From chugging down the Welsh coast to winding through the Scottish Highlands, train journeys let us fully take in the gorgeous scenery that Britain has to offer without moving a muscle. We can stare aimlessly out of the window and fully embrace a main character moment without having to worry about traffic lights or dodgy junctions. Granted, trains may not be the most reliable of transport, but boy can the views be pretty.
Here at Time Out, we curated our own roundup of the most scenic rail journeys in the UK earlier this year but now the Guardian has entered the chat with its own take.
Quite rightly, the list includes routes from all four regions of the UK. In no particular order, it features the two-hour trip from Belfast to Derry, picked for its views of Downhill Beach, the domed Mussenden Temple, rugged cliffs and the turbulent ocean.
Also making the cut is the route from Swansea to Carmarthen which follows the Loughor estuary and the River Towy, offering ‘glimpses of oystercatchers on the sandy shore outside the window, and cows grazing on the saltmarshes’.
Up in Scotland (where there’s so many gorgeous routes to choose from) it was the four-hour ride from Inverness to Thurso and the five-hour journey from Glasgow Queen’s Street to Mallaig that made the cut. The former was highlighted for its ‘shifting vistas of estuaries, lochs and mountains, miles of deserted beach and rocks covered in cormorants’ and the latter for its glimpses of ‘trackside waterfalls’, ‘pine-ringed, island-studded lochs’ and ‘white sands of the west coast’ (as well as the huge Glenfinnan Viaduct of Harry Potter fame).
Among the English routes to get a shoutout was Norwich to Lowestoft, a short journey that offers peeps at the deer and water birds that inhabit the Norfolk Broads. The route across the Peak District’s breathtaking cliffs, reservoirs and viaducts between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield also got a mention.
Here’s the full list of the UK’s prettiest train journeys, according to the Guardian:
Belfast to Derry
Norwich to Lowestoft
Swansea to Carmarthen
Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield
London to Margate
Inverness to Thurso
Oxford to Hereford
Lancaster to Carlisle via Penrith
Glasgow Queen’s Street to Mallaig
Southampton Central to Bournemouth
You can have a read of the full list on the Guardian website here.
Beauty in the eyes of Time Out
Sure, beauty is the eyes of the beholder, but come on, there are some places on this earth that are just objectively, undeniably stunning. We have experts across the UK and the globe that help us decide once and for all things like the most beautiful places in the world, the most beautiful British beaches or the most beautiful bike trails. Be ready to fall in love.
ICYMI: this is officially the UK’s most epic road trip.
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