Interesting title, hey? We’ll get to the inflatable part later but the real highlight of my fourth day on the rails was undoubtedly the Carlisle-Settle route, the most famous route in England. Despite all my previous rovers, I’d never completed the journey before and the reason for that remains a mystery.
After spending the night with my friends in a small village outside of Warrington, I caught the 08:26 out of Bank Quay for the short journey up to Preston with Avanti. First Class was empty and I was greeted with a wonderful bacon sandwich and cup of tea, finishing just as we pulled in to Preston. I was expecting a fight for good window seats on the 09:03 to Leeds, via Settle, but the train was almost deserted which gave me the ability to swap sides of the train according to the views. There was much swapping! The weather was mixed between rainy and sunny, creating an almost moody feel to the scenery passing by, and the views were completely absorbing. Alongside the journey from Inverness to Perth, this route will go down as one of the highlights and one which I will do again. Stunning.
Arriving in to Leeds (on time) was almost a shock after such relaxing, calming scenery. The city was buzzing from the station concourse, most notably with large numbers of groups of females, dressed up to the 9s and ready for a night on the town. Early start I guess 🙂 And this included a particularly raucous group wandering around with an inflatable penis, waving it and directing traffic. Quite a sight!
I had just under 2 hours to play with and hoped to find a local pub but struggled and wandered a little distance from the station which scuppered my chances of eating something with a pint. I managed to find a true locals pub which served a very good pint of Samuel Smiths. There were a number of signs asking customers not to use phones/laptops and not to swear. As I took an obligatory picture of my pint, and then sent it on, I was politely asked by the bar maid, not to use my phone. Fair play, I like the rule however the second part of the customer rules was not followed by anyone in the establishment!
Another scenic ride took me back to Preston for a short wait for my train to Burscough Junction where my eldest sister was kindly waiting to pick me up and take me to my Mum’s in Ormskirk for a brief visit. As it wasn’t a “proper” family visit, I’d contacted a couple of old school friends, one of whom I hadn’t seen for an incredible 39 years. 39 years ouch!! It was a lot of fun catching up – there was quite a bit to talk about. The pubs stay open a fair bit later than they used to for sure and conscious my Mum was probably waiting up for me (bless – she was) and the fact I had to leave fairly early in the morning (and the spring time change in clocks made it an hour later), I bailed just before midnight.
A quick breakfast with my Mum and then I headed to the station, ready to return home for an evening before my final two days. Like my sister said, much of this will feel like a dream. If I think back to powering out of Paddington behind the Class 57 (definite highlight and I’ve watched the video several times :-)) it already does.
