We have enjoyed several trips in the UK and Europe by train and they seemed too good to keep to ourselves. These are all real reports of our own experiences and none is sponsored by any of the businesses mentioned in them; all views are my own. Do feel free to comment and ask questions! #flygskam #trainbragging
On Friday we all walked to the Manx Electric Railway terminal at Derby Castle on a slightly less-murky day. It was good to have a bit of a walk, a decent bit of exercise after a lot of sitting about over the last couple of days. At Derby Castle terminal we watched our tram (or is it a train?) being prepared. Each one seems to consist of an enclosed tram car with trolley pole, towing a "toast rack" open coach which has an enormous seating capacity. It is a bit of a faff shunting this set at the termini because every time the powered tramcar changes direction the current collection pole has to be reversed, involving it being pulled off the conductor wire, pulled round and re-engaged with the wire. Eventually the crew managed to get the two vehicles in the correct order and then brought them to the tram stop, once they'd got the waiting passengers off the track, and we were able to board, all of our party opting to travel in the open coach.
The tram rattled and ground its way up and down the landscape, sometimes beside a road, sometimes not, until it arrived at Laxey, about half way to its northern terminus at Ramsey. We all left the tram there and carefully crossed the tracks to a waiting tramcar on the Snaefell Mountain Railway: this is an electric rack railway system that climbs the only mountain on the island and is the only such railway in the British Isles. On a clear day, I am told, you can see a long way, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, but this was definitely not a clear day: the clouds came and went a bit as we ascended but by the time we reached the top we were in thick mist and a strong, cold wind. I stood on the summit and could not even see the tramcar two minutes' walk away. I came down to have a warming cup of chocolate in the café and found that my hair was streaming wet and my clothes soaked: the wet wind was like a spray and I had been thoroughly drenched.
We took the tram back to Laxey where we were free for a couple of hours before the booked journey back to Douglas. We had a home-made gelato at a little independent ice-cream parlour near the station, down here it was much warmer and almost sunny. Then it was time to walk along to the world-famous Laxey Wheel, the Lady Isabella. This is the biggest water-wheel in the world and extremely powerful. Its purpose was to provide power to pump water from the metal ore mines near Laxey, and the shaft connecting the wheel to the mine oscillates along a raised channel atop a long series of arches. The water that powers the wheel falls from the river above. You can see Lady Isabella in action on my video on YouTube.
Return to the hotel in Douglas was by the Manx Electric Railway back to Derby Castle, and we all travelled in the "toast rack" coach again, for the view. The party then boarded the horse-drawn tram at Derby Castle as far as Villa Marina, This was a new experience for almost everyone. Riding along smoothly on rails it was hard to believe that we were in a horse-drawn vehicle plodding slowly along the middle of the busy seafront road. The horse tram used to go all the way to the ferry terminal near our hotel but has been truncated at Villa Marina, so we did have to walk the rest of the way. We had done a lot and took the rest of the day easy before changing for dinner in the hotel restaurant once more. All our evening meals were included on this tour.
One thing we learned at The Old House of Keys was that early on in the days of motoring the Island's parliament voted to close the roads from time to time to allow racing, which was not something allowed in Great Britain of Ireland. The island is best know for the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Races, and is visited by a lot of keen motorcyclists who like to ride the TT circuit, at more reasonable speeds. As it happened, the two weeks' practice for the 2026 TT Races was to start the weeks after we were there, and the preparations were well in hand: all the paraphernalia of a race track were being put into place and islanders were going away on holiday and letting their homes out to spectators.
Our tour included a ride on a coach along a substantial part of the circuit with a commentary from someone who has competed in TT races in the past. It is a long circuit taking in several towns of varying sizes as well as Snaefell mountain, and modern racing motorcycles reach speeds up to 200mph on suitable stretches of the road. It was fascinating, even to a non-biker like me, to hear about the way the racers drive around these roads. Not to be attempted when open to ordinary traffic! We had a brief stop at the village of St John's for Tynwald Hill and the parliament church where each member of the House of Keys has a reserved stall.
From there we moved on to Peel where the former Isle of Man Railway station has been repurposed as the House of Manannan, a history of the Isle of Man and its seafaring. Apart from a visit to this, coffee and ice-cream, we also visited the Isle of Man's cathedral which is located in Peel. Finally, the coach took us on to Ramsey, still following the TC circuit, nd we returned to Douglas once more by Manx Electric Railway, choosing this time to travel in the enclosde tramcar rather than in the "toast rack" coach for the long trip along the entire line from terminus to terminus.
Sunday was a complete free day and the question was what to do. There were several things we had not seen, and some, like Snaefell mountain, could be repeated in order to enjoy what by now was lovely weather. Warm, bright and sunny, the view would be quite good. We decided, though, to attend worship at one of the Douglas churches (they are all different and we did some research on line and from noticeboards before plumping for St Matthew's) and then take a bus to Ramsey where we would visit the Grove Museum, a preserved Victorian family home. Buses are a bit thinner on the ground on Sundays but there was no problem finding a suitable departure on route 3A from the street terminus in Douglas to the little bus station in Ramsey from where we set out on a fairly long walk to the Grove Museum, taking coffee at a little café on the way. By now the road closures for the TT practice were being prepared and a real carnival atmosphere was beginning to build up. Motorcycles were parked everywhere as enthusiasts gathered to enjoy at least some of the four weeks of activity. You can read about the Grove Museum on their own website, so it suffices to say that we enjoyed sitting in the beautifully maintained garden with an ice-cream and then exploring the house and outbuildings which had been used by an extended family and had been very little updated and so gave a fair impression of the home of a middle-class industrialist's family.
