My 2020 in review

January is typically a month where I don't go on any overnight trips. I tend to stay local and just go on a few day trips. As you know, December is an expensive month, especially with two children.

January for me started as normal. A trip to Nethertown happened on the 4th January. I deliberately got the early morning train out of Ulverston so I could see sunrise happen over the station. As my regular followers on social media will know, Nethertown is my favourite station in Great Britain. 

A new year trip to Nethertown to walk the beach along to St Bees is a trip I look forward to, it gives me a chance to review what happened the previous year in my head, and to think about what the new year might entail. I would never of guessed that this year would lead to this.

Later in the month I took a day trip to Manchester and Cheshire to meet up with some friends and to visit some new stations.

First up in the morning I met up with my good mate Paul (@Trainstationsuk). We started the day in Manchester revisiting the new joint least used station in Great Britain, Denton. After this we headed to Manchester Airport where we met up with another good mate, Dave (@KiteWithRoseton). After visiting a few stations on the line between the Airport and Piccadilly, myself and Paul headed to deepest darkest Cheshire to visit  Whitchurch, Wrenbury & Nantwich on the Crewe to Shrewsbury line.

Once back at Crewe one final meet up happened, Jack (@JackAllStation) who joined myself and Paul for a McDonalds. Can't go wrong with a Maccies. After this I headed to my final station of the day, Alsager where I said fairwell to my mates and headed home.

February started with my first proper trip away. It was also exciting as it was to a place I have never visited before. I was making my first trip to Lincolnshire. Visiting the Poacher Line to Skegness made me realise how flat and rural Lincolnshire was. I also realised very quickly that I had not allowed anywhere near enough time to visit every station in Lincolnshire. Day one ended very nice though, a visit to the lovely Havenhouse. Although it was dark when I visited I think it added something to the atmosphere at the station. It's on the list of places to return to. Except next time I will visit it in daylight.

On the second day I visited stations on the line between Gainsborough and New Clee, where the highlight of the day for me was visiting the lovely little town of Brigg with it's rather poorly served station. The town centre though was lovely. A message to the senior managers at Northern; please serve the station of Brigg better!

On the third day of the trip things took a bad turn. Storm Dennis arrived into Lincolnshire with heavy rain, and very strong winds. I remember heading for breakfast as Wetherspoons in Gainsborough and watching shop front fascias getting pulled off by the wind. It was scary.

 Anyway, I headed out on the trains (Rather daftly in hindsight), I made it to Lincoln and then onto Collingham. When I arrived at Collingham is where the day got interesting. After a walk around the village I headed back to the station and found part of the level crossing equipment had blown on to the track. Seeing the train approaching I waved my arms to warn the driver who stopped in time and hopped down to remove the obstruction. On returning to Lincoln I decided to head back to the hotel as the weather had no sign of getting any better.

The next day I headed home as the weather was still pretty bad.

Later in February I took a trip down to Worcester for a very special reason. To visit the newly opened Worcestershire Parkway.  On the way down to Worcester I ticked off the stations between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury along with the stations between Shrewsbury and Hereford.

On the Sunday I boarded the first train that would be calling at Worcestershire Parkway. It was even better because it was possibly my favourite train, a GWR IET. The station was to become the least used station in Worcestershire, but only because it had only opened a month before the end of the 2019-2020 period for figures. 

I then took a jolly down the Cotswold line to Oxford and back up to Birmingham via Banbury to complete a relaxing day on the trains. After this I spent the evening catching up with a very good friend who travelled up to Somerset for a meal and to catch up in general.

At the very start of March I discovered my love for the lovely Class 230 units that operate on the Marston Vale line between Bletchley and Bedford. They are beautiful units. Amazing that they used to operate on the London Underground. These units have been amazingly refurbished by Viva Rail.

My day on these didn't exactly go to plan unfortunately due to a level crossing malfunction. This meant I had to hop on board the rail replacement bus that was operating between Ridgmont and Bedford. I decided to change my plans in the afternoon and got the stations on the WCML between Northampton and Watford Junction.

I had hoped to take a walk from Cheddington station to the scene of the Great Train Robbery in 1963, unfortunately it was absolutely hammering it down so I decided to shelter at the station.

 This was one of those days where I would quite happily not bothered, it was wet, cold and the stations were all quite uninspiring.

After not really enjoying myself on the WCML the next day I decided to head to a completely new area for me. The South Coast...

