October to December 2019 saw me visiting a few new railway stations. Here’s a look back at them.
25th October 2019 – Newark Castle
It was a wet Thursday morning in October when I visited Newark Castle railway station in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Newark Castle is one of two stations in the town, although the other one, Newark Northgate, is not on my list of 76 stations in the East Midlands Ranger Area that I need to visit.
After travelling via Nottingham, I arrived in a rainy Newark. I explored the nearby castle ruins and had a look around the historic old town.
I took a stroll by the river and through a park across the river from the castle. I may have mentioned that the weather wasn’t great in Newark that day, but I still had a good time there. I may well have a return visit to Newark one day, on a slightly less wet day. I didn’t get a photo of the station, so that’s a good excuse to go back to get one.
In the middle of a particularly rainy few weeks, I went for a brief trip to Bulwell, a market town near Nottingham. For the first time since I started this 76 station challenge that I have been doing, I missed a connecting train due to delays caused by the flooding in the area. It wasn’t a problem, though, I just caught the next train half an hour later.
I literally just got off the train at Bulwell (having changed at Nottingham), went for a little walk around the town, and then got on the next train back home. The station is a very small one, with just one railway platform and a tram stop for the Nottingham Express Tram system.
26th November 2019 – Blythe Bridge
My final trip of 2019 saw me heading west to Blythe Bridge, the next stop after Uttoxeter, which I visited back in March. Just like in the previous two trips, it was raining when I caught the train from Burton to Derby, and then the next train which was headed for Crewe. The guard told us passengers before we departed that he was turning off the heating in the train, but it wasn’t too cold anyway.
There isn’t really much to see or do in Blythe Bridge. I had a walk up to Forsbrook, a village nearby, and then just walked back to the station where I waited for the next train back to Derby. It wasn’t a bad trip out, and I ended 2019 with 29 stations ticked off my list of 76.
2020 – What’s next?
The first trip of 2020 is already planned and it’s happening on Saturday. I have made a long list of places to visit, and some to revisit. Some of them are on my list of 76 stations, others aren’t, and some of them are on the bus routes near to where I live, so it won’t be all train travel next year.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and readers a Happy New Year for 2020, and hopefully this blog has inspired you to plan some travels of your own.
Martyn's Blog 
Great post 🙂
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