Six-and-a-half-hour trip is enough to put you in a trance...
BEFORE stepping foot on the train in question, my day actually started trying to make my way from my home in Cardiff to the starting point in Aberystwyth. This proved to be an epic journey in itself. Getting the earliest possible train to Carmarthen, I then had to transfer to the T1 bus to take me up to Aberystwyth.
This meant I got to experience the alternative bus connection between the two towns before the train. Leaving Carmarthen just after 8am, it weaved its way northward, through Lampeter and Aberaeron, before arriving just before 10.30am.
With six hours of train travel ahead, I grabbed a coffee and perched on the busy platform of Aberystwyth’s grand old Victorian station. The first leg of the train journey was between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.
With the Transport for Wales train to Birmingham Airport leaving on time, just before 11.30, this leg was surprisingly enjoyable and the scenery was undeniably beautiful.
From there, the train weaved through Machynlleth before making its way through Newtown and Welshpool. And then, at about 1pm, we crossed the border into England, arriving, right on time, in Shrewsbury.
It was just after 1.15pm and I had about 25 minutes to kill before my connecting train to Carmarthen. I was surprised by the amount of people either speaking Welsh or with Welsh accents. And looking at the departure board, it was easy to see why. In the next hour or so, there were trains travelling from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth, Holyhead, Llanelli, Swansea and Milford Haven.
My train, the Transport for Wales service to Milford Haven, left at about 1.45pm. I was surprised by how busy it was for a Friday afternoon, but I found a seat and prepared myself for the next four hours of train travel.
As we crossed the border back into Wales at about 3pm, I cracked open an energy drink to keep me going.
Seeing the sun slowly going down behind the Beacons as we passed through Abergavenny also helped keep me awake, but I soon started flagging. I couldn’t quite believe that we would soon be hurtling past my house in Cardiff for a train journey between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen.
And then, somewhere between Cardiff and Bridgend, I passed out. With about two hours of the journey ahead of me, I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore, and set an alarm to wake me up before we reached Carmarthen.
So imagine my surprise when I woke up to find that we were still nowhere near our destination.
Storm Arwen, which had made a brief appearance earlier in the day, was now back to wreak havoc.
Luckily, in my case, it meant nothing more than a slightly delayed train, but for hundreds of other people it meant cancelled journeys.
But eventually, half an hour behind schedule, we arrived in Carmarthen at around 6pm, six and a half hours after I had set out from Aberystwyth.
Slightly dazed, and in desperate need of stretching my legs, I emerged from the train in an almost trance-like state.
Did I enjoy the journey? Sure, it was an experience, and parts of it were really enjoyable, with some pretty epic scenery.
Would I do it again? Absolutely not. At least not any time soon. I’m going to need a few days just to recuperate.
Would reopening the train line between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen make using public transportation between the two places easier? Absolutely.