I headed down to Brighton ticking a few stations off on the way down. I fully enjoyed my time on the south coast where I ticked off all stations between Brighton and Seaford and across to Polegate. I would have gone further to the east, but no trains were operating between Polegate and Eastbourne.

I've got to say, my preconception of south of London was that it basically went from London straight to Brighton. After this trip I realised that I couldn't of been more wrong! There was glorious rolling fields of green. There was lovely little villages. This is why I'm doing this travel, to visit not just Every Last Station, but every last part of this beautiful country!

A week after I got back from down on the South Coast, a long planned weekend with some good mates was about to happen. Jack, Paul & Jan were all set to visit Ulverston where we all went for a walk around the local area and then headed out for a meal in the evening.

The next day we headed on an adventure to visit the disused viaduct at Lowgill. The one that can be seen from the WCML between Penrith and Oxenholme. We started by taking a Saturday only bus to Sedbergh where we was meant to walk along part of the Dales Way. Unfortunately the  weather had been so bad that the path had become impassable. So we decided to walk along the lanes instead. 

 When we arrived at the viaduct it was magnificent, even more beautiful up close and personal so to speak. The grey clouds in the sky really added to the atmosphere of the great big arches. If you ever get the chance to visit this viaduct up close then I strongly recommend you do.

After visiting the viaduct we headed into the village of Sedbergh to get some lunch before heading to Dent station and back around to Lancaster via Settle and Giggleswick. A great and memorable weekend was had.

After spending the week working at Dumfries, I headed to Glasgow for a weekend. The trip started in Stranraer before heading into Glasgow for just a couple of days visiting the urban stations around the city.

The best station of the weekend was visiting Barrhill on the Stranraer line. A station where the manual token exchange happens before the line to Stranraer turns into a single track line.

I can remember the final station of the trip very well. Sadly it is where I heard the announcement that non essential travel was no longer allowed due to the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic that had taken it's hold on the country.

Ah April... The month where the closest I got to a train was watching them going over the Leven VIaduct near Ulverston. The month where I got hit down by Covid. Getting over Covid was a struggle, Then once I got over Covid I then had to deal with the mental side of having my whole life turned upside down. I lost my travel, I wasn't working, I wasn't able to visit my two daughters. It was possibly the lowest I have ever been. 

Coming out of that period was a long process. I spent it by making many trips down to the Leven Viaduct where I would just sit and watch the trains pass over the viaduct, longing to be travelling on one of them.

April is a month I would rather forget about. So moving on...

Mid May... I got to travel again on a train! It was incredible, in fact it was amazing! I was travelling to visit my two daughters. The fact I was travelling to visit my daughters made the journey an even better experience.

Train travel during this period of time was very weird, but I felt incredibly privileged to be able to travel on the trains. Even if it was just between Ulverston & Millom. The fact I was travelling anywhere was enough to lift my spirits, it made me happy again.

With my spirits lifted again I started planning trips that might take place when restrictions were lifted. I planned a trip that would allow me to visit every remaining station in Wales in the space of 15 days. It would of been one hell of a trip. As it was this trip never happened, I've still got £250 tied up in hotels that I keep changing the dates of. At least I know how long to allow for Wales in the future!

But ultimately, even with the positive things that happened in May, It was still a long month hoping to be allowed to go on adventures again...

June was pretty much the same as May, but with one added thing. I broke the rules! I took an non essential journey. Well non essential according to Boris! Very essential to me. After the previous couple of months of struggling through I decided that on my Dads birthday I was going to go to Kendal on the bus and head up to Brigsteer to where my dads ashes are.

After visiting my Dad I headed back into Kendal. With Stagecoach still running a very limited service it was quicker to head from Kendal to Windermere on the train and get the bus back to Ulverston from there. Travelling on the train from Kendal to Windermere was my first experience of people not taking COVID serious. Loads of teenagers with cases of beer, non wearing masks all heading to the Lakes for an afternoon in the sun. I'd worried my reason for travelling wasn't essential, I suddenly realised out of everyone on that train I properly had the best reason out of everyone to be travelling that day!

Travel is back!!!

My first trip since the end of March saw me travel to Northumberland and I then spent the next few days working my way south to York. The first day of my trip was off the back of a morning working in Carlisle when I headed off towards Newcastle. On the way over I ticked off the stations between Hexham and Newcastle. After this I headed north ticking off the remaining stations I needed on the famous Chathill service. With these stations ticked off I boarded a XC voyager at Morpeth to take me towards my hotel for the night which was in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

My first hotel in over 3 months, I treated myself to somewhere a little nicer than the usual chains I use. I spent the night at the Kings Arms right in the centre of the town. It was lovely place to stay, Travel was back, and I couldn't of been happier!

