A Birthday Treat

It was my birthday on the 15th of last month. I can no longer deny that I am in my mid 50's. 54 to be really honest.
I had a wonderful day. Zena and I and Rhiannon got up at the crash of dawn (0630) ready to catch the first bus to Bristol Temple Meads station. You have to get the bus because there isn't a train to BTM from Bath Spa that early.
So why did we need to be at BTM so early? At 0917 The Torbay Express hauled by King Edward I left with 300+ railway enthusiasts for the run down to Kingswear on the Dart estuary.
A couple of months earlier I had commented that The Torbay Express was running on my birthday and Zena asked if I'd like the trip as a present. I did and there we were.
The weather was grey and damp, but it didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits as the sheer joy of being steam hauled gave all a wonderful grin.
After a water stop at Taunton the train stormed up Wellington Bank to Whiteball Tunnel and down to Exeter.
A word of advise to anyone who wants to hang out of the carriage window, taking photos of steam hauled trains as the take the curves; get some safety glasses. I ended up with very sore eyes at times. Each time the driver opens the engine up the bed of the fire lifts and shoots tiny pieces of clinker out of the chimney which then fall out of the sky hitting rail enthusiasts in the face at 70 mph.
By the time we got to Kingswear it was very grey and damp but after hanging about for trains to do what the do at the end of the line (running round and shunting) we boarded the ferry for Dartmouth.
Dartmouth is a delightful little place hanging on the edge of the valley leading the Dart out to the sea. We did a circuit of the centre before choosing the Fish and Chip restaurant for lunch. They had Skate on the specials board which I chose and it proved to be perfect. The batter was light and crisp and the flesh just melted. Washed down with a bottled Speckled Hen it was lovely.
All too soon it was time to cross back over the river and board our train home. It was an exiting run back and after taking on water at Exeter we managed to get on to the main line right after a Virgin Voyager which we managed to chase through to Tiverton Junction (Parkway - yuk). Stormed up to Whiteball and were ahead of schedule by the time we reached Taunton. The crew wanted to get back to BTM early so after a few phone calls, Notwork Rail let us out of Taunton early so that we could get to Weston super Mare before the stopping train was due out. The King was wonderful, she must have maxed out across the levels and was in to WsM for 2045 well ahead of the departure time for the stopper. Dropped passenger and left smartish for BTM which we reached in plenty of time to get back to Bath for a last birthday pint in The Trinty.
A wonderful day. Thank you.