Day 1: the long journey to Bodmin
Day 2: family barbecue
Day 3: the Lizard, St Michael's Mount, Land's End and St Ives
Day 4: Tintagel Castle
Day 5: family meal and Dormer Point
Day 6: Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway
Day 7: Land's End (again), St Ives and Falmouth branches
Day 8: Part 1 for the Looe branch, Part 2 for Gunnislake and Newquay
Day 9: Barnstaple, Okehampton and the long journey home
Over the course of the week, I travelled 1200 miles (well, 1202½ to be exact), spending over 29 hours on trains. I did so using a Freedom of Devon and Cornwall 8 in 15 Day Rover, which cost all of £45.55. That covers everything west of Tiverton and Axminster.
To get there I thus just needed a return to Tiverton, which cost £55.45. On top of that, I spent £20 on the first-class upgrade on the way down, £18.10 on the first class ticket to Newquay, and £11 on the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway. Finally, I spent £3.95 to excess my ticket from Tiverton so I could come back via Axminster and Basingstoke, for a grand total of £154.05. Even with the first class upgrades that was still 13p a mile - not bad, all told.
On my travels I used a total of 36 trains. They all had one thing in common: they were all diesel trains. The "far south west", as Devon and Cornwall are sometimes known to distinguish them from the area around Bristol, will not see electrification for a long time, I suspect. One reason is that the Dawlish sea wall, the only currently open route between Exeter and Plymouth, seems incapable of taking electric wires, given the number of times the waves crash right over the trains when it's stormy.
Most of the trains also had something else in common: they were old, with nearly every one of the First Great Western trains we used being older than me (and I'll be 26 this August). Never mind electrification, it has been a long time since Devon and Cornwall has seen any real investment in the railway network; almost all their trains are hand-me-downs, first used for "better" lines but cast off and given to the backwater of the little branches of Cornwall.
This, frankly, is rather unfair, especially given the recent upward trends in branch line traffic: all five Cornish branches have seen passenger numbers swelling by 10%, year on year (see this Telegraph article). Anyone who has ever driven to Cornwall on holiday will be able to tell you that the road network can barely cope in the high summer, and without the railways to carry some of the traffic Cornwall would simply be strangled by its own tourism.
If only that upward trajectory could be propelled into some new trains, or heaven forbid some reopened branch lines: let's start with Bere Alston to Tavistock, a quick and obvious win in Devon, and perhaps reopening the St Austell to Newquay line, making Newquay accessible from the rest of Cornwall and not just from Plymouth.
Over the course of the weekend, we went on every surviving branch line in Cornwall, and all but one in Devon (namely the Exmouth branch, which I'd been on before). As if to prove how well they can be used, every one was busy, and some were standing room only. But each one also had their weird little charms:
- St Ives was the last place I'd have expected a train to have two drivers, just to ensure the very swift turnarounds required to operate a half-hourly service.
- Falmouth (the Maritime Line) has the weirdest passing loop arrangement, at Penryn, that I've ever seen.
- Newquay (the Atlantic Coast Line) is a ridiculously long branch with surprisingly long trains, though justified by the high summer traffic.
- Looe (the Looe Valley Line) is both geographically weirdest and scenically prettiest: nowhere else would you go under yourself just to lose height, but equally nowhere else do you get such nice views of a wonderful river valley.
- Gunnislake (the Tamar Valley Line) is probably the slowest railway line I can remember being on: at just 14mph for the last section from Bere Alston to Gunnislake, it's a wonder it still survives at all.
- Okehampton is very rare in only getting a Sunday service (and only in the summer), and rarer still in getting through trains even though it's not owned by Network Rail.
- Barnstaple (the Tarka Line) is also a ridiculously long branch, so much so it almost feels like a main line to North Devon (I suppose it once was, before the branches were closed).
- Paignton (the Riviera Line) is the only double-track branch line, getting a much more frequent service than the rest.
They all undoubtedly had something to recommend them, but I think the Looe Valley Line has to take the crown as the best branch line: its quirky layout combined with the beautiful scenery make it unbeatable. Don't make me choose which one comes second, it's too difficult...
The Looe Valley Line undoubtedly contributed to making sure that Saturday on which we went to Looe, Gunnislake and Newquay was the best day of the week: it just somehow had everything, both fraught connections to a ridiculous branch line, and the luxury of a first-class trip to Newquay.
Everywhere we went, the staff were friendly, and only too willing to help. It seemed a world away from the urgency of the railways around London; indeed, the whole of Devon and Cornwall seemed to operate at a slower pace of life, much more relaxing, with all the more time to stand and stare.
All in all, it was a wonderful week in the Westcountry, even if it was a bit rushed. But when the journey takes so long, it seems natural to try and do as much as you can while you're down there. It's stupid really; I'm sure I'll be back there within a few years, but trying to be "efficient" and tick off all the track in Devon and Cornwall means that I didn't get as much time to actually appreciate the place as much, which is, after all, half the point.
I'd love to go back to Cornwall in particular, to get some more time to look round Looe, and Truro; maybe go on the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, a heritage railway along an old branch line; but definitely to see my aunt and uncle down in Cornwall once again. Until next time, then...
