Lazy Days in Lancaster – Day 1

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18th June 2026

It’s holiday time, and in 2026, we’re sticking closer to home, favouring UK-based holidays over anything that involves a lot of travel! No airports (so no killing time in airport lounges), no cruising on the high seas (with all that excessive food and drink) – and for this break, no driving either, as it’s all being done by train using the UK railway network. We’re heading for Lancaster and we’re there for four nights exploring the local area.

Yes, you read that correctly. Usually, we’d travel by car without further thought, but actually, there wasn’t a lot of difference in the journey times – car vs train. By car, we calculated it would take 3 hours 26 minutes, whilst by train, in theory, just 3 hours 45 minutes. So, if you factor in a wee break for a wee, then there wasn’t much in it timewise. OK, if you look at the travel costs, it was just shy of £150 return in total for both of us by train, and it would have only cost about half that for charging the car, plus the cost of parking, plus the ‘fun’ of finding parking in the first place! Conclusion? Yes, more expensive, but it made perfect sense to let the train take the strain – it’s not always about the cost, is it? 🤔

It was a pretty direct route too! Kettering – Leicester – Birmingham – Lancaster. It started well! David and Valerie acted as Chauffeur and Deputy Chauffeur dropping us at Kettering Station in good time for the first leg. As things turned out, we actually caught an earlier (delayed) train, meaning, just 20 minutes later, we were at Leicester, all set for our next hop to Birmingham. Thankfully, that train was on time, and in less than an hour we were ready for our final leg – the longest at around 2 hours – to Lancaster.

That’s when our luck ran out! 😮. Here at Birmingham New Street, our next train was running late. Ok, it was only 7 minutes behind – but things were to deteriorate further as we boarded and got closer to our destination. By the time we approached Lancaster, not only had the weather had turned nasty – it was pouring down – the train, for various reasons, eventually pulled in around 30 minutes later than planned, at just before 3.40pm.

It wasn’t quite the textbook journey we’d planned, but with the horrendous weather, I had a feeling that the journey, by car, would have also had its ‘moments’.

Once we were off the Train, we considered walking from the Station to the Hotel, but it was still absolutely hammering it down, and so we jumped in a cab instead for the short drive to our bed for the next four nights.

Ann had tracked down a great little Pub/Hotel that would be our home until Monday – The Borough Lancaster Hotel – located south-east of Morecambe Bay.

The warm welcome helped to compensate for the cold and wet weather, and we were soon taking the short walk to Room 10..

It wasn’t the biggest room we’ve ever stayed in, but it had a certain charm about it with two TVs, a massive shower, a coffee machine, plus a bed about half the size of Kettering! 😊. Oh, and it had its own little patio area (not that we’d be using it much today! ☔☔). Well, as they say: ‘the garden needs it’ – except our patio featured astroturf, so it didn’t! 😁😁😁

Whilst I set up the technology, Ann played to her strengths and got us unpacked. Maybe not surprisingly, we ate in the Hotel tonight.

We ate early too! At 6.30 it wasn’t particularly busy, but that meant the service was swift and attentive – and that suited us! 👍

No sign of a Michelin Star, but it did the job!

Around the Town

After our meal, we decided to get our bearings by taking a wander around the Town’s nearby retail area. The shops and restaurants were plentiful with ‘big names’ nestled amongst the now-obligatory vape shops, kebab shops and a wide range of eateries. There were a few shops that were vacant (surprising to see the mighty Greggs had closed down!), but proportionally not quite as many as we’ve seen elsewhere.

It’s an old Town with an old feel, full of buildings deserving more than a cursory glance, but there’s a good mix of newer outlets too. Just as we began to think the experience was like a lot of modern towns, along came a couple of police constables – ON HORSES!

A mile-and-a-half later, our bearings were ‘got’ and we headed back to base to think about the rest of our days here. As you might expect, for our short stay here, we’ve got a list! 😉

The List!

The big one is Lancaster Castle and the surrounding area, and we plan to cover that tomorrow. Best of all, it’s literally on our doorstep. There’s a bit of rain forecast for tomorrow, but not as much as today – and at least, we’ll be mostly inside. Sounds like a plan! 👍😊