During my trip to The Netherlands back in October and given Utrecht’s excellent location at the centre of the rail network, I decided to take the opportunity to explore the Dutch railways. My first aim was to travel on each of the five private operators that run services, the second was to try out the different types of Intercity train operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).
Having arrived into Utrecht onboard an ICE International service, I headed to my hostel to check in, freshen up and most importantly have a nap. Staying at the BUNK Hostel a stones thrown from Utrecht Centraal station, it was just a few minutes after getting off the train that I was checking in.
Having arrived in Amsterdam Centraal onboard a Eurostar service from London, the next stage of this Dutch adventure was to make my way to the city of Utrecht where I was staying. With numerous services connecting the two cities, I had decided to travel on a slightly rarer one, an International ICE.
It had been a while since I had to catch a Thameslink service as I was travelling before the first LNER, but back in October I was at the station in time for the 0419 to head into London. With Thameslink dropping me off at St Pancras, I had just two escalators to climb before reaching the next point on my journey, Eurostar’s check-in.
With a rare spare Saturday available to us, we decided to venture out for the day and, with cheap LNER tickets available, a trip to Leeds was decided on. Whilst Leeds is a city I’ve travelled to by train numerous times, I’ve never actually stepped outside the station and so was excited to see what Yorkshire’s largest city had to offer.
With our two weeks holiday pretty much at an end, the final day was met with an early start and a drive back across northern France. From our base in Normandy, it was about a four hour drive back to the Port of Calais, and with extra time for traffic and delays at border control, we set off about eight hours before our booked Ferry crossing.
Flights & Times 