Michael Scott

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The 930-mile longest day of the All Line Rail Rover holiday started in a fresh and sunny Fairbourne before 7am. We caught the first train along the coast and through north Wales to Shrewsbury. The conductor was a cheery lady who spent a little while chatting to us in the early morning. The train hugged the coast of Wales for several miles, rattling along at the head of the beach, the waves lapping a few metres from our window. We started to slow and came to a standstill just inside the mouth of a tunnel. The previous train in the opposite direction, the first of the day, had run into a flock of sheep that had managed to make its way into the tunnel. Our train, forewarned of the obstacle, stopped without hitting any of them. The conductor and driver got off and ran the length of the tunnel (she told us afterwards), herding the sheep before them. Dead sheep needed to be dragged off the track, and one lamb prised from its mother with broken legs. It was all very sad, and the conductor, with a smell of raw meat about her, was visibly shaken. The train herded the sheep along the line, trapped between a cliff and a drop to the sea, for a few miles until eventually they saw sense and moved aside. We arrived in Shrewsbury on time, as the train had a long scheduled stop at Machynlleth to join with a train from Aberystwyth before continuing the journey.

We visited Shrewsbury the last time we travelled on an All Line Rail Rover ticket, so we had nothing other than a cursory wander around today. Our plan was to get the Wrexham and Shropshire service to London Marylebone before moving onto Windsor. The service starts at Wrexham, and we had enough time in the bag to catch the Holyhead train to Wrexham to catch the train back to Marylebone.

When we jumped off the train in Wrexham, we were met by a representative of Wrexham and Shropshire who very swiftly bundled us into a taxi and set us hurtling down the A483 to Gobowen. The train from Marlebone was running late so instead of cause the train back to also be late, it was turning round at Gobowen. We arrived a little bewildered, but the train left on time.

The journey from Gobowen to Marylebone was not the most interesting out of the window, but it was by far the most relaxing and enjoyable train travel I’ve experienced in the UK. The seats were large and comfortable. The complementary food (2 courses, with a third for £3.95) was first class. I had a spicy samosa with relish to start, followed by a wonderful (and large) beef bourguignon, finished off with a strawberry cheesecake. The train is also stocked with no fewer than four bottled ales from the Wrexham/Shropshire area, served a little cold for my taste, but served with passion and a friendly smile. The staff on the train were all very friendly and dedicated to making the experience as good as it could be. The journey to London was not as quick as it would be on the West Coast Mainline, but the extra half hour or so was worth it to arrive feeling chilled at the other end. It’s worth noting that a first class journey on this train is cheaper than a standard class one on the West Coast. By far the best part of this service though was the length of the on-train announcements. On East Coast, which I travel regularly with work, the announcements sometimes reach three minutes in length. On Wrexham and Shropshire though, they tended to be about 6 words long. Perfect!

Windsor was a pretty place, but apart from the castle and some pleasant buildings, it was very much a run-of-the-mill English town. I managed to get a few decent photographs, but somehow deleted half of them during import. I have no idea how I managed that.

The Caledonian Sleeper left Euston on time at quarter past 9. At 16 coaches, it is a long, long train. One of those coaches is the bar, which serves hot food and has a pleasant atmosphere helped by the non-fixed chairs around the little tables. You feel like a character in an old movie. It was very busy though. Hot food can only be served at the tables, and there were only about five of them, which meant that we’d be waiting a long time to get served. We instead opted to sit in our cabins. The porter opened the interconnecting door for us, so we could each sit on our bed and still talk.

I read in bed for a couple of hours, rocked by the swaying train and watching the lights of Greater London eventually melt away as the train made it into open countryside. I slept well, only waking up as the train passed through Carlisle and Edinburgh. The train splits into three in Edinburgh, one part each going to Fort William, Aberdeen, and Inverness. This splitting seems to require much shouting and banging, but didn’t last too long.

I awoke with the mountains of the Cairngorms streaking past my bedroom window. It was a sunny morning on the highest mainline railway line in Britain. My GPS tracker recorded an altitude of more than 1500ft above sea level. There was still snow on some of the higher peaks. After sticking our heads (and cameras) out of the open windows for a few minutes, we breakfasted on a good warm bacon roll, yogurt, tea, coffee, apple, and shortbread as we watched the beautiful scenery pass our window. We eventually rolled into Inverness over 11 hours after leaving London, but two minutes early after a really enjoyable night.

Photos of day six are on Flickr.