Great Western Coffee Shop

This is a bucket list trip I'd love to do. Some may say it's a punishing undertaking - 13.5 hours on a CrossCountry Voyager.

Fortunately, for those unwilling to subject themselves to such punishment, YouTuber SteveMarsh* has done the journey so you don't have to.

https://youtu.be/AOmZ6xBToDM?si=FooHv8b8z05wL8cE

Nice of him to mention, in the subtitles, my home town Taunton, One of the 40 stops on this mammoth train journey.

And I'm sure my good friend bobm will heartily approve of Steve's choice of accommodation on arrival in Penzance. I can only speak for the food and drink in The Longboat Inn as the bedrooms aren't Finn friendly. We have to bed down elsewhere when visiting the end of the line.




*Check out his other videos. He shares some great travelogues using public transport across the UK and Europe.

This came up in my feed yesterday so I watched it. I enjoy Steve's videos and appreciated the length of the video at around 20 minutes or so. I didn't think he'd be able to do much in the Birmingham area due to the overcrowding and so it turned out. Even on the quieter parts of the journey I kept thinking "you're going to lose your seat" when he was filming from the vestibules, but obviously it's OK!

I remember being stuck at Exeter St David's once en route to Plymouth - GWR train had broken down so jumped on this one to get me there - having come all the way from Aberdeen it was like climbing into a war zone - exhausted looking passengers and rubbish everywhere - brought the last helicopter from Saigon to mind!

I had visions of people emerging into the fresh air blinking at Penzance and kissing the ground!!!  :)

I think you'd have to be a real enthusiast (and/or masochist!) to do that trip end to end!

As previously stated, this I did around 50 odd years ago, so slam doors, etc.
Boarded at Newcastle around 8pm, alighted at Truro 6am'ish (?).
Didn't have any water or food with me, and just remember dozing a lot.
No recollection at all of the trip, or stock.
Why didn't I keep a log or something at the time!

I certainly would recommend the Longboat.  Very friendly staff and good food. 

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11917.msg152057#msg152057 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11917.msg152057#msg152057)