Next week – starting on Monday – I’m having a few days in Cornwall and Devon. I’ve never been to Penzance at all, and while I’ve driven past Exeter on the M5, and have even changed trains at Exeter, I’ve never been into the city itself. By the end of next week, however, both of those facts will no longer be true.
I’ll be spending two nights in Penzance and another two nights in Exeter. I’ll be travelling by train, and for the trip down I’ll be taking the main line from Paddington to Penzance, along the (mis-named) ‘Berks. and Hants.’ line. This diverges from the GWR main line just west of Reading and goes through Newbury, Westbury and Castle Cary before reaching Taunton where it joins the main line from Bristol to Exeter. Beyond Exeter things slow down a bit, and once past Plymouth things get very slow indeed – from Paddington to Exeter it’s just two hours and ten minutes, then another hour or so to Plymouth, but a further two hours from Plymouth to Penzance. Stopping everywhere, of course: “….calling at Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Lostwithiel, Par, St. Austell, Truro, Redruth, Camborne, Hayle, St. Erth & Penzance”. I’ve been hearing that litany of station names ever since I was a boy – my father was a railwayman, working on the Western Region – but although we often went to the resorts in Devon (Dawlish, Torquay & Paignton) by train, I don’t think we ever went west of Plymouth.
And I shall be doing the journey in luxury – well, in comfort. The combination of an Advance fare and a Senior Railcard means that I can do that long journey in First Class. In a refurbished HST, too – I’m looking forward it a lot.
I won’t be arriving at Penzance until the mid evening, so I shall be going straight to my hotel, The Longboat Inn, in the centre of Penzance. I think it’s basically a pub with rooms – it will be interesting to find out what it’s like. I shall spend the day after (Tuesday) thoroughly exploring Penzance and the nearby areas. I definitely want to walk over to St. Michael’s Mount, and also visit Marazion and perhaps Hayle.
On Wednesday I’ll need to move on to Exeter. I’ve bought a “Freedom of the South West” Rail Rover ticket, valid for any three days out of seven, and I shall trigger it on Wednesday. I’ll certainly use it to travel to Exeter that day, and (if I get to Exeter early enough) perhaps also take a ride down to Exmouth. In Exeter I’m staying at another pub with rooms – The White Hart Hotel. I definitely want to spend some time exploring Exeter itself, but I also want to do at least one more train ride, along the Tarka line – Exeter to Barnstaple on the north Devon coast. That will either happen on Thursday or perhaps on Friday – I have all day then as well as my train back to Sheffield doesn’t leave Exeter St. Davids until about half-past five. I shall use the SW Rover ticket for part of the journey home – the Rover extends as far north as Cheltenham, so I’ve bought a single ticket from there to Sheffield, and in combination with the Rover that will get me home by mid/late evening. Not first class, alas – a First Class rover ticket was very expensive, and CrossCountry Trains just don’t seem to be as generous with the First Advance offers as Great Western (or indeed, as Virgin East Coast – see my trips to Inverness and Edinburgh).
I shall be blogging, of course, and I hope my readers will check in during next week.
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