Читать книгу Railway Day Trips: 160 classic train journeys around Britain - Julian Holland - Страница 24

Our scenic journey to the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath starts at Salisbury’s busy junction station. From here trains head west to Wilton Junction where the line divides – the West of England main line from Waterloo to Exeter continues west while Bath-bound trains take a northwesterly route along the Wylye Valley, skirting round Salisbury Plain to Warminster. Trains pass a string of picturesque and peaceful villages en route, such as Wylye, Codford and Heytesbury, which lost their stations nearly 60 years ago. Warminster station is located on a sharp curve and its short platforms are a problem for long modern trains. The nearby town is famous not only for its military connections but also for sightings of UFOs in the 1960s and 1970s. From Warminster trains continue to skirt around Salisbury Plain before heading north to the important junction station of Westbury.

With the famous White Horse visible on the hillside to the east, trains leave Westbury in a northerly direction across the Wiltshire Plains before calling at the market and brewing town of Trowbridge. A short distance north of the station, Bath-bound trains branch off westwards at Bradford South Junction – here the single-track line to Melksham and Thingley Junction continues northwards – before reaching Bradford-on-Avon’s attractive station. From here the railway keeps company with the River Avon and the Kennet & Avon Canal along the winding, wooded valley to Bath. Trains serve Avoncliff station (a request stop), where the canal crosses the river and railway on one of John Rennie’s fine aqueducts, and Freshford en route. Now heading north up the valley, the railway passes under Rennie’s graceful Dundas Aqueduct that carries the canal over river and railway. Bathampton Junction is soon reached, where trains join Brunel’s former broad-gauge Great Western Railway as far as Bath. On the final approach, passengers are treated to fine views across this historic city before the railway crosses the River Avon to deposit visitors at the conveniently located station. From here it is but a short walk into the city centre.

DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS

Abbey; Roman Baths; Thermae Bath Spa; American Museum (free shuttle bus); Georgian architecture (Royal Crescent); Sydney Gardens; Victoria Art Gallery; Green Park station (for Saturday farmers’ market); Kennet & Avon Canal; Pump Room; Pulteney Bridge; Two Tunnels Greenway

FREQUENCY OF TRAINS

1-2 per hour (Mon-Sat)

1 per hour (Sun)

41½ MILES 1 HOUR

NUMBER OF CHANGES: 0

Pulteney Bridge and the River Avon in Bath.