We had left undecided how we were to return to Douglas and once we had walked back into Ramsey we opted for the bus rather than the Manx Electric Railway simply because we had done a lot of walking already and the bus would drop us much nearer the hotel than the tramway would.
Although this had been a day with no included outings, it was also the last day and for the only time on the trip the whole group was to have dinner together: two large tables were booked at a fixed time and wine was included, a very fine way to end almost a week together before we went our separate ways the following day. We also necessarily had breakfast at the same time, although not aound a shared table, on the Monday morning because we had to be ready to go to the ferry terminal to catch the departure of Manxman at 09:05, which meant being at the terminal at around 08:00 with our luggage - the hotel did provide porterage but we had very compact luggage and taking it ourselves saved having to have it ready even earlier! Once the luggage was scanned and checked in we took our seats at the front of the 8th deck again to enjoy the voyage.
The crossing was, if anything, even smoother than our outward journey, and we did make use of the bar and the café on the way over, but the restaurant was not needed after the hotel breakfast. We made our way to baggage reclaim and then went to await the boat train to Lancaster. About half of the party was still with us at this point, the rest presumably having gone to the car park to drive home. Everyone was, of course, taking different routes home from Lancaster and we had a while to wait for a train across to Leeds, so we had lunch from one of the buffet counters at Lancaster while we waited.
This was a very disappointing stage of our adventure. Departure was chaotic with platform changes, but eventually a Northern train arrived which was far too short to take everyone waiting along with those already aboard. By now the weather was hot and sunny and the train's air-conditioning was not working - not good on an overcrowded train on a hot, sunny day! We could not sit together and the luggage had to stay in the end vestibule. For a short hop, say from Morecambe to Lancaster, we would not have minded, but this was a long and scenic journey which we had hoped to enjoy together. A pity, but the train did eventually, and only a little late, get us to Leeds station, from wheer we had a short walk to our Premier Inn for our final night away from home. This stay was unbelievably inexpensive, so much so that I had booked a Premier Plus room for the first time and added the optional charity contribution. The Plus room at a flexible rate for just £66 was a great deal. We are very happy with Premier Inn's standard rooms, but this was certainly superior with more space, better coffee facilities and all sorts of goodies, and crucially the same comfortable bed. And being new it was also in excellent condition. The your Yorkshire staff were super friendly and helpful.
We wandered into Leeds city centre in weather that contrasted hugely with the cool damp of just a couple of days ago (although I gather it had been like that for some time in England), had supper at an Italian restaurant and went back to the hotel to sleep.
The following day we each had our own agenda and as it continued to be hot and sunny it involved lots of drinking seeking of shade. I largely spent it taking architectural photographs and generally exploring. Having rediscovered Leeds as possibly the best shopping city in the UK, perhaps we need to consider going there again with that purpose in mind.
We reconvened at the hotel, retrieved our luggage and boarded our LNER train south to Peterborough, in First Class with a snack meal and a glass of wine. The train made a neat connection with a train to Stamford and we were very soon home and unpacking, with our minds filled with wonderful memories of all our adventures of the last couple of weeks and a determination to revisit the Isle of Man, possibly by booking the same trip again but visiting things we had not been able to fit in on this trip, notably Peel Castle and the Manx Museum, and the Groudle Glen Railway. Before that, though, there was the little matter of a long-planned but yet-to-take-place spectacular trip to the continent in not many weeks' time. Watch this space!
I have long wanted to visit the Isle of Man, partly to see its vintage railways and partly just to experience life in a Crown Dependency, a British Isle that is not the UK nor Ireland. My parents considered it when I was still with them in my early teens but it did not come off then and the opportunity never seemed to arise again ... I have also wanted to experience the trans-pennine rail routes, to stay in the Midland Hotel, that great deco moderne masterpiece in Morecambe, and to visit Leeds again, the last time being many years ago. It all fell into place when I was thumbing through a newly-delivered Great Rail Journeys British Isles Catalogue: their Vintage Railways of the Isle of Man escorted tour ticks all of the boxes for the Isle of Man itself and begins and ends at Heysham ferry terminal, a short hop from Morecambe. Furthermore, if it suited our friends who live in Warrington we could stay with them for a few days on the way, and my wife could visit a former colleague now living in Leeds on the way back, both trips involving new routes for us. The various friends were contacted and arrangements made around the most suitable Isle of Man dates for our diary and the Midland Hotel booked. There were so many exciting things about this trip where almost everything except our friends was new to us, and we even fitted in a couple of unexpected things while travelling.
Armed with a picnic including a couple of individual bottles of Prosecco and some plastic wine glasses we set out to Peterborough on the 10:57 Cross Country train on a Friday. It was a touch late but we still had time to buy takeaway coffee at Peterborough before boarding our next train, the 11:23 East Midlands Railway train to Liverpool which would take us all the way through to Warrington Central. It was a beautiful day and it was great gazing from the windowat countryside which, to begin with, was very familiar but we had usually seen at twice the speed on East Coast Route expresses. This was an express (limited stop) service, but with a much lower maximum speed. At Grantham the train left the main line and headed off to Nottingham and along here we enjoyed our lunch. Just as we finished the train's refreshment trolley came through and we bought coffee to round off the meal. From Nottingham we headed north through Chesterfield to Sheffield and then across the Pennines to Manchester. Through Manchester was the slowest part of the journey and we lost time on the congested track between Piccadilly and Deansgate, being picked up by our friends about five minutes late. It had been a super ride through lovely countryside (OK, yes and Sheffield and Manchester as well!) in comfortable seats and with a great picnic. It was not the quickest way to Warrington, but that was not the point: it was slow and scenic and we had a lovely lunch on the way.
