Ripon Road Trip 2026

You may or may not remember our long journey to Ripon last year; that post is here. This year‘s journey was also long and at times chaotic, but we arrived at our cottage in Ripon only about 45 minutes later than planned - still in full daylight, as opposed to 2025. 

But let me begin at the beginning:

I got up a few minutes past 4:00 on Monday morning (20 July). A coffee, a shower and a last check of everything later, I met my sister at Ludwigsburg‘s train station just after 5:30. A local train took us to Stuttgart Main Station, where we boarded a long distance train to Paris. 

We enjoyed that ride with views of the (rather parched) countryside both on the German and the Fench side, had a sandwich and Earl Grey tea (both provided by my sister) and arrived in Paris on time.

The short walk from Gare de l‘Est to Gare du Nord was quickly done, and going through border control for the Eurostar was smooth and efficient. 

We even found seats in the always very crowded waiting area and were safely tucked out of the way until boarding opened for our train.

Everything went without a hitch there, too, and although I could not sleep, I closed my eyes for a while to catch up on some rest after the very early start.

In London, transit from arrival at St. Pancras to departure from King‘s Cross is literally just across the road. But as soon as we reached the large hall, we understood that something was wrong - again!

Unsurprisingly, it is always very busy at such an important train station in a city as huge as London, but now people were literally standing shoulder to shoulder, many with luggage, some with prams or bikes, and everybody was trying to figure out where to go and what to do next.

Apparently, trespassers at Alexandra Palace were responsible for the major disruption that was felt on the railway system until the end of the day. Many trains were cancelled, almost all of the remaining ones running late.

We finally spotted the gate and platform for trains going to Harrogate on one of the screens and pushed our way there.

And indeed, the train we were booked for was waiting for us, with our seats close to the luggage rack, and I can tell you we were immensely relieved!

Several announcements and a bit under half an hour later than planned, our train left London and made its way up North.

We had of course texted my sister-in-law so that she knew when to expect us in Harrogate, and instead of 5:30 pm, we arrived there at about 6:15. Phew!!

It is always wonderful to see A., and you can imagine how the three of us were chatting away on the short drive to Ripon. A. had a cup of tea with us and then left for home. 

We popped to the Tesco five minutes from our cottage for some basics for tomorrow‘s breakfast and then had a quick walk across the small town centre to stretch our legs and catch a first glimpse of the cathedral, which looked especially glorious in the golden evening light.

It was still summerly mild and we would have loved a proper walk, but we had not yet unpacked and, frankly, were really really tired.

A few things have changed in the cottage: My bedroom has new wallpaint and curtains, there are new armchairs in the living room and we have a washing machine in the kitchen once more. The fridge is also new.

Neither of us was really hungry, but we nibbled on crackers and cheese with a glass of well chilled rosé before we said good night and retreated to our rooms.

By the way, as last year, we found all the staff at King‘s Cross and on the LNER Azuma train helpful and friendly, and the trainline app on my smartphone holding our tickets offered a Delay Repay button after we‘d crossed the half hour threshold. The refund was on my account the very next day - unlike in Germany, where you have to wait for days if not weeks for a refund, and are eligible for one only with delays of more than an hour.