Ebbsfleet International: two feet undersupported

Londonist today published a piece about, er, me.

A month ago I wanted to give the new high-speed domestic rail service a try on its first day of operation (particularly since I needed to be in the St. Pancras area that evening anyway), so I caught the train from Crayford to Northfleet and walked from there to the Ebbsfleet station, which is just 400 metres away as the crow flies.

How hard can it be to get from here to there?

Sadly, by the slightly misguided route I took, it was 1.6 rather unpleasant kilometres; even by the shortest possible walking route, it’s 1.2km, and there’s not even a pavement at the entrance.

You can read Londonist’s post about this, and follow my journey that day through my Flickr photoset. (Best read one photo at a time, in sequence. Warning: may contain rotting fox.)

So, overall, fellow Bexley-dwellers, you’re probably better off sticking to one of our three slow railway lines for getting into London, rather than venturing a few miles outside the borough in the hope of speeding past – although it is an enjoyable ride if you do.

The service launches fully in December (at which point rail links to the place become a bit better, if you don’t mind going a little past it and back when coming from London) but the Monday-Friday preview services are running during the day until then.