The old familiar sight of people with cardboard destination cards or thumbs out on motorway slip roads had disappeared, I had assumed, due to changes in the law which prohibited such activity.

19:40 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00
Facilities on the 19:40 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.
Further Information
Passengers are advised that this service will be formed of only 2 -cars. There is a train 1 hour later at 20.40 which is formed of more carriages for a more comfortable travel experience. Passengers may wish to take this later service.

A "huge amount" of silt due to the summer dry weather means a canal lock will remain closed to protect a city's historic docks until November while they are dredged.

The Canal and River Trust said silt entered Gloucester Docks from the River Severn as it was being pumped to ensure a water supply for Bristol Water and keep boats afloat. Gloucester Lock, which connects the river to Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, has been shut since August to protect the docks and limit further silt but it will stay shut for eight more weeks.

Ben Cottam, of the trust, said: "During this eight-week programme we'll be using a digger on a floating platform to remove the silt, which will then be taken off site."

The trust said the prolonged dry weather meant its water levels had been "very low and heavy with silt". The trust, which maintains the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, said the water was pumped from the river to also ensure shipping at Sharpness Docks.

Mr Cottam, Wales and South West regional director at the trust, said similar works in 2022 after a dry summer meant it had spent £2m on removing the silt, which was an "incredibly expensive cost for us to bear". He said: "With the need to keep the canal topped up with water from the river, to ensure it remains navigable, and supply water for Bristol Water and Sharpness Docks, some silt is unfortunately also being pumped in." He said navigation of the canal and docks would stay open during the eight weeks, although there may be some mooring restrictions to allow dredging in certain locations.

The title of being the most beautiful village in the world is "completely a double-edged sword", the chair of Bibury Parish Council has said.

The small picturesque village in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, came top of the list when Forbes Magazine unveiled the 50 most beautiful villages in the world for 2025. Despite having a population of 600, 20,000 visitors can flock there over the busiest of weekends in the summer.

Craig Chapman, chair of Bibury Parish Council, said the level of tourism the village faced was "problematic" and its attraction came "at a cost for locals".









He told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "I'm fairly flabbergasted, having travelled the world, to believe we're the most attractive village in the world. It's a great honour but it's a little bit of a surprise, there's a lot of competition out there."

Many of the thousands of tourists arrive on coaches but restrictions were introduced in May, including parking bays in the centre of the village being closed and new drop-off and pick-up points in their place. Last month, tourists were asked to use smaller vehicles when visiting Bibury to help ease pressure.

"It's completely a double-edged sword," Mr Chapman said. "The issue is very much about the mechanisms whereby people come to the village and when they come here, how they behave, where they park. The reality is we sit on a B-road. The road is narrow, there's one bridge across the River Coln, which is only wide enough for one vehicle. We've suffered greatly from congestion, particularly from the larger coaches."

He added there needed to be "harmony" between tourists and local visitors, and said the restrictions were helping.

Seems to be having an impact today on some routes as well as crew shortages.

Your stats appear to include Engineering works? Those ought to be discounted for this purpose?

11:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading due 12:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

Hitchhiking is appealing to a new generation who crave not just a more analogue lifestyle, but real human connection

Some years ago, while driving south from the Scottish Highlands, I saw a woman standing in the rain by a roundabout with her thumb out. She was in her 70s, carrying a big bag, smiling at passing cars. I slammed on the brakes and gave her a ride. She had missed the last bus to Glasgow, she told me, and had been forced to hitchhike instead, a practice not unusual for her. We shared a winding journey together, one I recall being full of laughter and stories, of deep truths that somehow seemed safe to share. I was 21 at the time, a student at St Andrews, nearly finished with an undergraduate dissertation about the philosophy of happiness. (I was, in fact, on my way home from a solo surf trip meant to clear my head.) I remember thinking of the experience as completely improbable. Hitchhiking was something I had seen in films, read about in books. It had only ever been a relic from the past.

I hadn’t thought about this experience until recently, when I noticed that hitchhiking was undergoing a kind of nostalgic resurgence among friends of mine, most of them in their late 20s, as well as in the news and on social media, helped in part by television shows like Race Across the World. The BBC reported recently, “If social media is any indicator, the nearly half a million Instagram posts tagged #hitchhiking suggests the retro travel method is returning.”

[snip = article continues ...]