Our friends met us and drove us to their home where we stayed the next three nights, having a day out on Saturday and a day in after church on Sunday ... with a couple of pub visits thrown in.
On Monday they took us to the other station in Warrington, Bank Quay, where we took an Avanti West Coast train (another first: I've never travelled with them before, except rammed into a vestibule between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International). It was a comfortable, although late, journey, and we had plenty of space, perhaps an advantage of travelling mid-afternoon. We left Avanti at Lancaster and, being late, had a tight connection into our train to Morecambe. Now this was a bit of an adventure. We had just enough time to get over the bridge to the train we could see waiting on the other side of the track (platform 4 for those who know Lancaster station, which I didn't until then), so we went to the lift because I really cannot climb stairs with luggage. The lift was not quick, and when we got to the bridge we soon realised that we could not access the stairs down to where the train was waiting as the seconds ticked by. We had to use the lift down as well, and again it took ages to comes and ages to go down by which train the train should have left, but this being Northern it was still there. Indeed it was still there ten minutes later. I do not think we ever saw a train, of any operator, on time at Lancaster over the course of this holiday, and as you'll see, we were there quite a lot. The timekeeping on the routes that converge there is appalling. Still the train got us to Morecambe: it is only a few minutes, much closer than our home in Stamford is to the main junction station at Peterborough. Although it was the same type of unit (Class 158) as the one we had enjoyed travelling on all the way from Peterborough to Warrington it was somehow less appealing - possibly because of the noisy schoolchildren who got off at the one intermediate stop at Bare Lane, but probably also because these sets were never intended for short distance stopping services but for the long distance express service like the Norwich-Liverpool route that we had use to travel to Warrington.
The walk to the Midland Hotel is longer than it used to be. The railway line has been cut short and, to be fair, is probably better located to serve the actual town and also connects well with local buses and a new retail park (this is a travel blog, not a town planning critique, so I won't go on about how that has killed the town centre), but it is not directly opposite the hotel which was built by the LMS Railway to serve the high-class resort at Morecambe. We saw the Midland shortly after its refurbishment (it had lain derelict for some years and was really at risk) and it is no longer quite the class of establishment that the then owners intended. The external finish could do with renewing and some of the interior could do with a little bit of a spruce-up. The meals, although good in themselves, are served in a pub-like manner, ordered at the bar, and there are no tablecloths. Very good, but not the high standard it used to be. It remains staggeringly good in its context, though, for Morecambe is not a thriving town.
Our room, however, was quite amazing. It was spacious and with a sea view and had some design features I have never seen anywhere else, possibly original. You need to see my YouTube video to get the full effect, but suffice it to say that if you go into the ensuite bathroom you may think there is no door. And then you realise there is no WC either, but when you pull at a hand-hold in the wall boarding a whole section of the wall swings round to close off the bathroom from the bedroom and reveals a WC with toilet paper and all the kit. Tea and coffee facilities and the TV and waste bin are behind another panel, and the wardrobe behind another. There were two deco moderne armchairs and a drinks table. We were very happy there for our two nights, and I would easily and confidently recommend this hotel as a stopover on the way to or from the Isle of Man, handy as it is for the Heysham ferry terminal, as I shall go on, eventually, to describe.
We went for a walk along the seafront which was uplifting and saddening in equal measure. It was a clear evening and the view across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District hills was breathtaking. The local authorities had obviously spent a great deal to improve the public realm of the seafront and local people were out walking, running, skating and cycling along it. All the shops were shut, but then it was evening and many were simply closed for the night, but many also were closed for good. Several small hotels were also clearly closed for good. We were looking for somewhere to eat and were just thinking that we'd have to return to the hotel when we spotted the Bay Café a small fish and chip shop on a street corner. It was open, and it had a few tables inside. There was a couple eating there; we asked how it was and on their advice asked for the small portion of fish and chips. It was delicious, it was filling and it was very inexpensive. Very little else was open in Morecambe that evening but we hit on what was probably the best traditional fish & chips I have ever had. We returned happy to the Midland where we enjoyed cocktails in the bar before bath and bed.
On the Tuesday morning we decided to take the 10:00 bus into Lancaster. After a quick look around the town centre, coffee and gelato we gave further thought to the day and, realising how close we were decided to take a train to Carnforth, for two reasons: one was that a craftsman in Carnforth, as it happens, was assessing a vintage flute that once belonged to a long-deceased relative and we thought it would be good to meet him in person, and the other was that I had long wanted to visit Carnforth station where a lot of location-shooting was done for the film Brief Encounter. A phone call checked that the instrument-maker was available and we made our way to his home where his front room was his workshop. A lovely person, we made arrangements for the flute to be sold and restored so that it would be playable again rather than end up on a rubbish tip. When we were at Lancaster station awaiting our train to Carnforth we saw a steam locomotive there and identified it as Blue Peter, the very locomotive which had taken us to and from the Lake District last autumn. I had to pop over and say "hello" ... well, not literally, I'm not that mad.
After our brief encounter with the antique flute we made our back to the station and enjoyed a good salad lunch at the refreshment room made famous in Brief Encounter, explored the heritage centre and then went across to the opposite platform to await a train to Grange-Over-Sands. This was only a few minutes' scenic ride away and, having stayed there many years ago, we knew it as a pretty town. we were not disappointed: the train ride, the town, and the garden we walked through on our way back to the station were all lovely. We only stayed there about an hour but the rail fares here are so reasonable that it seemed a worthwhile thing to do. We took the next train through to Lancaster and then back to Morecambe (remembering to buy a ticket because we had come by bus in the morning so we did not have a return half!). We enjoyed a cocktail in the hotel bar-restaurant again ...) and then dinner, which was excellent. The next day we were to leave England for Man and we started our packing before a good night's sleep.
