Erin's British links page

Balsall Common
National
Coventry and Birmingham
London
Paris
Transportation

A map of the Austin-Weeks' home an an overview.

Bahá'ís of Solihull Balsall Common is in Solihull

The weather from the BBC

Bahá'í Activities in Solihull including Fast Calendar

Directions to the Guardian's Resting Place

Solihull Borough municipal pages

The Severn Valley Railway is the one that we volunteer on. The most beautiful and historically accurate in the land. Step onto the railway and step into the 1930s.

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National Gardens Scheme lists the open gardens in the Yellow Book

Rick Steves

All about the Canal network and the narrowboats which sail on it

Want to save money over a train? Take a coach! National Express is the biggest (virtually all parts of UK) but slow.

The official site (really well done) of the Prime Minister and his government. Follow the link to a broadcast of the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (3pm on every Wednesday the Parliament is in session) if you want to see how British Government works. Its really great entertainment. I watch it every week.
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Coventry and Birmingham

Coventry is 5 miles from our house. Birmingham is about 8 miles.

Coventry Cathedral was destroyed in the Second World War. All that is left are ruins. A brand new cathedral was built just next door. The ruins are the scene of much peaceful reconciliation, and a new memorial to those who fought at home was unveiled there by Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth the Second, last Friday.

A new overview to Coventry, particularly well done.

The local newspaper overview to Coventry.

The local newspaper overview to Birmingham.
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London Underground and Suburban Trains map (213k PDF) including zones. This will become your Bible. This PDF is fairly large.
London Central Bus Map (245k PDF)

What's On tells What's On in London (duh)

LondonTourist Board

London Walks are the best folks for organized walks with a guide. Well worth every penny. We've done namy of the walks. Now we know some of the knowledge.

This is London has a pretty good selection of information.

Webcam on HMS Belfast in the Thames across from the Tower of London

The Royal Opera House has just reopened with what are supposed to be cheaper tickets.

The Dome (horrid)

The (nice) London Eye - - looks like a huge bicycle wheel - - will be great views

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre completely built as original including really cheap groundling standees.

The String of Pearls is a yearlong event along the Thames

The Millenium Bridge, a pedestrian bridge from the City to Bankside, will be the first new crossing since 1894

The Victoria and Albert Museum has an absolutely killer costume and dress collection

The British Museum has a tremendous collection including the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon
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Paris

Eurostar to Paris!

Rick Steves' correspondant's guide to using Eurostar

Guide to Paris RATP, the umbrella for transportation in Paris (in English)

Paris Tourist Office - the English bit

The Official Paris Website - in English

Time Out Paris
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Railtrack owns the tracks and signals and many of the stations around the UK. They have a fairly accurate but not very brighttrip calculator. Train times only. Nothing about fares. Biased towards the fastest trains (i.e. Virgin)

The Trainline is run by Virgin and gives (semi-accurate highly biased) fares and times for all train operators in the UK, but emphasises Virgin.

Information about "Rover" train tickets by region

There are 14 main line stations in London. The main ones are Victoria (south suburban, Gatwick airport), Paddington (west, southwest, western suburban, Heathrow airport, Oxford), Marylebone (NW suburban and West Midlands), Euston (West Midlands), St Pancras (Sheffield,, East Midlands and Yorkshire), Kings Cross (East Coast Mainline to Cambridge, York, Edinburgh and the east of Scotland), Liverpool Street (the north east commuters), Charing Cross (the South East, Dover), and Waterloo (Portsmouth, southwest suburban, and Eurostar to the Continent). None of the train lines connect any of these stations together. When the stations were built 150 years ago the law said they had to be built outside the center of the city. Luckily the Underground links all the stations, usually with no more than 1 connection.

London Transport supervises all the buses, streetcars, and trains within about a 12 mile radius of the center of London (Trafalgar Square). All fares (except to/from airports, night buses, and special buses) are based on a zone system. See the site.

Virgin Trains run from London Euston Station to Coventry, Birmingham (via the West Coast Main Line division) and Cross Country (via the Cross Country division). They are the fastest (about 1 hour 15 minutes to Coventry), most frequent (at least every half hour) and, by far, the most expensive trains (walk up fares UKP40+ round trip) from London to Balsall Common (via Coventry or Birmingham International changing to local Centro trains to Berkswell). West Coast runs electric HSTs (High Speed Trains) which usually stop just once or twice between Coventry and London, mostly travelling at 100 mph. Cross Country run a variety of diesel powered trains. One 2 car train goes from Birmingham per day to Portsmouth. Most Cross Countrys are relatively old standard trains, some are diesel HSTs. Most tend to top out at around 80 mph and are frequently delayed. Sheffield is served by Virgin Cross Country from Birmingham on the trains to Newcastle. It takes around 80 minutes 3 to 5 times a day. They serve Birmingham New Street Station. It is possible to get cheap fares on very off peak trains by booking well in advance and paying around UKP15 return (round trip).

Chiltern Trains run from London Marylebone (near Baker Street - yes, Sherlock Holmes' place). They run hourly service to Birminham Snow Hill Station stopping at Dorridge, near us. The trains are diesel and restricted in speed by the fairly large number of stops and relatively poor track condition. They rarely go much over 60 mph with long stretches at 45. Dorridge to London is about 2:25 with some evening peak infrequently stopping services chopping 25 minutes or so off. In six months the service will speed up and be served by two trains an hour as far as Warwick (15 minutes by car from us). Their best services are served by Clubman all one Business class trains which are wonderful, about 8 each way each day. The others are older turbodiesels which are not quite as nice and have first and sdtandard class. The Clubmans are 2 x 2 with tables and airline style seating. The turbos are 3x3 + 3x3 facing seats with some (cramped) 2x2 airline seats. The great advantage Chilton has is their fares never have to be booked ahead and are relatively cheap, from about UKP21 return. Their off peak starts earliest, too, at 8:03 from Dorridge and no restrictions from London. They were one of the worst railways in the UK a year ago and are now one of the best. They also have a great 4 for 2 fare.

Silverlink run the cattle cars from Birminghan New Street via Coventry to London Euston. They run in the same tracks as Virgin Cross Country but are required to take the slow track and are therefore much slower than Virgin. They also stop at every anthill. But they are cheap, cheap, cheap. Walk-up off peak fares are around UKP15 return. Their doors also bang loudly whenever another train is passed (frequently).

South West Trains run from Waterloo to the southwestern suburban areas and Portsmouth. According to last summer's timetable book the trip Waterloo to Portsmouth takes about 95 minutes, stopping around 11 times. The trains are mostly old electric commuter stock, many with slam doors, but springy seats. They have just a few new "Juniper" trains.

Midland Main Line run from St Pancras (immediately next to Kings Cross), London to Sheffield. There is frequent peak hour (rush hour) service with hourly off-peak. The fast trains are diesel HSTs doing up to 100 mph, taking about 2 hours and 20 minutes. They also run brand new TurboStar diesel trains which make more stop and may be less expensive. Check their website for specials. The TurboStars take about 3 hours.
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