The next day I headed south and ticking off the remaining stations in the Newcastle area and down towards Sunderland. Sunderland was by far the lowest point of this trip, for two reasons: firstly it is definitely in my top 5 of stations I won't be returning too. Secondly, As I stepped out of the station in search of a drink a Seagull decided it would welcome me by letting one drop on me! Thankfully it landed on my shoulder, it just meant I was spending the rest of the day not wearing my jumper. 

After the poop of Sunderland I headed down the line to the newest station in England (at the time) Horden. Horden had opened during the lockdown with no fanfare and very discreetly to avoid enthusiasts travelling during lockdown to visit the station. I have mixed feelings about this station and will cover this in the future.

After departing Horden I was now heading to the Whitby line to visit my final two stations of the day, and also my final stations between Middlesborough and Whitby.

I travelled on to Commondale where I then took the walk to Castleton Moor. During this walk I had another encounter with an animal, this time it was more of a land animal that was the issue. As I entered a field that the public footpath runs through I notice that a Llama (Yes it really was a Llama) only decided to hiss and run at me. Needless to say I hot footed it out of the field and looked into finding an alternative route.

After a night at Middlesborough Travelodge it was time to head home, via a visit to Barnard Castle because I needed my eyes testing after seeing the Llama.

The following week I decided to take a jolly around the country... Taking in a day in London catching up with a good friend. I then headed to Somerset where I visited both family and friends for the weekend.

Travelling around London for a day really made me want to return soon. So I decided to plan one in for the next month.

When visiting Somerset I took a trip to Wellington, the home of what is increasingly looking like a future station. It was really nice to just travel around again. It's not just the challenge I had missed during lockdown. But also the freedom the railways give you to escape!

And just when you think July couldn't get any better I went walking around the Dent station area with the only intention of getting some photos of the Staycation Express that was operating. The photo I took at Arten Gill Viaduct ended up being printed on the front page of the Yorkshire Post and was even printed in the Sunday Telegraph as part of articles about the Staycation Express. Seeing my photo printed in these papers was one of the proudest moments since starting the challenge.

To say thanks for the use of the photo the company behind the Staycation Express were allowing me a day to travel on their service. This was a fantastic day, loved every minute of it.

It was a fantastic way to end the month!

As we arrived into another month I took a trip down to the capital to tick of as much of London as I could. London for me is not an area I really enjoy, it's a part of the challenge I kind of just want to get completed as quick as possible. I am aware there will be some nice areas in London, but London in general is just a place I have never wanted to visit. I am yet to visit anywhere in London to change my mind on this to be honest.

During my time in London I met up with my mate Dave (@KiteWithRoseton). We headed down to Kent where we visited several stations in the Sevenoaks area. Had a fantastic day. The standout memory was visiting the vilage of Shoreham, what a beautiful village it was.

After visiting London I decided to take the EMR HST to Leeds before spending a few days visiting stations in the Leeds & Harrogate area. While staying in Leeds I got to catch up with my mate Paul for the first time since lockdown. After this it was time to head home via Skipton to visit my Nan. While in London I had heard the bad news that my Nan had been diagnosed with Dementia. Although my Nan is very stubborn and rarely lets anything get the better of her.

To end the month I decided to take a trip to Scotland to visit the suburban stations around Glasgow. On one of the mornings I thought it would be fun to take a trip on the West Highland Line as far as Crianlarich. I am so pleased that I did this, what beautiful scenery it was!

After a morning of beautiful stations next to lochs it was a startling contrast in the afternoon to be visiting stations in suburban Glasgow. But that said I managed to tick off a substantial amount of stations.

It was lovely to visit Scotland when I did, It's made me really excited to get back north of the border later in 2021. Far North line is pencilled in after moving the dates from last Junes cancelled trip.

September started with a mega trip. It entailed with one day in London, including ticking off the beautiful London Kings Cross. I then spent the afternoon visiting stations in Southeast London, in particular stations between Lewisham/Deptford/Lee and Northfleet. As I have previously said about London, it is an area I am keen to finish.

After a lovely night staying at a hotel near Victoria station I rather enjoyed visiting stations between Ladywell and Hayes. Yes, I did say enjoyed! Most of the stations on this line didn't really feel like they was in London. It was a rather surreal moment. It did make me think that there could be more to enjoy in London... I am planning 4 days in London in March time, I shall be interested to see if there are any more stations that sway my mind.

