Travel tears

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood whatever the weather. This post is from Nicola (pic is of my eyes, prickly & bloodshot!)

As we waited for a train to take us to Wakefield in west Yorkshire the soon not-to-be GNER service to Edinburgh pulled into the station. Over the crackly tannoy I heard “…calling at Durham, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh..” and realized that it wasn’t just all change at GNER (Stage Coach is planning to take over the franchise in December), we are also close to the end of the northern leg of our world tour around Britain.

Less dramatically this means going back home to London, via Hertfordshire. But it also means back to the routines, and bills and interminably doing things I’ve done before, until I can do them no longer. Which is why at Darlington Station I sat down and wept until our own train pulled in; then got into the wrong carriage and ended up in a first class seat risking a penalty fare.

“We’re not leaving Yorkshire,” said Pete passing me the map and a Wensleydale cheese sandwich in a bid to cheer me up. “We’re going to Wakefield.” And soon we weren’t leaving our last happy stay near Leyburn on the edge of the Dales, but speeding towards the next exciting stop-off.