Wednesday was to be the start of our Great Rail Journeys escorted tour to the historic railways of the Isle of Man, but our ferry was not due to leave until 15:30, although one has to board well before then, and we also had to meet our tour manager at the ferry terminal. There is a boat train once a day from Lancaster to Heysham Harbour (or Heysham Port; the name varies from sign to sign!) which calls at Morecambe, so we were to take that when the time came. Meanwhile, after checking out we had the hotel store our luggage and went off for a short walk along the seafront and then visited the new shops opposite the rail station. Now I could see why B&M no longer occupied the lovely art deco building on the sea front near the hotel: they had a new shop in the new shopping area. After looking around a bit we went to a supermarket there to pick up a few things for a picnic lunch which we would have while waiting to board the ship, the Manxman. Meanwhile, we took coffee back at the hotel bar and then recovered our luggage and went to get the boat train, actually buying our tickets at the station. The train was just an ordinary two-coach Sprinter of Northern Trains which normally ply between Lancaster (or sometimes Leeds) and Morecambe but for this one service per day reverse at Morecambe and take the single-track branch line to Heysham Port, the driver getting out and changing the point to access the branch. The picture shows it arrived at Heysham with the driver walking to the other end to take passengers off the ferry to Lancaster.
The station at Heysham Port exists solely to connect with the ships to Douglas and it was simple enough to walk across to the departures entrance where we met Alan, our tour manager, who briefed us on the procedure for checking-in our luggage, boarding the ferry and finding he best place to sit (the Njarbil Lounge on Deck 8, which has superb views at the front of the ship). We just had time to eat our lunch, with drinks bought from the cafeteria on site, before we were called to board. The next adventure had begun.
The Manxman took an interesting route, curving well south before making west across the Irish Sea. But when you think about it, the enormous offshore wind farm we saw over to starboard is presumably located in shallow water. There were also a handful of oil platforms, quite a lot of activity out here at sea, as wells a few other ships and even fewer smaller vessels. The shipping lane is not as wide as you might think! Soon enough we saw the outline of the Isle of Man standing above low-level mist and watched it draw nearer and then waited for the ship to berth and disembarkation to be announced.
By the time we had crossed the enormous elevated walkway across the docks to the arrival area and collected our luggage from the carousel it was past our usual bedtime when we arrived at the Claremont Hotel. We had been given our room keys by hotel staff who met the group at the arrivals hall, so we did not have to check in and we made our way straight into the dining room to have dinner, which was excellent. The Great Rail Journeys group had a sort of table d'hôte menu with a choice of about three starters, three mains and three desserts, so we had enough choice to cope with faddy eaters (which we most definitely are not!) and everything we had at each dinner was superb. Unusually for a GRJ tour, dinner was included every evening, as well as breakfast every morning. Meals were not generally at fixed times but between certain times so we had much fllecxibility.
Also included in the pack which contained our room keys and meal times were a pass each for transport through the island and a pass for all the heritage sites. These would be used on all the included activities but were also available in our free time to do anything else we wanted with no further cost.
Our room was at the back of the hotel with no new at all - indeed the lower window was obscure glass to avoid us seeing the insalubrious back yard outside. However, the interior of the room was super, with flexible lighting and enough electrical points for all our electronic kit. On trips like this we do not spend a lot of time in our room, though, always out and about exploring. For now, shower and bed.
The Thursday was the first group activity of the tour and the one which mattered most to me from my reading of an article in Railway Modeller when I was eleven years old, about a model railway layout based on the Isle of Man Railway. This once extensive network is now reduced to one line, between Douglas and Port Erin but is still operated by the original steam locomotives and wooden carriages. It is a charming railway well worth visiting even if you never read that article back in 1965. We all walked to Douglas station and after some photographs joined our carriages on the train. The weather was cool and damp and there was plenty of visible steam as the locomotive was prepared and backed onto the train. When we arrived at Port Erin we had a sort guided tour of the small railway museum there and then we taken by road coach to The Sound where there are seals to be spotted in the sea and The Calf of Man island just off the shore. With better weather apparently you can also see Ireland beyond, but we could barely see the Calf of Man on the day we were there. We did spot a couple of seals on the rocks, and most importantly had a mug of hot chocolate at the café!
The coach then took us on to Castletown where we had time for lunch and then gathered at the appointed time to visit together The Old House of Keys, erstwhile home of the oldest parliament in the world. We learnt a lot in a series of mock debates based on important decisions in the past, mainly that although this may be the world's oldest parliament it is most certainly not the oldest democracy but had quite a lot of catching up to do. We took part in debates to elect Members to the House of Keys, to allow women to vote and to move the capital from Castletown to Douglas (largely because the building had become beyond economic repair to continue in use).
The afternoon had no included activities but most of the group, ourselves included, visited Castle Rushen, just across the street, probably the best-preserved medieval castle in the British Isles. This was included in our attractions passes, too, and cost us nothing. Great views, apparently, were to be had from to top of the keep, but at the time I was not fit enough to climb up there. The castle is, of course, intimately linked to the history of the island, ad there was a lot to learn about how it has been ruled and governed over the centuries.
Many of the party were returned to Douglas and direct to the hotel by the coach, but several of us opted to return on the Isle of Man Steam Railway from Castletown station a cost-free option as it was covered by our travel passes. Back at the hotel we had time to change before dinner and then have a lazy evening after a busy day before a good night's sleep ready to the next action-packed day.
The story will be continued in a future post with more Little Trains and a few more Other Trains!
