It’s the end of a baking hot day here in the Calder valley with another one in prospect tomorrow – although I won’t be around to see too much of it.

These past couple of days have seen me transition from Southport to Halifax once more, although this time by car, not train as on Monday night Dawn joined me at the coast so that we could both attend my sister in law Bev’s funeral on Tuesday morning. Funerals are never exactly joyful events, but Bev’s last wishes were for something short, sweet and colourful. So, no dark suits or dresses, instead, we were invited to dress for the summer – which was just as well as the weather was scorching! Bev got the funeral she wanted (with one minor deviation as her daughter Hayley read one of the poems that made up the service) and people left feeling uplifted rather than sad.

After a short family gathering for tea and cake Dawn and I drove back. Sadly the journey dragged out due to the weather, traffic jams and idiots on the roads, so we arrived too late to get a train back into Manchester to attend a leaving do. Just as well perhaps, as some other friends struggled to get back due to trains being cancelled.

Now, after a day at home where there was no let-up from the hot weather, I’m preparing to head off again, this time to volunteer on one of the hardest and maddest events in the rail calendar, the annual ‘3 Peaks by rail‘ charity event which raises money for the Railway Children. I’ve been volunteering since 2017, although I was forced to miss the event last year. Now I’m back, so expect a series of blogs from the event as we traverse the rail network to get teams to Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis and back. As if the mountains themselves aren’t enough of a challenge for the teams, this year the rail logistics team and volunteers have to cope with problems with closed rail routes and extreme heat. There’s never a dull moment and each year presents different problems to be overcome.

Here’s a selection of pictures and behind the scenes look at the 2017 adventure.

I’ll see you tomorrow with the first of the rolling blogs…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
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Cheers,

Paul