On Saturday, 24th May, last we treated ourselves to a ‘Saphos Steam train’ day out with a trip from Shrewsbury to Dartmouth and back.
We left Shrewsbury at 06:55. Due to the early start we had stayed at an Airbnb in the town the night before (‘Little Liberty’s’, quaint and close to the station) and eaten at ‘Smoked Hickorie’ by the river – excellent meal there.
The train picked up passengers enroute through Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Ludlow, Leominster, Hereford and Taunton, where we swapped our diesel Locomotive for the Steam Locomotive 34046 ‘Braunton’ and then on past Exeter and Dawlish and along the coast, past Torquay and Paignton to Kingswear where the local ferry took us over to Dartmouth. We had a couple of hours in Dartmouth, just long enough to do a boat trip along the river taking in the castle and upstream to Dittisham, passing Agatha Christies house: we followed this with tea and cake in a cafe in Dartmouth before returning to the train and head back to Shrewsbury.
We were wined and dined throughout the journey. During the morning journey we had Peach Bellinis, then fresh fruit and muesli, followed by a full cooked breakfast and then morning coffee and cakes. The return Journey was a five-course meal of the best standard. My husband is a coeliac and they catered for him with apparent ease throughout.
The scenery enroute was beautiful and the journey was smooth, the seats very comfortable, and nothing was too much trouble. We arrived back in Shrewsbury just after 11pm but as we were staying at ‘Little Liberty’s’ and a brief walk saw us back to our beds.
Not a cheap day out but worth every penny and we are already planning which one to do next year.