Four stories about holidays by rail, ferry and bus
Our annual visit to the south coast is now planned, hotels and restaurants, anyway; the train tickets will have to wait for a bit. We shall visit Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, again this year before moving on to Chichester. I thought readers might be interested in our four previous visits to the Isle of Wight, as this really is a great place to go car-free. Indeed, I'd say that the Isle of Wight is actually better without the car, which is a bit of a rave to get onto the island in the first place and can be a bit of an encumbrance when you are there (we took two cars one year, some time ago, when there were six of us); the ferry queues are not much fun.
So here are the four visits we have done in the past, all great:
Book the accommodation in advance (and restaurant the first night - we always regretted when we didn't do this)
Allow plenty of time for the journey to make it relaxing, no rushing across London
Think carefully about packing and try to keep it to one modest suitcase and a small backpack each
Book train tickets early and go First Class; book through to the Isle of Wight destination so that the ferry is included in the ticket - that makes it both simpler and much cheaper
Download in advance the Southern Vectis bus map and install their app on your smartphone, and use their day rover tickets
Southern Vectis buses will take you all over the east or west sides of the Island without a change of bus, and to go from one side to the other involves a simple change at Newport bus station. We also do a lot of walking, and bicycles can be hired if you like cycling. We love the buses; almost all of them are double deckers and the views from the top deck are wonderful. Even from the bottom deck the views are better than from a car.
To read the newspapers in Britain at the moment you would think that holidays in the UK were a new idea. Perhaps they are for London-based journalists! But for various good reasons around the pandemic and the travel uncertainty arising from it, there are likely to be many more of us in Britain taking our holidays in Britain this year, and the newspapers are full of "advice" about "staycations" - although how many journalists are qualified to give this advice, considering they feel the need to call them something other than a holiday, I am not sure. So, having taken lots of these holidays in the recent past (and the distant past, too, come to that!), I thought I'd write some advice myself. I hope my readers find it helpful. You can find some ideas for destinations on my page, "UK Holidays".
Traffic
Now at first it is easy to think that the greater number of British people holidaying in Britain will be balanced by the far fewer numbers of foreign visitors holidaying here, but I am not so sure about that. First, a lot of foreign visitors visit London (it is the most popular tourist destination in the world), and I suspect that few of us will take our main holiday there: we shall go the coast or to the lakes or forests, moorlands, etc.. Second, foreigners will tend not to bring their cars (some, from Europe, will, of course, and some will hire them when they get here), whereas most British people will tend to drive. Putting all this together, I predict that roads to the coast and rural resorts will be more than busy: it was already bad enough four years ago for me to declare that we were never going to Devon or Cornwall by car ever again, and if more are heading that way this year then I hope they have a LOT of patience. That is why I would recommend travelling by rail for UK holidays, and the advice I am offering concerns making the arrangements for train travel.
Booking
Cross Country's retro ad a few years ago isnpired me to book a seaside summer holiday by train!
One thing the newspapers have been hot on is the need to book in good time, because everyone else will be doing the same. Anticipating this, I have already booked hotels for our summer breaks, one in England, one in Scotland, so you can't get in front of me how ever soon you book: but you may need to hurry to get in front of each other! Look for hotel and B&B bookings that allow free cancellation so that if circumstances change and you need to back out for a reason not covered by your travel insurance (yes, you do need it for holidays in the UK unless you are happy to take all the risk yourself) your costs will be minimised.
Train Travel
While I have booked accommodation for my summer holidays, I have not yet booked travel, because even in normal times train tickets with seat reservations are not usually available until three months before the travel date, and in the current changing circumstances the train companies can have no idea what trains they will be running by the summer holiday season, so it is not worth even thinking about tickets just yet. But what I have done, and what I recommend for anyone thinking of travelling on holiday by train, is set up on the relevant companies' websites an advance ticket alert which will cause them to send me an email message to tell me when Advance tickets are available for my chosen dates. I could probably book open tickets now but (a) they are relatively expensive, (b) the trains I eventually choose may be too busy for me to get a seat and (c) in the current pandemic-dominated world it is anyone's guess what trains will be running.
One advantage of buying Advance tickets early in their availability is that First Class travel is usually available at a really good price - like London to the Isle of Wight, including ferry, for under £20 First Class one way - and on most lines Advance tickets come with seat reservations so you know you will get on the train you have chosen. They can only be used on a specific train, so some planning is needed, but then if you usually fly abroad you will be used to having to catch a specific flight. But rail travel is much less faff than flying: you don't have to be there ages before departure; you keep your luggage with you so when you arrive you're free to go; you can take food and drink with you and you can see things out of the window all the way!
I have written articles elsewhere on this website about Luggage and about Changing Trains, and if you are not used to rail travel, then please take a look at both of these pages. Which brings me to the question of planning ...
Planning and Preparation
Inverness: hotel next to station
Planning the travel needs to be part of the early planning of the whole holiday. I usually start with an idea of whereabouts I want to go in the country and then look at accommodation and train route together so that I do not end up needing to hire a car or taxi to get from the station to the hotel, as if I were on one of those inconvenient holidays by air! Sometimes we stay right next to the station, usually within reasonable walking distance, and now-and-again we use a bus or a boat (!) to complete the trip - it is all part of the adventure of travel. Take this summer's planned trip to the Isle of Wight: we are booked at a hotel right beside Yarmouth Castle, about a minute walk from the ferry terminal, and our train will take us right to the ferry - it is an official connection and the train tickets will be booked to Yarmouth. We did the same trip two years ago and it worked like a dream. When we went to South Wales a few years ago we soon found that our options were very limited: unlike North Wales, few of the southern resorts are on a railway route, but we did have a great time in Tenby!
