A leisurely start to the morning with a late breakfast on the concourse at Manchester Piccadilly before getting the 1155 London bound West Coast service as far as Crewe for a Voyager to Chester.

A quick change at Chester found me joining the Transport for Wales locomotive hauled train. Since the last time I travelled on one of their locomotive hauled trains, the rolling stock has been replaced from MK3's to MK4's displaced from the East Coast mainline.

Whilst travelling down the Welsh Marshes route to Cardiff, I enjoyed a fabulous two course meal, freshly prepared in the buffet car. The quality of the food on this service makes it truly the best on-train catering offer in the U.K.

On arrival at Cardiff, I needed to get to Pontypridd, but the Valley line services were experiencing major delays due to signalbox staff sickness. After a 35 minute wait, the delayed 1635 to Treherbert appeared, departing 16 mins late.