One railway that we really wanted to visit, and have never been to before, is the famous Bluebell Railway.
We drove through light rain to arrive at Sheffield Park at the southern end of the eleven mile line. At the ticket office, we exchanged our on-line e-tickets for proper paper tickets before boarding the train which would be hauled by a BT standard 4MT loco.
At the allotted time, we pulled out and being in the coach behind the engine enjoyed the full experience of sounds and smells.
As we have been able to do on other railways we had a SideTracked AdLab to do with a question at each station. Luckily most we could see from the train without having to alight and go hunting. The one we couldn’t spot was, luckily, a multi-choice.
About forty five minutes after leaving Sheffield Park, we pulled into East Grinstead.
After a bit of a ‘domestic’ it was agreed that I would walk into East Grinstead to do a couple of AdLabs whist Sue would drink coffee and check out the clothing range in the nearby Sainsbury’s.
I found all the parts of the AdLabs and also managed a couple of Earthcaches, a rare virtual and a sneaky nano disguised as a rusty bolt.
Returning to the station, I had to pass a Greggs so phoned Sue to get her order.
Back at the station, and needing somewhere to sit and eat our pastries, I cheekily asked in the railway tearoom if we could eat our own grub if we bought a drink. Surprisingly, they said yes and even offered us plates.
After our civilised steak bakes (technically one was a veggie bake) we waited on the platform from the return train.
Back at Sheffield Park, after checking the Adventure Lab app decided to drive out to Pevensey where there were two adventure which didn’t require too much walking.
Pevensey is home to an ancient castle dating back to 1066 but built on former Roman remains. One AdLab was concerned with the castle and the other the village itself. These were easily completed but we did have to log a DNF for a traditional cache that we failed to find.
Following our excursion we made our way back to base, picking up fuel in Eastbourne.
Just before the final turn to the Corn Bin, I suggested a pint at our temporary local, The Royal Oak.
The Oak was nothing special but they did have one local real ale of which I consumed a couple of jars.
Back at base (Sue drove) we snacked before retiring for the night.