One of the benefits of the current Covid crisis is that there are very few people travelling by train .
For those of us who enjoy rail travel as a pleasure in itself , now will be remembered as a golden era .
Yesterday , I bought an East Midlands Day Ranger at Peterborough station and set off to cover as much as of the permitted routes as possible , passing towns I'd never heard of and doing a real Portillo enjoying the sheer majesty of some of our Victorian stations , which are empty , so you can gawp at leisure .
Downloading the National Rail app on your phone means you can organise your changes on the go , so as to not waste time
No football crowds , no crowds of shoppers , no screaming kids and during the week , hardly any commuters .... Bliss .
There is no catering on trains or stations either , so take your own haver rations or nip out of stations to grab a sandwich ... Or a pint .
The ticket cost me £40 , and I went to Matlock , Crewe ( the Borough Arms is still fantastic ) Nottingham , Derby ,down to Nuneaton , Leicester , Melton Mowbray and Newark Castle.
There are various rover tickets advertised , just have to look .
The daddy of them all is called the All Line Rover , and allows travel over the entire network for 14 days
www.nationalrail.co.uk
£539 if you have a Forces or Over 60's Rail Card
For those of us who enjoy rail travel as a pleasure in itself , now will be remembered as a golden era .
Yesterday , I bought an East Midlands Day Ranger at Peterborough station and set off to cover as much as of the permitted routes as possible , passing towns I'd never heard of and doing a real Portillo enjoying the sheer majesty of some of our Victorian stations , which are empty , so you can gawp at leisure .
Downloading the National Rail app on your phone means you can organise your changes on the go , so as to not waste time
No football crowds , no crowds of shoppers , no screaming kids and during the week , hardly any commuters .... Bliss .
There is no catering on trains or stations either , so take your own haver rations or nip out of stations to grab a sandwich ... Or a pint .
The ticket cost me £40 , and I went to Matlock , Crewe ( the Borough Arms is still fantastic ) Nottingham , Derby ,down to Nuneaton , Leicester , Melton Mowbray and Newark Castle.
There are various rover tickets advertised , just have to look .
The daddy of them all is called the All Line Rover , and allows travel over the entire network for 14 days
National Rail Enquiries - All Line Rover (14 Days)
The gateway to Britain's National Rail network. A portal into UK rail travel including train company information and promotions; train times; fares enquiries; ticket purchase and train running information.

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