When I was 60 I planned to do an All Line Rail Rover using my Senior Railcard but the pandemic intervened. Last week I finally got round to it. It was fairly low key as I wanted to minimise nights away and hotel costs but a most enjoyable week.

One aim was to visit a few places I’d never been to before and travel on a few new stretches of railway.

Achieved these with Selby, Ilkley & St Austell and Stowmarket – Cambridge, Leeds – Selby, Leeds – Ilkley & Salisbury -Westbury

Day One – Liverpool St – Stowmarket – Bury St Edmunds (lunch & look round abbey) – Cambridge – Kings Cross.

Bury St Edmunds Abbey

Day Two – Kings Cross – Leeds – Selby (look round abbey) – Hull – Bridlington (dinner with friend & overnight)

Selby Abbey

Day Three – Bridlington – Seamer – Leeds – Ilkley (walk on moor) – Leeds – Kings Cross

Bridlington

Ilkley Moor

Day Four – Day off. West Ham!

Day Five – Paddington – Bristol – Torquay – Paignton (dinner – met an interesting lady & broke her wine glass – long story!) – Torquay

Late evening in Paignton

Day Six – Torquay – Newton Abbott – St Austell (sadly run down with little to see other than nice parish church) – Newton Abbot – Torquay

River Tamar from bridge

Castle HST – Favourite of all the trains

Day Seven – Torquay – Exeter – Salisbury (lunch, cathedral & Magna Carta) – Bath – Paddington

34 trains in all including Upminster – London & back. Only the last was more than 5 minutes late and at 13 minutes that didn’t qualify me for any delay repay.

And one more objective was a final read of my next book, Dartmoor England’s Last Wilderness? Which I completed and has now been sent to the publisher.