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.

Derby, the Roman town of Derventio, one of the five boroughs of the Danelaw and one of the birth places of the Industrial Revolution, is located on the banks of the River Derwent about 20 miles from the furthest point from the sea in the UK. More importantly to me, Derby is my hometown (well a town nearby is) and where my parents live and so, early last month we headed over for the day to explore the city’s new ‘Museum of Making’ and ‘Ram Trail’.

Last month we were lucky enough to enjoy a weekend away from home in an area I had never visited, but heard lots about, Tyneside. Rather than getting a direct train from Peterborough to Newcastle, I’d planned a slightly more unusual route to enable me to try out a new Train Operator (for me), with us changing at York for a Grand Central service to Sunderland.

Straddling the River Nidd, the North Yorkshire town of Knaresborough is a historic market and spa town that has existed since before the Domesday book. Just a few miles east of Harrogate, the town is easily accessible from Leeds and York, making it a perfect location for a day out by train. I visited the town as part of my Yorkshire railday and so only spent an hour exploring before continuing on to York, but it is definitely worth a visit.

Following my day exploring the Capital of the Highlands, I decided to spend my final full day in the Highlands exploring a bit more of the Scotland’s railway and visiting another of the country’s seven cities, Aberdeen, the Granite City.

Inverness, capital of the Highlands and one of Scotland’s seven major cities, lies at the mouth of the River Ness where it meets the Beauly Firth just to the south of the famous Moray Firth. With Inverness sitting 903km from London, the UK capital is just 1km closer to the Highland city than the Norwegian capital of Oslo, and having arrived into the city of the Caledonian Sleeper, I certainly felt I was in a completely different world to the one I left behind in England.