Blog

One of our regular and popular escorted tours explores scenic regions that surround the mighty Rhine river in Germany and is run to coincide with one of the country’s most culturally important events in the calendar year – the ‘Rhine in Flammen’ Festival. This is a very relaxing 5-day holiday, and our next visit will be based in one of Germany’s oldest cities, Bonn. In this blog, tour leader John Robson, offers an insight into this short European break and why it is worth considering joining us when we run it again in 2022!

During the hiatus in travel and holidays forced upon us by the pandemic Ffestiniog Travel Director Alan Heywood decided to take a retrospective look at his many travels and has written a blog based on his 2018 research trip to Montenegro which formed the basis of our Small & Traditional escorted tour of the Mountains and Coast in Montenegro, a 13-day tour that we will be running in September 2022.

One of our most popular destinations among rail enthusiasts (often joined by partners and friends) is Germany - rail tours that take in some wonderful narrow gauge steam railways, particularly in the former East. Many of the railways we visit continue to operate daily services to the local community and attract many train tourists, keen to take advantage of lots of steam travel, available on a regular basis! Ffestiniog Travel tour leader John Robson once again brings his experience and expertise in this guide that focuses particular attention on the railways that Ffestiniog Travel includes in its Narrow Gauge in Eastern Germany and Dresden Steam Festival escorted tours.

In this blog, Ffestiniog Travel tour leader Geoff Lumley takes you on one of his favourite journeys, island hopping through Scotland’s Western Isles and Highlands. He has visited Scotland many times and provides some visual advice in words on how to get the most out of travelling so far north to the Scottish Highlands and Outer Hebrides and offers suggested routes you can take, by train, ferry and road. It follows a similar path taken by our escorted tours.

Ffestiniog Travel tour leader John Robson has penned another blog to share his experience and expertise of navigating the comprehensive Harz Railway network that weaves its way through Germany’s beautiful Harz Mountains. Ffestiniog Travel have been running escorted and arranging tailored rail holidays to the Harzer-Schmalspurbahnen (HSB) for over 30 years and the popularity of this destination shows no sign of waning. It appeals both to the rail enthusiast and partners in equal measure due to the abundance of steam-hauled locos and the scenic charms of the region. In this blog John offers some insights into how you can make the best of your time on this wonderful and extensive railway playground.

This blog by Ffestiniog Travel tour leader, John Robson, brings to life one of our popular tours, a circular rail journey around Ireland, which he led in 2018 – a recollection from the viewpoint of a tour leader! Let John’s words and memories transport you on a written journey through the ‘Emerald Isle’!

Our latest Recommended Railway Read is courtesy of Anthony Lambert a prolific award-winning travel writer, contributing articles to a wide range of national and international newspapers and magazines and who specialises in rail travel worldwide, Switzerland and Canada. Anthony has evidence of an interest in railways from the age of two and has since travelled on railways in over 55 countries and penned and contributed to 12 books on railway travel and journeys, including the Insight Guide to Great Railway Journeys of Europe. Our chosen book is his most recent Lost Railway Journeys from Around the World which is a celebration of the lost railway heritage and the lines that can no longer be travelled. It takes in the great cathedral-like railway stations of the steam age and the obscure lines built through spectacular landscapes. Illustrated with stunning images the book takes the reader as close as they can possibly get to the lost world of dining cars, sleeping cars, station porters and international rail travel. All of the featured railway routes have stories to tell and the lost journeys are captured in the old postcards and posters that accompany photographs drawn from collections and archives across the world. Below is an extract from the book that takes you to the ‘wild west’ of America and its pioneering railroads.

We are delighted to introduce a female author to our list of Recommended Railway Reads. Over three months, freelance journalist Lorraine Wilson travelled solo through Europe by train, stopping at 57 destinations in 21 countries and covering 11,500 miles. The result was her delightful book, "Facing Forwards: Europe. Solo. No Looking Back". This railway and life-changing odyssey followed in the footsteps of a financial meltdown, heartbreak, bereavement, and poor health over the previous five years. At the age of 48, single, childless and having sold her home Lorraine was struggling to decide where her life was heading. In the end the best thing to do, she thought, was to head off into the unknown! Facing Forwards is the result - not a conventional travel book, but a journey of self-discovery over one summer with lots of memorable encounters along the way. Below is an excerpt from the book which finds Lorraine in Slovakia and, like most of her journey, chronicles her experiences off the rail tracks as well as on them.

Many of you will be familiar with Ffestiniog Travel’s team members, having liaised with them when planning and booking your rail holidays and train journeys with us. Some of you may have met them face to face as tour leaders, as several have escorted our train tours. Some of the team have been furloughed and others have been busy working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown, fulfilling refund obligations, dealing with suppliers and planning tours for 2021. We thought it would be a good idea to check in with them and find out a little more about what inspires them and their favourite places to visit around the world. Some have been with the company for many years and have benefitted from its in-house training opportunities and moved up the ranks to take on more travel responsibilities – a reward for their continued expertise and dedication to Ffestiniog Travel and its customers. We asked them some broad questions, ranging from their favourite rail journey to their favourite book and meal, so we could give you a little snapshot of the people who help make your rail holiday dreams come true!