SFO777

Excellent report with some lovely pics. Especially enjoyed the train pics but it seemed a little surreal without many other travelers.

flybymonkey

Thank you sir you have made my year to date! I feel totally privileged to receive praise from your good self and am glad you enjoyed the trip report and hope to have more once lockdown lifts.

For all its fault I am probably one of the very few people who has great respect for the British rail system. The feeling (for me) was not surreal at all as the route taken is one I have taken many times before and so I know how I can get the best value from traveling without needing to fork out for all the extras with the minimum of disruptions.

aaronw915

Cheers to an excellent and concise report and entertaining pictures! I very much enjoyed this as it brought back memories of my one and only trip to London 3 years ago which SFO777 helped me find some nice business class awards for my 6 month pregnant wife and myself. I remember taking the Underground to Euston to take a Virgin train to Manchester for the ManU v Chelsea match!! I wish we had a train system like the UK does here in the States as I really enjoy train rides and relish the thought of spending a few weeks in the UK taking trains from one end to the other.

GregWTravels

Very much enjoyed the report, and nice to see a "door-to-door" report on every part of the trip.

It is a funny thing here that as Brit one needs to moan about the trains and (for Londoners) TFL. I am Canadian, and only moved to London in 2008. I was amazed by both the extent and frequency of both the local tube network and local trains and intercity / long distance trains from London. And 3 departures an hour from London to Paris. PARIS!!! I was amazed.

Now, 13 years later, I, like all Londoners, complain about the delays on the trains, and how slow and uncomfortable and inconvenient they are. Every once in a while have to remind myself how much better it is than the same choices back in Canada, where travelling from Toronto to Montreal, Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, London (ON), Sudbury, New York City, or Cleveland - the last option one would take - if it was even available - was the train. Flying or driving would be better. I went to school in London (ON), and worked in Ottawa, and even the bus was a better option than the train often (on both cost and speed).

flybymonkey

It will be interesting to see post covid if the UK transport model changes especially within the London and the south east/west commuter district. As more companies adopt to a more hybrid working model and people moving out of London if the rail system still has the same levels of utilisation during peak times.

BAflyerNCL

Hi FlybyMonkey,

Really awesome to see my part of the world on here, I'm only 4 miles away from Cockermouth in a town called Workington (the Destination of the X4/X5 bus) Sorry to hear about your friend, the Pandemic has seriously affected this area with it being reliant mostly on Tourists and a lot of places that closed last year wont be reopening their doors again, maybe your friend will have more opportunity going on to pastures new (or old in the case of going back home), if you ever want to visit and need some advice on the area feel free to drop me a message i would be more than happy to help ;-)

Darryl

flybymonkey

Hi Darryl,

I know Workington well and have been through there many a time before. I hope to come back up that way on my way to Whitehaven, hopefully, we can meet up for a drink or two.
Take care pal.
.

adampenrith

We had a wonderful but quick visit to the Lakes District last time we were in the UK - we were driving and after Lake Windermere we took the high road over the fells to Penrith (where I work in Australia and where my husband was born) - wonderful memories

now if only we could travel again ...... the days the borders are open with be a big day of celebration for us