After a couple of days I headed into Essex, which was my first time venturing into Essex. After seeing a few episodes of The Only Way Is Essex I had a preconception of how Essex would be. It was actually the complete opposite. It was a lovely place with some lovely beaches and some nice countryside. 

I have very strong memories of visiting all the stations on the Southminster line. Both for good and bad reasons. The good reasons was stations like Battlesbridge and Burnham-on-Crouch. I found these stations to be rather nice. After then I visited North Fambridge, which might of been rather nice had it not started to go dark. With the disappearance of the sun, the cold came and took it's place and I, the idiot on this occasion, had chose to only wear a tshirt and shorts. It made for a very long and painful hour.

After visiting the delights of Essex it was time to head north for a few days in Lincolnshire. To finish what I started in Febuary. I started my trip to Lincolnshire by completing the Poacher Line between Grantham and Skegness which basically meant ticking off the stations Hubberts Bridge and Swineshead. After doing this I headed Spalding before then heading towards Lincoln.

Lincolnshire for me is a beautiful county, all be it a little to flat, but still beautiful. The main problem is the public transport network. It is extremely poor. I imagine living in the area must be an absolute nightmare if you don't drive.

I ended my visit to Lincolnshire at Market Rasen, I was then ready to head to Nottinghamshire

I was now ready to spend a couple of days ticking of stations around Nottinghamshire. A county that is new to me, never properly visited before. I've still no idea if I like Nottinghamshire or not to be honest. I am pleased I still have the Newark Castle line to visit, hopefully this will help me make my mind up.

I did cut my trip to Nottinghamshire short by a day as by this point I was pretty exhausted after a few early starts and a few late finishes. At this point I had to remind myself the challenge is meant to be fun. Hence the heading home a day earlier than planned.

I did have another trip planned a week later, I decided to cancel this, I needed to spend some time at home, some down time. So that's what I did. It turned out to be a good idea, the recharge helped.

For the rest of September I pretty much spent my time just chilling with family and friends. On one very sunny Saturday my mate Dave (who I met in London the previous month) came to visit Cumbria for a day on the Cumbria Coastline.

We headed up to Parton before heading to Nethertown and then St Bees. It was just a lovely leisurely day travelling and enjoying the scenery. 

For the best part of the month I spent time with my two daughters. Took them for a walk around Kendal castle and also took them to visit my Nan in Skipton.

October is home to a trip I have been looking forward to since the start of the challenge. It was my trip to the Isle of Wight.

But first I had to get to there, and me being me didn't go direct (Is there even a direct route from Ulverston to the Isle of Wight?) I went via Bedford, in order to finish the Marston Vale line now that it was back up and running.

After a night in Bedford I headed straight into London for a day of station ticking south of the river in the Twickenham & Shepperton area. A highlight of this day was when I took a lovely walk between Barnes Bridge & Mortlake along side The Thames, well until the path was impassable due to flooding. The views were really beautiful!

After a day in London it was time to head to the south coast. As I still needed lots south of London at the time I decided to head to the south coast using the route via Liphook, ticking off all the stations on the way.

A station that stands out from that day was Rowlands Castle. A beautiful station building, but the village was rather beautiful. The village shop felt rather quaint. After Rowlands Castle I had an hour at Liphook where I had hoped to find a fish & chip shop. This was not to be, so it was off to the Sainsburys for a Bacon and Ketchup sandwich, the best sandwich there is!

My hotel for the night was close to Hedge End station. I had booked this during the first lockdown as it was a bargain I could not miss. A MacDonald hotel for under £65 including breakfast was a fab price.

It was time to head to the Isle of Wight! I can tell you now I was proper excited. I had even planned to go over on the Hovercraft, the only commercial passenger hovercraft left operating in the world!

After travelling to Portsmouth & Southsea I hopped on a bus which would take me straight to the Hovercraft landing at Southsea. Sadly I got the impression that passengers with rail tickets were a little inconvenience. Or rather they would rather fill the hovercraft with people who booked full price tickets through their website. 

Anyway, I was onboard, although to be honest the crossing was far less exciting than I had expected. That said, I wasn't sure what to expect!

The first thing I did when I arrived on the Island was head to the station, and noticed the next train was calling at Smallbrook Junction. This was fantastic news as this is a station that only usually sees trains that connect with services on the Isle of Wight steam railway. For some reason on this day every service was calling at the station. I was extremely grateful.

