I had predicted that Week 13 would probably be a quiet one. The same proved to be true of week 14. There were no dedicated trainspotting trips in either week.
At the end of week 13 I travelled to Wingate & Finchley’s match away to league leaders Hornchurch. The closest station to their ground is Upminster Bridge. I already told the story of my route to the match in my Last on the Card post, so I’ll content myself with a shot of a Docklands Light Railway unit arriving at Bank station…
I logged 78 of which I needed 5 and I also picked up 8 new for haulage. Not a bad bag for a non-spotting outing. The football was good too! Wingate & Finchley were able to beat Hornchurch 2-1 and improve our chances of being in the play-off spots at the end of the season. Here’s Elliot striking our second goal from the edge of the box…
The start of week 14 was a bank holiday Monday and we welcomed Potters Bar to Summers Lane. This was another great win for the blues – 3-1 and another 3 points to the total 😎 Here’s some mid-field action with Alkeo on the receiving end of a shoulder charge…
On the Tuesday I was back on the tracks, this time with Epi for company as we travelled to Mottingham…
…for a visit to Eltham Palace, one time home of Stephen and Virginia Courtauld and now an English Heritage property. The palace dates back to the 13th century when Bishop Anthony Bek acquired the Manor and built his home here. He donated the Manor to Edward II. The Manor then became a royal palace and was extended in 1315-16 by Edward’s Queen Isabella. There were a number of other expansions over the years including a great hall that was built in the 1470’s. The palace was ransacked during the English Civil War and fell into disuse and for a time was a farm with the surviving great hall being used as a barn.
The Courtaulds came looking for somewhere to build an out of town residence, saw the remains of the palace and decided to buy the land. They commissioned architects Seely & Paget to build a new ‘Palace’ in the art-deco style but incorporating the great hall. The modern building is thus a mix of 1930’s and Medieval architecture and design….
On the trip I logged 50 sightings of which I needed 3. I also picked up a couple of units for haulage.
The rest of the week was spent locally. Hopefully the forthcoming week will see a couple of dedicated spotting trips although there is a football match on Tuesday night which will disrupt things once more.
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