An Interesting Adventure!

 I'd packed the night before...up early, dropped the room key to the security office...and off to walk down Penglais...

Near the bottom the mural was clear to see..

Nearly an hour to wait for the train at 9.30..but nice to sit and relax!

Then on the way towards Machynlleth 

The bridge is where the line from Pwllheli crosses the river...and at Machynlleth it was waiting for us and both joined together for the next part of the journey 

Past bales of silage....but also fields of cut and drying haylage waiting for turning, drying and baling.

Then Newtown, Y Drenewydd...glimpses of Victorian Era buildings 

But also modern versions of old technology..

These looked to be along the side of a car park..I've seen small turbines combined with small PV panels years ago in NZ doing the same job

And on to Wolverhampton, the first train change.....

Where we waited....half an hour.....

And rumours started arriving, with the staff doing their best to tell us what was happening...... electric cables down somewhere but they weren't sure where....

On the Avanti West Coast line....the schedule was change at Carlisle...but the delay crept up to nearly 40 minutes and the announcement that the train stopped at Preston!!

A quick word with staff on the platform...

It was suggested that we go via York....or Newcastle....then Edinburgh and back across to Glasgow!!

But, an older man said...you could take the slow train through Dumfries.....

Two trains full squeezed on to the train from Preston to Carlisle...standing room full..I was lucky to get a seat!

At Carlisle I should have gone straight for the platform instead of buying a ticket first...so had to wait two hours for my last train leg of the journey. But at least the ticket office gave me a print off of the stops and times.

The tree on the line was near Lockerbie...so all trains to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh using that line were cancelled.

You could use your ticket the next day...or wait for a coach....

I took the chance of getting home the same day, although as it was with a different train company I couldn't transfer my ticket as I could have done on other routes....so £16 even with the Railcard reduction!!

They hadn't publicised this as an alternative...but put an extra two carriages on...which filled up!!

My plan was to take the train as far as Auchinleck near Cumnock then the bus home..and I double checked the timetables...one said I had 20 minutes to wait for the bus....and it was wrong!! The bus goes past the station four minutes before the train!! Another 50 minutes hanging around...and just as the bus reached my stop we had a shower of rain...and I was home at 8.50 pm.

What a day!!  But still fascinating seeing places from the train instead of the road..and seeing views and places I'd love to return to with photos in mind ....