View from our bus on board the ferry at Poole
While I would encourage anyone not to be afraid of changing trains to reach their destination (the Tenby trip involved several changes), sometimes it is more convenient to minimise changes at the cost of taking a little longer, especially if changing stations in London can be avoided, no matter how convenient the Underground makes this. From our home in Stamford, Lincolnshire, we often travel via Birmingham (which is on a direct line from Stamford) when travelling to the south-west, or sometimes even to the south coast in Dorset or Hampshire, which takes longer than going via London but just needs the one change at Birmingham New Street, the hub of the inter-city rail network. We did this last year when we went to Studland Bay.
Unless you do go, as we often have, to a resort with the station right there, then the trip will probably be completed by bus or some other means. This used to work when I was a toddler with my parents going to Margate (everyone went on holiday in Britain and by train in those days, unless they were very rich, and even they probably went by train!) and it still works now but needs a tad more planning. The Studland Bay trip last year was brilliant for this, with a bus right from Bournemouth station taking us to the door of the hotel, and it was an open-top tour bus, too, with some wonderful views along the way, including the ferry across Poole Harbour! When we have been to Dartmouth, which we have done twice, the last leg of the trip was by steam train to Kingswear and then ferry across the River Dart. All part of the adventure.
Adventure
I don't buy the "door-to-door convenience" angle of car travel, especially for holidays. Yes, I have a car, and it is a good car and it has its uses (it is questionable whether those uses are frankly a good enough reason to spend all those thousands of pounds buying and maintaining it, but that is a whole other discussion!), but unless one is mobility-impaired there is no need to travel between doors, and for us when we go by train the adventure starts when we walk out of the door and trundle our cases to the station, pockets full of tickets. We know our train times and our meal arrangements and we look forward to what we shall watch going by our windows. We can drink wine and/or beer if we like, the loo is a short walk down the carriage, and if we are held up someone else will sort it out, but hold-ups are rare. We get exercise on our walks to and from the stations, and we do not have to park the car. Some will say the they need the car when they get to their destination, and I know that those who fly abroad often hire one when they get there, but although we are open to hiring a car we have never yet done so, always having found that bus services are more than adequate for our needs - but then for us walking is an important part of our holiday. In the autumn, just before the second UK lockdown, we revisited Studland Bay by car. We parked it at the hotel and never used it again until we left - all our local travel was on foot, boat and bus, and on the way back we were held up by a serious accident on the M1 ... train delays are nothing compared with this.
I think we have great holidays, not in spite of leaving the car at home but partly BECAUSE we leave the car at home. We see, hear and smell our surroundings, we actually LIVE in the places we visit and are not sealed off from them; travelling on the same buses as shoppers and business people in the towns we visit, and walking through the countryside, experiencing nature - people pay for safari holidays in remote places, but with our network of public footpaths you can do your own British safari all on your own - and get the bus back to your hotel.
Don't be misled by the newspapers' put-down of UK holidays as an inferior thing called a "staycation" as if it were not a real holiday. I do have holidays abroad (although usually still by train!) and have two booked for later this year, but they are not superior to the English, Welsh and Scottish ones, they just need a passport as well as a ticket, and different money, and different language. But all are great fun, wherever they are, and I reckon more fun without the car.
Do have a browse through the summer holidays I have blogged on this website: they are all my own experiences, paid for out of my own pocket and completely unfettered by allegiance to any company or product. and do ask questions in the comments, here or on any other page, and I shall try to answer.
An old-fashioned family adventure by train, bus and ferry
If you want an adventure holiday and enjoyed Enid Blyton’s stories when you were young, The ideal place to stay is a hotel in a time warp in Dorset, a turn-of-the-century house which has been a hotel since the mid-twentieth century, where Enid Blyton used to stay during the period when she was writing many of her children’s books and when she conceived the Noddy stories. The Knoll House Hotel is in unique landscape on the Purbeck peninsula in Dorset, southern England, less than five minutes walk from Knoll Beach which, like much of the coastal landscape of the area, is owned and managed by the National Trust. It makes a great base for exploring on foot, by bicycle, bus or, if you must, by car.
We took our family there as part of the celebration of a significant wedding anniversary; we were eight adults and five young children, in three family suites and our own sea-view double room, coming from several different directions. We went, of course, by train and bus and on this occasion took one of the grandchildren with us on our adventure, the other four going with their respective parents by car. We’d had the hotel rooms booked well in advance but booking the travel and activities was greatly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. For a long time it appeared that we may well have had to drive and there would be little to do other than visit the beach and go for walks. Just in time the restrictions began to be eased and I was able to book train travel and then even book an exciting family outing for one of the days.
We left Stamford, with our four year-old granddaughter, on a Friday morning, the first dull day after several long, hot, sunny days ... such is the way things work out! We were travelling First Class on a CrossCountry train for Birmingham New Street. There were no bargain tickets to be had but at least we had our Senior Railcards and the little girl went free-of-charge; I wanted First Class to make sure of enough space around a table, and electric sockets, especially since I was following pandemic advice and using electronic tickets on my smartphone which needed to keep its charge for a long time while sharing our location with the rest of the family. It all went very well and we had the First Class section to ourselves.
Owing to the reduced timetable we had over an hour to spare at Birmingham New Street so we went into the Grand Central shopping centre to find a cup of coffee between trains, and I have to say I was shocked to see how deserted it was. The John Lewis store there is among those the company has decided not to reopen and some other shops were also not yet open; about half the cafés and restaurants were closed and yet the one we used, Giraffe, had only a handful of other customers. So little activity in the very heart of the Second City was a sobering reminder of the dreadful economic impact of the pandemic. We went back to the station and had our picnic lunch that we had brought with us and then made our way to the platform and boarded our train to Bournemouth. Travelwise this was the most exciting part of the trip for me, for I had long wanted to go this way, through the south midlands from Birmingham, through the New Forest and along the south coast to Bournemouth where we were to take a bus for the final stage of the journey.
