Woke uncharacteristically late for a comparatively leisurely start today. A pleasure to be in London, and to finally have shaken off the attack of the drabs which seemed to have started in Milton Keynes last weekend, and pervaded most of last week in some strange way. The plan was to make my way over to London Bridge fairly early and to get breakfast whilst waiting for the stock of the tour to arrive. Wandered over to Caledonian Road to find the bus stop and hopped onto a No. 17. This took an interesting route through Smithfield and The City before crossing London Bridge and terminating at the station. Interesting to see the city waking up as we passed by, and a somewhat different view of some familiar and much trodden ground. Found coffee and watched some of the usual faces arriving for the trip. Thought I'd managed to stay anonymously normal looking for a while until a shout across the concourse confirmed I'd be recognised...so I gave in and joined the assembly of cranks on the platform, after a pleasant chat with the gateline staff.

The stock arrived with 66710 leading into the platform. It was unusual to have a railtour starting here, and it of course attracted a somewhat different crowd of folks who perhaps don't make it to some of the stuff which starts in the Midlands and north. I noticed a fair few passengers left it pretty late in arriving, including the fellow occupants of my bay! Got shots of the two locos, as I realised I'd have few chances during the rest of the day, and settled into my seat. This was my first UK Railtour and I was surprised to see the same set of stock used as for one or two of their other trips I'd witnessed. The stock was in fairly good condition by Riviera standards, and whilst I didn't quite have the seat I'd choose with other tour operators, it was comfortable enough. We set off bang on time and started with the circuit to Waterloo, taking in the Linford Street Flyover. Built for Eurostar and now all but abandoned, we screeched our way over the high concrete structure, possibly the first train since last October's Buffer Puffer in fact? A very brief stop at Waterloo, before heading off again and using the equally rare Sheepcote Lane curve (again a means of getting Eurostart stock back to their former North Pole depot) for another reversal at Kensington Olympia - a station I seem to pass through on a weekly basis at present! Now underway in earnest and with 73204 leading, we managed to escape London's gravity with a speedy run out into Kent. The target was Sheerness-on-Sea, the first of the "Nesses" which gave the tour it's title. This involved traversal of the Western Curve at Sittingbourne, one of two bits of track which made this tour essential for me. The curve is used by some early services to get a unit onto the branch, but these are pretty inaccessible. After negotiating the tight turn onto the Isle of Sheppey, we crossed the flat and empty grassland, noting a fair bit of activity in the yard near the station - with a shunter and a pair of DRS Class 37s in evidence. Dashed out into the town briefly during our break here. A busy, but rather tiny place marooned on this forlorn stretch of the Thames Estuary. Time for further photographs before getting back on board for the next leg.

After departure from Sheerness, I braved the buffet queue and tried to stay awake with plenty of coffee. The lazy stroll around the edge of Kent remains an interesting journey in places, but I was beginning to snooze a little. We kept remarkably good time throughout this leg, losing only a couple of minutes outside Dover Priory. This led to the planned leg-stretch here being fairly short. Hopped off for a quick wander before settling back in for the next part of the run. I'd visited the Dungeness branch before and while it had been an interesting and rather eerie experience, it had been a long slow drag down the branch. As we approached Ashford, noted we were routed into Sevington Loop. Given that we were roughly on time, this seemed an odd turn of events. Eventually an announcement was made that the local Network Rail manager was querying the permission to head down to Dungeness with a Class 66, despite the class having visited before. This sort of issue has become an increasing problem over the last few year, and has had a huge impact on the type of trip I personally enjoy most. After a short wait, the management conceded and we headed into Ashford for the reversal. We finally got onto the branch around 25 minutes late, with little hope of making up much except for on the turn around. Dungeness was as I remembered it - a flat, rather desolate expanse of gravel and coarse grass. Lydd, the only settlement of note seemed isolated, with its rather forlorn abandoned station. Not sorry to leave this curious spot in some ways today.

A side effect of Network Rail admitting their earlier error was that every effort was made to get our train back on time on the run back towards London. Several Class 1 services were looped as we sped past, making up a fair amount of the time we'd lost in the process. An uninterrupted run from Ashford to Petts Wood Junction gave the Class 66 a chance to stretch it's legs impressively, and we were soon taking the rare curve at Beckenham Junction and heading back into London. We then undertook a fairly torturous circuit to get to our final destination, heading through Clapham Jucntion to Barnes and then into the tangle of lines around Acton. The next piece of line was the second highlight of the day for me - the tight, almost abandoned curve between Neasden Junction and Neasden South. We waited for some time for permission to proceed, and I wondered given our lateness if we might end up diverted elsewhere. But, eventually we crept forward, screeching around the curve and onto the Chiltern line, stopping beyond the signal for our reversal. Mission accomplished for me! The matter of the short run into Marylebone from here should have been straightforward, but the bank at Neasden presented quite a challenge for a Class 73 working on diesel power! The engine howled in protest as it worked up the bank, dropping to around 8mph at one point. Eventually the gradient eased and we picked up speed for the run into the terminus, only around 20 minutes late despite our complicated route in.

