Tomorrow @eviljoe and I are supposed to be setting off on an offroad coast to coast, Ravenglass to Ravenscar. Booked train tickets ages ago, thought I should probably check that they’re still running ok.

They’re not.

Our train from Hull to Manchester is fine, but our Northern Rail train from Manchester to Ravenglass via Barrow-in-Furness doesn’t exist. Our next best option gets us there two and a half hours later, goes via Carlisle and – crucially – is partially or totally (website doesn’t specify) by bus.

Now waiting till lunchtime so I can give them a call and figure out if we can actually get there at all.

And breathe.

Northern Fail,the worst railway I’ve had the misfortune to use.Good Luck!

There’s yet another strike on, as there will be every bloody Saturday in September. That’s the cause of the bus replacement on that line tomorrow.

Considering the RMT and Northern have already agreed to go to ACAS, my sympathies with the union are starting to wear a little thin.

What are your plans – maybe you can get over to Ravenglass or nearby tonight?

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Well, I’m going to speak to Northern at lunch, but I’m not holding out much hope for that – bikes on buses are not an ideal solution (I was antsy enough about not being able to book bikes on the train).

We have vehicles, so it may be that we just drive over tomorrow morning, hopefully find somewhere reasonable safe to leave the van then drive back over to pick it back up next weekend. Not ideal, but it might be a safer option than being stuck in Carlisle with no way of getting anywhere.

I don’t know of any rail replacement bus that takes bikes. Your other plan sounds the way to go.

Hope you’ve got your waterproofs for Sunday. How many days are you thinking of doing it in? Was considering it for this summer, but probably won’t get around to it now, particularly as the early train from Skipton to get me into RG seems to have been axed in the timetable ‘improvements’

Yeah, we have plenty of waterproofs! We’re aiming on doing it over 7 days, reckon we could probably do it quicker but it’ll be more fun to take it a (bit) steadier and enjoy it. Plus we’ll be fully loaded (we’re camping apart from one night at the DBC so we can be a bit more flexible.

The other option is to come over with a view to starting on Monday! Though I suppose if you’ve got DBC booked up, that ruins that one.

Yep, plus I kinda want a good day or so recovery before I have to go to work! We probably should have just driven in the first place to be honest. Stupid trains.

Don’t suppose anyone fancies giving two strapping mountain bikers complete with fully laden bikes a lift from Lancaster to Ravenglass do they?

Haven’t got much time for RMT strikes, because I’m almost certain that once the guards are hosed down with enough money the safety objections will disappear.  My experience is that trains with driver-operated doors are much faster in and out of the stations as they don’t have to wait for someone to confirm that the train is indeed parked on a platform and not, say, a viaduct, before opening the doors.

Also, Sunday working is overtime*.  HOW CAN THAT BE IN THE 21ST CENTURY?  I don’t get paid extra for working weekends because everyone kind of expects public transport to run throughout the whole 7 day week.

* yes, yes, a tiny bit of me does think that perhaps my own union could have negotiated things better in the past.