Walking by Rail – What About Delays and Cancellations?
We launched Railwalks.co.uk with a video explaining how easy it is to walk across most of Britain by public transport – and rail in particular. Our message was generally well-received, but a few people made comments like “that’s if the train turns up 😊”. That made me reflect: I have been doing this most weeks, often several times a week, for 15 years. I must have done over a thousand day-walks by rail. During all that time delays or cancellations have never caused me serious problems. So why the difference in perception? Of course, a train cancellation (or a traffic jam) can cause a big problem if you need to be at a specific place by a certain time, but when I go walking, I set out with a different mindset. I may have a plan, but it’s always flexible. It’s easier now you can carry a map of the whole country on your phone. When our website is finished, with walks from most UK stations, it will be easier still. To give an example, a couple of weeks ago, I was on a train which