ferry. When I was here in May heading to Cherbourg we only saw the public side.
The guy behind the counter told me he’s open from 6am to 4pm and told me to be careful taking photos as it could incur a €2000 fine.
I didn’t see any warning signs but maybe that’s because I didn’t look for any!
On the sailing to Cherbourg in May all foot passengers had to use a shuttle bus to transfer to the ferry.
Today, the terminal gangway made for a much more pleasant experience boarding the ship. (Ulysses)
I wonder is the WB Yeats capable of boarding passengers by the gangway?
As far as I know, parking facilities at the Irish Ferries terminal building are limited to the small number shown in this photo that I took this morning.
Plenty of free spaces today but a number of years ago when travelling to a football game in Liverpool this car park was overflowing.
I think the spaces are on a first come first serve basis
Croeso i Gymru
Lovely crossing! Sea very calm and ship very tranquil which probably isn’t a good thing - it easily has spare capacity today for several passenger loads of 737s or A320s
Ship docked at 11:30, shuttle bus from ferry arrived at terminal building at 11:49.
Made my way to rail platforms in adjoining building to see the 11:49 to Birmingham close its doors(11:51)! Gladly I wasn’t planning on taking that train anyway.
Here’s my ride for today. Holyhead-London Euston direct.
Train opened for boarding about 12:25.
I’m travelling on a SailRail ticket 53€ Dublin-London! Rail ticket does not include reserved seating. Coach A seems to be all reserved while Coach B seat displays all shown as “Available “
Running 5 mins late into London Euston which isn’t bad at all.
Nice effortless journey across North Wales and down the centre of England. Train was very busy until we reached Chester and then much quieter on the final long uninterrupted dash from Stafford to Euston.
WiFi was patchy as was mobile data but that meant I caught up on some reading!
London St Pancras to Rotterdam Centraal
The third day on my very slow journey to Rotterdam by ferry and train.
18:04 Eurostar 9152 London-Amsterdam
My first time in St Pancras for Eurostar. My only previous Eurostar trip was from Waterloo International (many many moons ago).
On a sunny London afternoon this train shed is glorious!
But the horrors that lie below in the undercroft!
I believe this close to an unsafe space is a Brexit Bonus.
A heaving mass of people not unworthy of the name of the asylum not a million miles from the station’s doors. Bedlam!
Once through passport control non-business lounge travellers vie to control there own personal space. Seated, seated with precious power sockets, dining in two cafes or standing.
You might even wish you were in the Ryanair terminal in Dublin airport
Passport control wasn’t bad for me today. 15mins with an EU passport through a temperamental e-gate
I think the line for the Amsterdam train had just opened as a wave of people were heading for it as I arrived at the Eurostar entrance.
This was about 16:45 which is probably 10 mins before the earliest arrival from the 12:49 train from Holyhead. It’s a leisurely 20min walk to St Pancras from Euston - just bear hard left out of Euston and then head to the noisy four? lane joys of Euston Road.
Signs say train platforms will be announced 20mins before scheduled departure but the Paris train departing less than 5 mins ahead of mine was announced 25 mins ahead. And lo and behold this was quickly followed by a 25 min window for Amsterdam.
At this point I had relocated from the cafe end of the hall to the central area where the travelators whisk you from Hades. One final scrum and I’m on the train and all is good again.
This Eurostar train has plenty of leg room in the airline style seating in standard class, especially if you’re a short man like me.!The seat can be extended/reclined a bit but I haven’t found any particularly comfortable setting.
The cafe bar has the usual stock of snacks and beers but nothing to make for a great meal.
I’ve found the WiFi to be mostly unusable but maybe YMMV.
We seem to be running to schedule but either I’m deaf or there are no announcements being made?!?!
Minute perfect on-time arrival to Rotterdam Centraal.
A fitting counterpoint to St Pancras. A Dutch station at the cutting edge of the art of station building.
St Pancras is a modernised Victorian tour-de-force while Rotterdam is bold, modern and equally beautiful with a huge underground cycle park to boot.
PS: I am deaf - there are announcements but they’re not very loud.
Dunkirk-Rosslare 05:00 departure
Arrived at 02:45 ahead of latest check-in at 03:00.
Very clear port signage for IRL sailing which seems to be a completely separate quay to those for the UK.
Appears on google maps as DFDS Dunkerque-Rosslare.
This is primarily a freight service and so it’s not surprising that we haven’t seen any passenger facilities at the queueing lanes.
Great 24hr direct crossing from the far north of France on the DFDS Regina Seaways ferry from Dunkirk to Rosslare. Arrived in Rosslare on-schedule at 04:00.
Very clean and modern ship. Regular passengers vastly outnumbered by truck drivers. Three full meals included plus small snacks on embarkation and disembarkation.
Peaceful atmosphere on board with high quality public spaces but some female travellers may be uncomfortable being in a tiny minority of those present.