This train ride begins with the slow wander through the edge of Birmingham, Coventry and Leamington Spa in order to serve the airport and National Exhibition Centre at Birmingham International, and then heads down to Oxford and Reading where the train changes direction to take the line south through Basingstoke to Southampton and then Bournemouth. Although the train service is less frequent, the trains are longer and there is no difficulty keeping a decent distance from other passengers: Cross Country does not sell more tickets for a train that the train will be able to take safely. A limited amount of on-board catering has now been reintroduced and we were able to enjoy coffee and biscuits included in our ticket price. Further items were available for payment if we had wanted them, but currently only snacks. It all worked very well and both the trains to Birmingham and onward to Bournemouth were on time. We had a very pleasant journey.
Our little companion was excited to see the aircraft at Birmingham International Airport (plenty on the ground, none in the air at present), and I enjoyed the New Forest countryside, and the short run along the Great Western main line between Didcot and Reading. There is an enormous mix of landscape and cityscape, fast main lines and meandering single-track branches on this route, ending in the impressive station at Bournemouth. Many years ago, trainspotting at New Street in my student days, I used to hear the announcements for these trains which in those days went straight down to Leamington Spa without the detour via the then non-existent International station and went on beyond Bournemouth to Poole, and I always wanted to try this route for its variety and for the length of it. It was never fast but it was always a useful route, and I remember seeing whole carriages reserved for Saga Holidays, filled with people like I am now ...
The view from the open-top bus as we dock at Studland. A similar bus for Bournemouth is waiting to board.
At Bournemouth we left the train and sought the adjacent bus station. First mistake was leaving via the wrong exit and not seeing the expected bus station head of us; second was crossing to the right exit via the stepped footbridge, not having noticed the ramped subway which would have been much easier with a child and wheeled luggage! Anyway, with only fifteen minutes to go until the departure of our bus (although there was another half and hour later, so it was not critical) we still had plenty of time to get to it, board and pay our fare. Fortunately the thunder and rain which had been forecast only a few days earlier had pushed back until much later and we were able to ride on the top deck of this open-top bus, the Purbeck Breezer, More Bus route 50. This route has a stop right outside the Knoll House Hotel and named after the hotel, so it was as good as a taxi: we boarded it and asked for the Knoll House Hotel and that is where it took us. It is a long ride and an interesting one, right past the popular Bournemouth beach, though the town centre and through the leafy and very expensive residential areas of Branksome and Canford Cliffs, descending right into Branksome Chine, then along the rim of Poole Harbour to Sandbanks (probably the most expensive residential land in the UK) where the bus boards the chain ferry for Studland, the last couple of miles of our journey being through the dunes and heather of Studland before reaching the Knoll House Hotel where the bus stops right opposite the entrance. We were delighted to be met by all the rest of our family who had arrived earlier (they all live nearer than we do) and had all come on this occasion by car (and for some, had endured quite a slog of a journey, although it was quite reasonable for those from London). We reckon we had had the best views of the sea, and especially the ferry crossing, though, from the top of our bus. And all were to enjoy an open-top bus ride the next day.
The three young families had family suites at the back of the hotel, with bedrooms for the adults and the children, with cots for the youngest; this hotel is very much set up for children's holidays and we think that in its early days the children and their nannies were sent here while parents went elsewhere! We had a double room at the front with a balcony overlooking the sea beyond the hotel's extensive grounds, and once we had checked in and unpacked all of us gathered for drinks and then dinner together. With four children under five and one only five there was not much time in any one meal when all thirteen of us were at the table at the same time, but nevertheless throughout the whole weekend of dinners and breakfasts we had a really great time together and I can thoroughly recommend this place for such a gathering: the hotel is used to doing it (there was one group of nineteen people) and the staff are brilliant at coping. After dinner the two over-sixties went for a stroll down to the beach and then retired to bed to be ready for the following day's adventure.
The need to book everything in advance as the nation eases out of the pandemic "lockdown" meant that the weekend could not be spontaneous, and so although I was able to leave Sunday unplanned for the beach or a day out by bus, for example, the programme for Saturday's outing to Corfe Castle had to be tightly planned, often with virtual crossed fingers, in order for it to stand any chance of working. I booked timed entry to Corfe Castle, a National Trust site, for all of us and then attempted to book a Swanage Railway steam train ride from Swanage to Corfe Castle and back but their tickets could not be released until the Wednesday before the planned weekend ... it was a bit-nailbiting but we managed it and I booked two compartments so that the family could travel together. All seats were allocated to individual passengers to ensure social distancing and waiting and boarding were carefully managed both at Swanage and at Corfe Castle to keep people apart as much as possible.
So we all (well, one toddler was asleep so some had to catch us up later, but that is another, boring, story!) gathered at the bus stop on Saturday morning and awaited the open-top bus to Swanage. This section of the route is quite a ride: there are many overhanging trees and some bends and hills and it is an exhilarating trip! At Swanage there is a good, though short, view of the beach before the bus turns towards the town centre and terminates right outside the preserved railway station building. Although I had booked in advance I had to take the email with my booking reference to the ticket office to collect the actual tickets which authorised the party to go onto the platform. The children were all given souvenir tickets by the gate staff which was rather sweet. We watched the train come in hauled by a Battle of Britain class pacific, a huge locomotive for a line and a train like this, then we watched the locomotive uncouple to run round to the other end of the train before we found our reserved compartments and settled ourselves onto the train.
