With the aim of ending up in Derby by the evening, my choices for episode 3 of ‘Exploring the East Coast’ were to head south and eventually get an EMR service from St. Pancras to the Midlands or head north and make my way back down to Derby from Yorkshire. In a way I chose both, as to head north to Retford and Doncaster, I first headed south to London to catch the second Hull Trains service of the day out of the capital.
Following my exploration of Peterborough and a handful of stations towards London in my first ‘Exploring the East Coast’ adventure, my original plan had been to visit the remaining 18 between Hitchin and King’s Cross over the course of a few days before beginning to go north from Peterborough. However, as with all plans, this one went awry and my end destination for day two of ‘Exploring the East Coast’ changed, resulting in me heading for Grantham and Newark as opposed to the stations between Hitchin and Hatfield.
Running 393 miles between King’s Cross station in London and Edinburgh’s Waverly station north of the border, the East Coast Mainline (ECML) is one of Britain’s key north-south arteries. Built during the 1840s, the line has 51 stations and has 16 passenger and freight operators running services along it.
It’s been a while since I did a 5 places to visit post (previous ones are in the 'Bucket List' category), however a gap in my schedule has meant reviving them to cover places that I haven’t already listed. Having covered Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania, for this post we head back towards home from the other side of the world and find ourselves in the Middle East.
After an enjoyable but frustrating day exploring Lincoln and the surrounding area, I arrived back at Lincoln station not by train, but by bus due to EMR and Northern cancelling subsequent services back from Gainsborough Lea Road. Despite my concerns about missing my train home, the bus actually got me back earlier than either of the train services and so I was on the platform waiting when my LNER train arrived from Lincoln’s Terrace sidings.
the Iron Age, a settlement has existed on the banks of the River Witham, developing into Lindum Colonia in Roman times before becoming the city of Lincoln as it is today. Unofficially split into the ‘Uphill’ and ‘Downhill’ areas, the two are most directly connected by the well named Steep Hill, a famous landmark of the city. Having arrived in Lincoln onboard LNER’s ‘Lincoln Experience Train’, I had the best part of the day to explore the city before heading home.
Flights & Times 