After a short wait at Smallbrook Junction I headed back to Ryde St Johns where I headed for my hotel to drop my bag off before heading back to the trains. After a trip to Pier Head I headed towards Brading where I was meeting up with my good mate Jack who was on the island for the same reason as me. We decided to take a walk from Brading to the coastal town of Bembridge and go in search of some fish and chips. After this we hopped on the bus down to Sandown where Jack headed for his hotel and I headed back to my hotel in Ryde. 

My second day on the island didn't get off to the best start. I headed to the Ryde Esplanade to get a train down to Shanklin only to discover the trains were not running due to both units failing that morning.

As a result it was to the buses and a trip to visit a disused railway and visit the needles. After this I headed back towards Newport and had a look at Carisbrooke Castle. This was followed by a run down to Ventnor on the south coast.

The next morning there was still no trains so I headed back to the mainland knowing I would be returning to the Isle of Wight at some point. I suppose it's a perfect excuse to test out the new units from Viva Rail which are been introduced around March 2021.

After my jolly on the Isle of Wight I spent the next couple of days visiting stations in the West Sussex area. Before I started this challenge I had this preconception that London ended and Brighton immediately began. What I definitely didn't expect was for there to be beautiful scenery and some even more beautiful stations. A line that shows this at it's best in my opinion is the line from Dorking to Arundel. Upon departing every station on this line I was chomping at the bit to see what the next station would look like!

After completing West Sussex I headed over to the east side, East Sussex. Not much to say other than It was very similar to West Sussex. Although visiting Hastings was a highlight for me, For many years I believed Hastings was a place made up by my primary school teachers in history... I'm pleased to say at the age of 35 I have learnt this is not the case ;-) 

After my time in East Sussex I headed to Kent, which is a trip I have been looking forward to. Kent is a county that has completely taken me by surprise, it's beautiful. A county I will definitively be returning to after this challenge, I guess it does help that it is home to the Javelin.

As it was on this trip, I found myself completing every station in Kent. My final station in Kent was Charing. I honestly can't wait to visit Kent again, it might happen before the end of the challenge.

After completing Kent it was time to head home to the north.

I ended October with a trip to Yorkshire, All of Yorkshire. During this trip I was planning on doing the stations on the very awkward line between Knottingley and Goole. After a day of visiting stations on the line between Hull and Selby I boarded a bus that was taking me to Hensall. While on the way I learned that the only afternoon train was cancelled. It led to a quick re plan for my week. I've got to say, Northern customer services were amazing. A quick call to them, and they arranged a taxi to pick me up and take me to my hotel.

The next day went much better, it kind of became known as the awkward station day. Starting on the Goole to Knottingly line, then taking a sneaky trip into South Yorkshire to complete that county. After that I went to get Pontefract Baghill, Church Fenton & Ulleskelf before heading to Selby to try and get the last two stations on the Goole to Knottingly line again. Happy to say this was a success.

After a few days in Goole I headed towards the East Riding of Yorkshire Coastline. This was a line that I found very pleasant. Several wonderful stations, some single platform delights and some decent train sheds. Sadly they tend to symbolise the stations used to be much busier and required much more services and longer trains.

Arriving at Bridlington felt like a massive milestone, it was my final station that is managed by Northern. All 480 of them! To celebrate I headed to Wetherspoons for a breakfast, and admittedly a bottle of Birra Moretti was consumed with my breakfast. Since I had 2 hours to kill I took a lovely walk along the sea front. I thought it was a rather beautiful sea side town. Much nicer than some others I have travelled too.

Next up after Bridlington was my final two stations of the trip. Seamer was up next where I swapped over to TPE which would take me to Scarborough. If Bridlington felt like a massive milestone then Scarborough was about to smash it out of the water. In visiting Scarborough I had now completed every station in the north of England. The most north station in England was Retford. 

I am not going to lie, I sat on the longest railway bench in the world and had a moment to myself where a few tears were shed. Given everything that has happened in 2020 I did have moments where I wondered if I would ever get this far in the challenge.

I spent the rest of the day looking around Scarborough and enjoying some down time.

While at my hotel that evening I watched the Doris press conference when they announced that they were placing the country back into lockdown on November 5th. I was meant to be heading to Inverness the next day for a week. Obviously this was not going to happen now.

I decided to extend my stay at Scarborough and enjoy some time travelling around the local area before heading home. I revisited Whitby and took a walk up to the abbey on the hill before heading on the train to Saltburn.