Commendably GBRf were to run the ECS back to Woking as a charity additional train, but having calculated the options for getting back into London, I decided that this wasn't a wise move - despite a short sliver of required track I'd missed last November too. Grabbed a snap of 73204 ticking over at the buffers, and headed out into the city. It had been a pleasant and fairly uneventful day, but a successful first jaunt with UK Railtours.

After a day spent doing very little yesterday, decided to go to my parents. Spent a few exhausting but entertaining hours with my nephew. Woke up to amazing sunshine this morning after the first decent sleep in a week. Breakfast, then out to the station. Met the same gent I'd bumped into last week and passed the time until the Torbay Express appeared around the corner.

Much quieter than the King last week, but impressive nonetheless. Later wandered down to Weston station a little early as I'd heard there was a developing farce relating to a failed HST at Highbridge. Watched as a single car 153, the first train in some time arrived and was beseiged by passengers. Much chaos, the station itself being staffed admirably by Wessex guards covering colleagues holidays. Union of South Africa appeared somewhat later than planned, having been caught up in the problems at Highbridge. Noisy and photogenic start, had I been properly equipped.

Returned home to find timings published for next week's York Flyer tour, which includes a trip via Barrow Hill and Ferrybridge. Looking forward to it after a weekend with minimal rail roving.

Not, as I mistakenly thought, the penultimate week of the Class 67 hauled Virgin Holidaymaker specials. I had never intended that these workings become a weekly event, or a minor obsession. They do however release me from the need to imagine up new journeys every Friday evening. Also, they are a nice easy option when the railway is chaotically busy, overcrowded and hot here in the southwest during the Summer months. Along with the Weymouth and Brighton Class 31s they have maintained my sanity during the most frustrating and busy periods of the work year too. Perhaps the hypnotic effect of boomeranging back and forth between Bristol and Exeter is soothing to the soul of the troubled clerk?

So, set out in the opposite direction to usual. Decided to get a ride on 67022 which was working 1M89 - the morning service to Preston which doesn't call at Weston. This involved a unit to Taunton, and a change for a Voyager to Exeter. During the pause at Exeter, a pair of Castles (5051 and 5029) steamed through on 'The Devonian'. Arrived at Exeter to find 1M89 standing at Platform 6 - swiftly over the bridge and aboard for Bristol.

Arrived a little earlier than usual, and hung around to watch 1E99 arrive - my usual ride into Bristol these days! 67026 in charge - another required locomotive for me, one of three out today. I could only manage two out of these however, as 1M89 and 1E99 are mutually exclusive options.

Got refreshments, and enjoyed the sunshine at Temple Meads. Whilst waiting, noted the pair of Voyagers which I'd done from Taunton to Exeter this morning, and luckily got the number of the leading unit, which I'd missed in my hurry to get over the bridge, and was then obscured by an arriving HST! Some unexpected (and multiple!) platform alterations followed, which meant missing the arrival of 67018 on 1V15, but I easily made it over to Platform 15 in time for the departure to Exeter. Front coach aircon working for the first time in weeks, and some speedy running at least as far as Taunton, where things got a little sluggish.

Exeter St Davids busier than this morning, with some truly wedged services from Newquay passing through! Heard that 67005 was on 1V19, but decided that since it wasn't required a wander home on the curious combination of a Valley Lines 143 and a Wessex 150 which was working the Paignton-Cardiff would be interesting.

One thing which struck me today, perhaps rather oddly given the amount of times I've passed that way, is how impressively 'English' the countryside is around Cogload Junction just outside Taunton. Found it inspiring on my several passes in pleasant sunshine today - perhaps it was the rural element of my reading matter which persuaded me?

In retrospect, this was not a good week to be off - wrong end of the month financially, and at a time when the rest of the world is either hard at work or on its holidays here in Weston, which has made for a frustrating week. Hid out indoors in a self-inflicted state of misery for the beginning of the week. Relieved the boredom by playing with Red Hat's new beta - known as NULL. Impressive, with only a few annoyances. Worked on Foundation stuff a bit, to the extent that I learned some PHP and reacquainted myself with MySQL after a long period of absence.