We steamed to Corfe Castle station arriving at a good time for lunch. It was not the warm, sunny day that I had dreamed of while planning the trip but it was dry and not cold, and we followed the advice posted on lamp-posts through the village to picnic in a park off one of the streets, which really worked quite well. We had been to this place a few times before and never discovered the picnic site, but during the pandemic the local council is keen to prevent too many people congregating in the main square outside the castle entrance. We had packed lunches provided by the hotel and then all made our way to the castle itself. As with all National Trust poverties at present this was booked in advance and we simply had to give our names to be admitted (well, my name, as I had booked and paid). We all learnt a lot (well, the younger adults did, but I had a very thorough visit here a few years ago and to me it was a revision session!) and the children enjoyed clambering over the ruins and hearing about the dungeons and the medieval way of life. As usual, from the castle we saw trains coming and going on the preserved railway line below. The weather remained murky throughout, but not cold and with very little rain.
Tea and coffee were consumed before we left the castle, and some of us visited the National Trust shop on the village square and then we made our way in good time to the station, taking the opportunity to visit the little museum there while awaiting the steam train back to Swanage. A slight hitch occurred here when both our reserved compartments turned up occupied by couples who had boarded at the train's starting point at Norden and had not read the reservation information on their tickets: the train's guard turfed them out into their proper places and we took ours - considering that the reservations are part of the Covid-secure regulations on the line, these people were clearly not obeying the government's advice to stay alert.
At Swanage there was time to watch the train, the last steam train of the day, reversing out of the station to its overnight servicing. Two trains were operating that day, the other hauled by a class 33 vintage diesel service, which we saw passing Corfe Castle a couple of times and which will have been making its last run 40 minutes after ours, by which time we were ensconced on the top deck of the next Purbeck Breezer bus back to Knoll House Hotel.
Knoll House's restaurant served yet another great meal. We all agreed that the food at this hotel was excellent, far better than we had expected from the description "family hotel", and the sort of meal you would expect for a special-occasion restaurant meal. Drinks and other extras were charged-for, but the basic dinner was included in the room rate and it was altogether a very good deal indeed. We went for a stroll along the beach at sunset with one of our sons, by which time the view across the sea was a little clearer and the Isle of Wight was visible, along with three cruise ships resting at anchor, unable to operate because of the pandemic.
On the Sunday nothing had been planned and the weather forecast was fairly dire. However, we did agree to go down to the beach mid-morning and after delaying it for half an hour because of heavy rain we did venture out, encountering occasional light showers but remaining reasonably warm (although those who went into the sea were not as warm as those who didn't!). I spent much of the time shuttling off to the National Trust coffee bar watching the morning coffee for the three groups arriving at different times dictated by the sleep patterns of the youngest children ... I think all the adults got their coffee in the end. The first trip to the shop also included plastic buckets for building sandcastles, and one of these went back partly filled with shells from the beach. This really was a very traditional family beach holiday and it was great to enjoy it all together as one big family. At lunch time the younger generations enjoyed a bar meal together at the hotel while we made a snack lunch in our room out of what was left from our packed lunches of the previous two days! There was plenty for the two of us.
In the afternoon each household followed its own agenda, ours being a walk to Studland village across the fields from the hotel, following a signposted bridleway and footpath. From the village we walked down to the beach: this was South Beach, a small, fairly secluded beach for the village, but with a fair number of visitors even though the car park was closed. We walked northwards towards Middle Beach, which segues into Knoll Beach, by means of which we could return to the hotel. We set off encouraged by the sign that Middle Beach could not be reached at high tide, for the tide, although just beginning to come in, was still very low. However, getting to Middle Beach was not exactly a breeze even at low tide, involving scrambling over uneven and slippery rocks and chasing some very muddy sand and fairly stinky seaweed, too. But it was fun, if not easy! After all this effort, actually to land on the sand at Middle Beach still looked like defeating us when we encountered the works being done to repair erosion, but by sidling along a retaining wall we were able to gain the path up to a promenade behind the beach, coming across a handy tea room in the process where we stopped for tea before completing our walk back to Knoll Beach and the Knoll House Hotel, ready for the pre-booked family swim in the little indoor pool (there is a larger outdoor one, too, but this had not been open when the booking was made). Then we just had time to prepare for our last hotel dinner and a final stroll before bed.
Travel money seller in Bournemouth tries desperately to draw attention to himself at a time when no-one is going abroad.
On our last morning we all had breakfast together and said our farewells, some of the children reluctant to leave! With one granddaughter we waited for the 09:35 Breezer bus back to Bournemouth via the Sandbanks ferry. The rest of the family was leaving at about the same time by their different ways and we all kept in touch on the way home. None of the children seemed to want to go home, apart from the very youngest who had spent the whole weekend being carried or strapped into one sort of seat or another. We took a bus rather earlier than we needed to catch our train at Bournemouth and had a coffee break before the train, but with the coffee shop on the station being closed we found ourselves in the McDonald's opposite, the already cheap drinks being reduced by the government's "Eat Out to Help Out" subsidy - not that we were looking for a bargain. The train journey home was much as the one out, with our packed lunch supplied by the hotel, having been ordered the evening before, and a rather shorter wait at New Street. It seemed no time at all before we were collecting our luggage and donning our rainwear for the walk home through the darkening weather, with the distant rumble of thunder, arriving just in time before the rain began. It had been a great weekend and the whole family seems determined to do something like it again. For us it was a demonstration that rail and bus adventures can still be done, although the feel is very different without the usual catering, with less frequent trains and with the need to book absolutely everything in advance.
The Isle of Man Adventure, continued
