Over the past 6 months or so the UK has been in lockdown (on and off). This has meant I haven’t been on a train since October when I did an Oxfordshire Day Ranger and travelled quite extensively around the area. I have really missed travelling and it is looking more and more likely that I won’t be able to do my 7 day all line rover this year, which I crowdfunded for last year before COVID was a thing. I did start making plans for it but then I gave up because it was upsetting me too much as I knew it wouldn’t be achievable for the foreseeable future. I am however hoping to do more small train trips this year, maybe another trip to Scotland or even Wales but who knows!
Something exciting happened today, I got on my first train in 6 months. It was the last day of the Easter Holidays and I had been wanting to go on a train for the whole holidays but I didn’t have the courage to do it. I had been messaging people I know in the railway industry and they were all giving me different pieces of advice, some saying it was okay to travel and others not. I didn’t really know what to think. With my mental health taking a hit for the past 6 months because I wasn’t allowed to travel, I bit the bullet and got on a train. Compared to the previous lockdown this in some respects was worse in terms of travelling, as in the last lockdown it was only 4 months of me not being able to travel whereas this time it was 6.
We had ordered a railcard at the start of the Easter Holidays and I was just waiting for it to arrive. In the second week of the holidays on the Thursday it arrived. I was still nervous about traveling as I was still being given contradicting advice but I just couldn’t let the Easter Holidays go without at least stepping foot on a train. Anxiously, I decided to get on a train to Kemble, I don’t like to upset anybody so I was still worried about not listening to the advice that they had said that I couldn’t travel. Some of my friends were already travelling and couldn’t bear to keep seeing their adventures while I was sat at home still not travelling. Technically, the essential travel rule was lifted in March/April time and it was now “Minimise Travel”. I guess looking back on it now for me the fact that it didn’t say essential travel when I travelled and the minimise travel was only guidance and not lawful, I probably was okay to travel. Also, for me during the third lockdown it probably would have been essential for me to travel because of the hit it was taking on my mental wellbeing.
So today we (my mum, my dad, Bella and me) got on the train to Kemble from Stonehouse. In my eyes this was still staying local as we weren’t really leaving our local authority. Plus both Stonehouse and Kemble station are open air so not really any different from going to a park for a walk. We caught the first train of the day which was heading for Swindon. Today as it was Sunday all the trains on the Cheltenham to Swindon line were operated by Turbos (Cl. 166’s). Turbos aren’t my favourite train of all time mainly because of how loud they are. Being autistic I struggle with loud noises although normally I am okay with trains but I was very tired today. Also, I struggle with busy spaces, this has been made worse by COVID but luckily the train today was very quiet given it was the first train of the day (08:43 off Stonehouse) on a Sunday. Normally IET’s run this route (the Cl. 80x series of trains) which are much nicer trains, in my opinion, as they are quieter, nicer lights as they are brighter so not quite so dim and I personally prefer the seats too. My opinions on trains tends to not be what other people think because I see things in a different way.
The train journey was the grand total of 20 minutes, so not that too long so I can get myself back into the swing of travelling on trains. Hearing the announcements on the trains gave me a warm feeling inside because I haven’t heard them in such a long time. We called at Stroud first and then Kemble.
Kemble is a beautiful station, it’s got an old water tower, open air bridge and a lovely station garden. These stations are quite common in the Cotswolds… one that springs to mind is Moreton-in-Marsh, which I visited on my Oxfordshire Day Ranger. The station looks like the sort of place you would find on a postcard. It was also I good excuse to try out my new camera and I got some quite nice shots. We then waited for the train we got on to Kemble to leave Swindon and head back down towards Stroud. The train arrived into the station and we hopped on board and headed back towards Stonehouse.
We had a slight change of plan and decided to get off at Stroud and then walk back to Stonehouse along the canal. It was a lovely walk home as it was still quite early so it was quiet. Some swans were on a nest very elegantly. I hadn’t seen a swan on nest for a long time so it was nice to see.
After about an hours walk, we got back to the car and we headed back home. It was overall a great day and it felt so good to be back on a train.
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