Our own Ed Cox of ICIS Heren staggers back into London on Monday, after leaving Norway on Friday evening, describing himself as "totally shattered"...
Here is photographic evidence that one group of intrepid travellers had success amid all the volcanic chaos. The eight of us are seen arriving at Brussels Midi on Sunday night, ahead of the final leg on Monday with Eurostar to London St Pancras. One American, one Canadian, one French, one Dutch, one Scot and three worn-out English folk who had all forgotten the original reason for the trip to the energy conference.
We managed the route from Norway to London - around 2,500 miles in just under three days (day and night that is) with no major casualties. It felt like one of the great migrations of people south across Europe in recent history, from the group of shanghaied Ryan air passengers we met in a remote central Danish railway station to the confused Yorkshire business men who were carrying too much weight to make the connecting train in Cologne.
A final word on the superb quality of the transport across Norway, Denmark and Belgium - whatever the UK news was saying about impossible queues and delays, we thought the crowds were handled superbly well.
One notable exception though - Germany! The most 'efficient' country in the world was the one letdown - with four trains out of four either delayed or cancelled. They had us sitting on the floor of the storage carriage in the smart Intercity train from Hamburg to Cologne before the whole thing broke down. Apparently the equivalent phrase 'due to engineering works, this service has been delayed' is almost as well known over there as in the London area.
(photo: our hero is third from left)
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