The plug sockets may not work and there isn’t a trolley service, but the Heart of Wales Line is a friendly, bustling, beautiful treat
I’ve had this book lying around at home, Lonely Planet’s Amazing Train Journeys. I don’t think it’s been opened since I was given it six years ago. Of the 60 rail trips recommended from around the world, six are in the UK. Back then, the one that jumped out at me was a rail line I’d never heard of, between Swansea and Shrewsbury, even though the Swansea area is where I spend most of my time. On my way to work in Manchester I’d often travelled this way – east along the main line to Newport, then north on the pleasingly scenic Welsh Marches Line.
But this wasn’t Lonely Planet’s choice. They’d gone for the Heart of Wales Line, which takes an improbably direct route, cutting across Mid-Wales from Llanelli to Craven Arms. Into my bucket list this journey went. But the thing with a bucket list is that, once you’ve turned the corner in the direction of bucket-kicking territory, you need to set about emptying that bucket as well as adding to it. Nobody wants to have much left in that bucket when the time comes to join the great majority. That’s the whole point of a bucket list.
