It's been a turbulent and busy week, and once again I'd given little thought to today. There was a point earlier in the week that I'd convinced myself that I'd probably end up going nowhere - but the lure of the railway is such that I can't ever escape for long. The only practical concern is that delaying my decision means the trip costs more! Decided that today should be then end of my fairly poor attempts at travelling on one of the new TransPennine Express class 185 units. I'd tried to incorporate them into the last rover and been in their area of operation on a good few occasions, but have always failed to travel on them. As an interesting side effect, noted that Virgin services from Manchester were diverted from Piccadilly to Victoria Station. No time to check this morning, but guessed at a diversion via Ashton Moss and Denton Junctions, which meant some rare track too.

Stumbled blearily onto 2M02 and was met by a few of the usual faces off to Bristol to bash the Holidaymaker HSTs. Purchased a ticket and had a relaxing trip up to Bristol. A quick switch at Temple Meads onto 1S42, and a fairly quiet ride up to Birmingham. The usual summer saturday chaos here, and with reservations already apparently wrong on the Voyager was harrassed by a family who firstly could not tell Coach F from Coach A, and secondly had utterly misinterpreted their tickets to mean that the 'A' meaning 'airline style seat' meant Coach A. As a consequence, stood from Birmingham to Warrington in an increasingly overheating vestibule listening to the worlds most annoying Birmingham accent for most of the way. I'm desperately glad I'm not in Blackpool today where most of this motley crew were heading. They were complaining bitterly that the train shouldn't stop at any other stations but theirs (a pet hate of mine that!) and that it should go straight to Blackpool. Can't argue with the need for more direct services, but their logic was utterly flawed. Not helped by the On-train Cleaning Staff trying to explain the complexities of the CrossCountry franchise reorganisation which she'd clearly discovered through an extended game of Chinese whispers!

A journey like that makes a walk across Warrington seem like a skip through the park. Nice to be out in the cool air. Familiar enough with the town from my last visit to make swift progress between Bank Quay and Central stations. Reading the posters about security changes at Manchester Airport made me realise that in my arrogance and anger last week, I'd failed to register some fairly big events. The 'Class 185 stop' signs here made me hope for a surprise, but the familiar three-car 158 trundled in. Busy, but not too packed. Had a nice, if a bit sleepy, ride via Manchester and Standedge Tunnel to Huddersfield.

Minutes after arriving at Huddersfield, 185126 thundered in on a Manchester service. Almost dashed over to catch it, which would have been a fairly major change in my itinerary, but instead decided to take some pictures and spend a little time in a station that usually I'm visiting for a quick change, or which is overrun by football fans. Noted in fact a small number of Bristol City fans arriving, but hardly a force to be reckoned with - being outnumbered by Police officers about 3 to 1! A fairly busy hour or so, with 185s on the Hull diagrams only as far as I could see. Chatted to a local who was out photographing them too. He was interested but disappointed to hear that 185132 arrived on Monday with no vinyls applied at all, because he'd been hoping to see the old-style First livery on a 185. Decided on the 12:59 to Manchester Piccadilly which would allow plenty of time to get across town to Victoria.

Once inside, the 185 is not significantly different from any of the other Desiro variants. It's spacious, comfortable and fairly quiet with nice big windows for the Pennine views. Settled in for the quick run into Manchester. Noted that the unit didn't really seem to be tested on this stretch - we didn't seem to get moving until beyond Guide Bridge, and then only as far as the throat of Piccadilly where things slowed to a grind, despite a fair number of services not being in operation. Overall though, a smooth ride and a very pleasant trip. Spotted another couple of 185s lurking in the station - presumably they would normally have headed for the airport, had the line not been closed. Straight downstairs and onto the Metrolink. Missed a Bury tram due to a complete fool trying to buy a ticket in front of me with what appeared to be foreign coins. The platform was wedged with people heading for Old Trafford, and the Metrolink employee doing his best to help people was in fact confusing some of the waiting passengers. Soon enough on an almost empty tram through the City Centre to Victoria.

Grabbed a quick coffee here, and wandered through the barriers, where there seemed to be hundreds of people paying excess fares - which was odd! Bang on time, the Voyager from Brighton arrived on platform 3 - a fairly rare sight in these parts! Had a quick chat with the driver who brought the unit in, and confirmed the routing. Boarded, found a seat and settled in for the unusual trip. Out of Victoria and via Miles Platting towards Ashton Moss North Junction. Here we headed south, onto a bit of freight-only track. Noted another enthusiast in my carriage with his 'Baker' Rail Atlas plotting the route. Crossed above the line to Stalybridge just west of Guide Bridge and joined the route of the Ghost Train - this in itself was an event as its impossible to travel this line southbound on a service train. After Denton station, a pause for another Voyager to clear the single line and pass us, then on to Heaton Norris Junction and back onto the usual route to Birmingham. Aside from an influx of football fans at Stoke, the remainder of the journey was uneventful. At New Street, on to 1V65 for a very late lunch and a quiet trip back home via Gloucester, where Cotswold seem to be storing more of their fleet by the week - with a rather worse-for-wear pairing of 31206 and 47365 evident on Horton Road along with the usual suspects nearer the station. Down here it was warm and sunny, and the sky promised a glorious sunset. I wondered if the clouds had burst over the Pennines yet?