Back in October 2018 we were lucky enough to attend an ‘All the Stations’ event at Southwark cathedral where Geoff and Vicki signed our copy of the book and Geoff wrote “Go on an adventure! (By train) (Go to Heckington!)”. So, finally, in the middle of July 2020, we did.

Dover is one of the UK’s major ports, providing a vital connection across the narrow Straits of Dover to France & continental Europe. The town has been an important town since at least Roman times when it became a fortified port and has served as a key point in the defence of the nation during multiple conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to World War 2.

This is the second of three posts I’m planning covering our trip to The Netherlands back in February/March. The first, which you can find here, was all about our visits to two aviation museums and some of Flevoland’s oldest and highest bits of land. This post is all about our visit to the Dutch capital itself, whilst the final post will be about spotting at Schiphol airport with a few other bits of The Netherlands thrown in.

Back at the end of February I was lucky enough to spend a few days in and around the Dutch capital. Essentially the visit was split into three, with our first full day spent visiting aviation museums with a bit of additional exploring in the evening; the second spent exploring Amsterdam; and our final day spent visiting a bit more of The Netherlands and spotting at Schiphol. I’ve decided that essentially, I’m going to split my blogs in the same manner and so this is the first of three posts covering my Dutch adventures.

On the north bank of the Humber estuary, not far from the North Sea coast and deep within East Riding of Yorkshire is Kingston-Upon-Hull, or Hull, a port city and UK City of Culture 2017. The title of City of Culture is held by a city for four years and so, in early January 2020, the final year of its tenure, we headed north to visit East Riding’s only city.