I’ve more or less given up on getting the train when I go to visit family in Cheshire, after a string of disappointments in the immediate post-Covid years. But with the price of petrol shooting up, I decided to give it another shot.

The price (thanks TrainSplit) was good, under £50 return is hard to argue with given the current price of petrol. Somewhat as expected, travelling on the evening before a bank holiday was an overcrowded nightmare - although I did at least manage to evict the wrongful occupant of my reserved seat.

Coming back the Tuesday after Easter was … fine … apart from a 20 minute delay. Could be worse, and I’ll give the train a few more second chances.