We’re approaching the end of our second week on the trains, and as our journey continues we are noticing a pattern: awkward stations!
Now this isn’t an unforeseen issue. Months of planning and a collective of logistical experts have gone into plotting our route. This has been entirely necessary, as without the right planning or foresight our three-month journey would easily turn into a much larger beast.
Take Okehampton in Devon for example. Beady-eyed viewers often take one look at our progress map (screenshot below), see that it has not been visited and ask: what happened to Okehamption?! But with only a Sunday-service during the summer months, the station was closed when we travelled through Devon the first week of our journey. We’ll have to return in the future, and thorough planning means we can factor the diversion into our plans.
This is an extreme example, of course. Most stations (thankfully!) do operate a daily service, but that still doesn’t make the task of visiting them altogether simple. Timetables simply aren’t built around making it as easy and possible to visit ALL the stations in a single area consecutively (bonkers, we know), which sometimes requires us to implement some strategic train-hopping.
If you’ve been watching our videos (and we hope you have!), you’ll know that we often feature an ‘Awkward Station of the Day’ award. This is the station that has, quite simply, been an absolute pain in the butt to get to. On day 4 we awarded this dubious title to Feniton station in Devon, while Beaulieu Road snatched it on day 5.
And sometimes, it’s less a matter of careful planning and more a matter of running like the wind! One of our bonus videos shows how something as simple as a missed connection can lead to the need for some serious troubleshooting - and some serious speed. Hoorah for Jono and his family who swooped in to save the day at Milford!
Coming up later this week is perhaps the mother of all awkward stations on this trip. It’s a station that there is only ONE opportunity to visit this entire summer. Any ideas what it is? Answers on a postcard!
Until next time …