June 7: Wales was wonderful

Bristol Temple Meads impressive entrance

All the trains connected OK so I didn't miss any connections, even thought there were only two.The connection at SWA was perfect, just a walk across the platform from p3 to p2.

The Heart of Wales train today was formed of two coaches instead of  the usual one. Everybody seemed to know it changed directions two stations down the line at Llanelli because we all took seats facing backwards from SWA.

Just 45 minutes into the 4hr journey we were held at Llangennech because an early morning goods train had broken down and was still being recovered. The train manager said we'd be there for at least 35minutes so most of us got out to stretch our legs and take fresh air. The driver was first off the train!

About 50 minutes later we received the OK to continue. The scenery was all we expected, rolling hills, rivers, streams, forests - many on steep hillsides, sheep, goats, cattle, llamas. The weather did us proud too, sunny with a few fluffy white clouds.

River Towy

Llwyn-y-Brain

Cledan

Llangammarch

River Wye

Dolau station

Knucklas

There are over 20 request stops on this route but almost every one was needed by someone, I think we only passed by four or five.

Shrewsbury station

See Day 04

June 6: A great day

 Today more than made up for yesterday.

Exmouth

Glorious weather and no railway problems.

Dawlish Warren

The Dawlish bit was really good in both directions. 

River Teign

River Plym

River Tamar

St Austel

but the best was the return journey from SIV to SER. The sands were golden, the sea deep blue and little boats speeding around.

St Ives

Return from St Ives

Another plus was when a motorway ran alongside the rail line we were scooting past the fastest vehicles who were probably doing over 80mph.

Tamar Bridge

I wasn't expecting meals on todays trains but had a few cakes and a sandwich. One GWR server advised that I could get free booze (wine, beer) on GWR between 5 and 7pm. I changed trains 4:30 but the next one was CrossCountry. A company that, in my opinion, has great difficulty adhering to timetables and catering contracts.

CrossCountry train from Plymouth

They did apologise for the lack of refreshments after every station stop but that just made me thirstier.

My overnight stop was in the Holiday Inn Express opposite the station so I found a Wetherspoons under 10min walk away. It was heaving and I was four times the age of most of the cliantelle. In a sense it was a pity because I'll be staying in two Wetherspoon hotels for a total of six nights during this tour and a little more variety would have been good.

See Day 03

June 5: Very bad start

Not a good day.

Thanks to excellent transport I arrived at PAD 1hr early. 

Paddington First Class Lounge

Everything went swimmingly that far, then it all went downhill.

The PAD to HFD train was delayed for a while, then 15min after it should have departed it was cancelled so, on advice, I took the next train on the same route, that got me to Oxford.  There I awaited the next train to WOF from where I could get to HFD. 

Then, surprise surprise, the next train was the very one that was cancelled at PAD. Apparently it started from Reading 40 min late. I even got my reserved seat.  Good news went out the window when an announcement said it wasn't going as far as HFD but terminating at Worcester Shrub Hill (WOS).

Train staff discussing what to do.

The train manager came round to ask where all passengers were going and said they were arranging road transport from WOS. I considered my options and realised that I had to get to HFD by 16:30 to catch the last viable trains of the day on my planned route. This I thought unlikely so decided to scrap the HFD visit and go directly to TAU.

I had 45 minutes to wait for the train to BRI (then to TAU) and there was a nice little cafe on the platform so I had an all-day breakfast which was really good and amazingly low cost. 

Station cafe was my best decision of the day.

Caught the train to BRI and then the connection to TAU. This was very full, I've never seen 1st class so full. This train was on the longest regular route in the UK, Aberdeen to Penzance, which takes over 13 hours.

The hotel at TAU is only a few paces, literally, from the station entrance.

 Upon checking in I learnt that the restaurant was closed for dinner and I really didn't fancy walking down the road to the nearest food - a pub about 10 minutes away. That's why the all-day breakfast was my best decision.

Oh yes, the final turn of the screw: I couldn't get email working on my laptop. It's OK for blogging though, but I'll add photos tomorrow.

See Day 02 

Footnote: GWR have offered me a full day's refund of my Rail Rover (3/7/24)

Essential information

 This blog looks good on my mobile but two essential pages are difficult to find: the map and the key to stations. So here are those two pages:

The map (scenic sections are in green): 

If you enlarge the map so you can see a little more detail. Six places are indicated as overnight stays with H1 beside Taunton as that's my first night, then H2 beside Bristol etc.

The Key to Stations (used in some of my text):