It was lovely to have some leisure time before the country went into lockdown. I am sure it made things easier for me to cope with lockdown.

I spent the most part of the rest of November just relaxing locally. The only real stand out thing was walking between Ulverston and Kirkby-in-Furness before catching the train to visit my two daughters.

Other than that I spent my time just watching box set after box set and movie franchise after movie franchise. I also did more housework than any person has ever done before.

After lockdown I had a choice to make, it was either head to London for a few days of station ticking. Or head off on a jolly to Cornwall to enjoy some beautiful IETs and beautiful coastline.

Obviously I opted for Cornwall. This was purely an enjoyment trip. It was also a make the most of time whilst I could. With the government quite literally moving the goal posts every other day I wanted to enjoy a leisurely break when I could.

I travelled down to Birmingham using Avanti and then switched to CrossCountry which was horrific as it was a horrid voyager for 2 hours. Honestly these are by far the worst long distance units in the country. I was over the moon to arrive at Taunton where I swapped on to a fantastic IET. The journey from here to Penzance was lovely. 

The next day I headed first to Mousehole for a look around the harbour there and was completely taken aback to see people swimming in the harbour in the rain and the December cold air. 

After this I then took a trip to visit the beautiful St Ives and had a proper good look around including popping upto St Nicholas Chapel. After a look around St Ives I hopped on the train to Carbis Bay to get a photo that I have wanted to get for quite a while.

After getting this photo it was onwards to Truro where I swapped train for bus and headed for the North Coast where I would be spending the night.

After a fantastic night at The Port William, Trebarwith Strand, my first port of call for the day was to visit Boscastle a little further up the coast. A place infamous for the floods in 2004 where parts of the village were simply washed away into the sea, including the restaurant where I had my really delicious breakfast.

After Boscastle I headed into Wadebridge before I headed to Port Issac, aka Portwenn from Doc Martin. An absolutely stunning fishing village that really takes your breath away. Places like this can only be found in Cornwall!

After this I headed on a long bus journey that would take me to Liskeard where my hotel was for the night.

The next day I had originally planned to get up at the crack of dawn and head to Polperro for a walk along the coast to Looe. I woke at 4:30am and it was absolutely hammering it down. I decided the best course of action was going back to bed and having another 3 hours sleep.

When I did wake up I headed to Liskeard station to head east. Today was a day to catch up with my mate Dave again. We headed to Dawlish where we took a walk along the sea wall. Before we took the walk we made sure we had got some grub and got some pictures of the impressive Wave Walker.

After the walk I headed to Plymouth ready for the next morning.

The next morning I headed up the Gunnislake line with one thing in my head. A photo of the magnificent Calstock viaduct. After getting the photo I was after I headed for a walk following the river and up around the old tin mines. The countryside was magnificent.

After taking this walk I headed back into the village where I was on the hunt for a shop. A shop I failed to find, but I did find a deli that had a board out front advertising bacon rolls. Asked for a bacon roll and can of pop which I was really looking forward to and was hoping for an outstanding bacon roll. What I was met with was a hot dog roll with far to much butter and two tiny pieces of bacon that were so well cooked they snapped more like cardboard!

After binning half of the terrible bacon roll I headed back down to Plymouth and then headed to Exeter.

After my trip to Devon & Cornwall I just spent the rest of the month at home relaxing with family. The only day trip I went on was when I headed up to Keswick to take a walk along the only railway line towards Penrith. This is a line I have been looking into as how it firstly closed amazes me, but what amazes me more is how it's not been reopened yet, or even short listed to reopen. This is something I will be looking into more over the coming weeks.

Whilst in that area I also took a trip on the open top bus along side Derwentwater and did some walking around the area. All in all it was a lovely day out, one I will be repeating after lockdown.

I had 2021 all planned out until the end of June, this was until the country started 2021 in a national lockdown. Who knows when I will be back out on the railways.

I have a couple of trips which are paid for that were paid for at the start of last year and had to be postponed. The first of these is the Far North Line at the end of March, but that all rests in the hands of Nicola and Doris.

Other than these couple of trips it is safe to say that I have a very empty diary. There is however lots of plans in my head, with some making it as far as rough plans for when we get the go ahead to travel again. For now I will spend the time exploring what is on my door step.

All that remains now is for myself, my partner, and my two daughters to wish everyone the best of luck for 2021...

We will come through this pandemic, we will come out of this pandemic as better people. Stay Strong, Stay Safe!