Connecting

The trip is a unique opportunity to ride the Flying Scotsman from York to Newcastle, with pick-ups available from London, Hertfordshire, and Cambridgeshire. But with only one date available, tickets are selling fast

If you’re a fan of festive experiences or have a soft spot for traditional steam trains, you might want to consider booking a trip on the Flying Scotsman this winter. On Sunday, December 14, the historic Flying Scotsman will be making its journey from York to Newcastle, with pick-up points in London, followed by Hertfordshire, then Cambridgeshire.

Departing from Finsbury Park, a Class 67 diesel locomotive adorned with Mk3 carriages decked out for the festive season will travel through Potters Bar, Stevenage and Peterborough to collect guests for this unique Christmas experience. As the train winds its way through the fenland countryside, you’ll eventually arrive in York.

On the journey to York, guests can enjoy a variety of hot and cold beverages from the buffet car, along with a breakfast bap to kickstart your day. Upon arrival in York, you’ll switch trains to board the iconic Flying Scotsman.

As you journey on the Flying Scotsman towards Newcastle, you’ll pass by the city of Durham, offering a glimpse of the historic cathedral. You’ll catch a fleeting view of the Angel of the North before crossing over the King Edward VII Bridge and arriving in the city. You’ll feel completely immersed in the history of this 19th-century train, with steam blowing past your window as you chug along towards your destination.

Guests will have three hours to explore Newcastle, providing ample time to wander around the Christmas Market or the Christmas Village at Old Eldon Square. Whether you need to tick off some items from your Christmas shopping list or fancy sampling some festive food and drinks, a stroll around the market could be just the ticket to get you into the spirit of the season, reports Cambridgeshire Live.

Newcastle’s Christmas market has something for all ages. At the heart of the market is the Rockin’ Reindeer stage, where you can book a ticket for Santa’s Stories. This immersive show includes a story told by Santa, interactive activities, and an official Nice List certificate for kids who’ve been good this year.

Above the market, you’ll find igloo pods that can be hired as an escape from the winter chill. These heated igloos have views across the twinkling lights of Grey Street, and a full drinks menu will be available including mulled wine for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids.

After a leisurely stroll around the city, you’ll hop back on the Flying Scotsman to return to York station. The buffet car will be open for some late afternoon festive treats like mince pies and drinks before you board the Class 67 locomotive for your journey back to Peterborough.

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The train departs from Finsbury Park at 9am, and is set to return by 10pm.

Tickets for this Christmas adventure are priced at £175 for an adult standard ticket and £155 for children. A first-class adult ticket will set you back £275.

You can purchase tickets for this trip from the UK Rail Tours website.

If there are times when the sights, smells and sounds of a new destination are best downed in a single, heady, flaming sambuca of a weekend, there are others when a more slow-drip pace is called for. Such is the case with De Alde Feanen, in Friesland. One of the most peaceful national parks in the Netherlands, this 4,000-hectare wetland slows down naturally after the summer season. Its waterways shrug off their summer flocks of kayakers, paddleboarders, boat trippers and terrace diners. Museums and galleries close. The local tourist office winds down. Even the park’s population of nesting storks fly south.

A 20-minute drive south-east of Leeuwarden, in the country’s north-east, the lakes, ponds, ditches and canals of “The Old Fens” are the remains of the peat-cutting that began there in the middle ages. Now awash with reeds, rushes and sedges, its watery habitats are richly biodiverse, home to more than 100 bird species as well as otters, pine martens, roe deer and dragonflies. Hay meadows and wetland forest add marsh thistle, reed orchids, alders and willows to the list. Ribboned with well-marked hiking and cycling trails, the proximity to nature draws spring and summer tourists but treasures can be found there in autumn and winter too; among them thousands of ducks and geese, and some of the starriest skies in the Netherlands.

In search of a place to be rather than do, my son and I book a simple cabin, De Ooievaar (“the Stork”), with a plan to walk, cycle, read and sleep. Upcycled from an old barn during the pandemic by owner Jurjen Veldboom, the cabin’s galley kitchen and wooden sleeping platforms give it the cosy feel of a boat but it’s the picture window in its living room that sells it to us. With a sofa to one side and a wood burner on the other, it’s the perfect winter roost: a place to sit and sketch, or watch deer bouncing through the alders.

To get our bearings we start with a gentle walk, spotting a white heron almost as soon as we step outside. A skein of geese skim the sky above us as we wander along a blustery 15-minute track through the reeds to the park’s gateway village, Earnewâld. Winding between its doll’s house-like buildings to the Princenhof Hotel, we eat bowls of salty fish soup while watching the soporific ebb and flow of small cargo boats.

When we arrived, Jurjen told us that canny marketeers have a new verb for winter holidaying in Friesland: opfriezen is a play on words that means embracing the cold (with the help of a cosy hot tub or sauna) in Friesland. Back at the cabin, we give it a go, slipping into the site’s sauna at dusk and listening to the soothing ticking of the heater’s timer, cocooned in its warm, timber embrace. What follows is even more uplifting, though: opening the door into the dark Friesland night, a huge gibbous moon is glowing above us, the skeins of geese replaced by stars and the cabin’s twinkling lights giving it the look of a giant gingerbread house.

The following morning we hire two e-bikes from Hollema in Earnewâld (€25pp a day), where owner Rikele Hollema meets us with a map for a gentle 50km route looping through the eastern corner of the park and then out to the villages and forests around Beetsterzwaag.

Cycling out along little paths crunchy with seashells is like pedalling through one of Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch’s paintings. Skirting low fields where the horizon is broken only by the odd birch tree or farmhouse, there’s more sky than land, and it’s filled with clouds that look like balls of scrunched-up paper, soft grey shadows tucked into creases in the white. Cycling along these flat, empty paths, hopping on and off little foot and bike ferries to cross bridge-less stretches of water, is a meditative experience. A feeling that’s later heightened when the sun emerges and we dip into forests where the light is sieved through golden beech leaves.

Beyond the palatial houses of Beetsterzwaag, in Olterterp we stop at De Witte Huis for lunch – fat chips and bowls of mustard soup hiding slivers of sausage. It’s just the fuel we need for the long ride back along the windy polders, catching the whimsical sight along the way of three cows sailing past on a ferry, and two swans flying alongside us, their white plumage glowing against the rose gold of the rushes.

That evening, with Jurjen’s help, I track down Jannie Slot, project coordinator for a new mindfulness walking trail launched in the park this summer. Designed to get visitors offscreen, slowing down and reconnecting with their surroundings, those who want to try it have to borrow a physical copy of the guide and then follow its prompts as they walk the 5km route. She tells me of the tricky balance between welcoming visitors and protecting the park but believes that if people can connect with nature, they will love it and want to protect it.

For now the guide is only available in Dutch or German but there are plans to produce an English version. Trying my best with rusty German, I leave my son sleeping and head out into the park at dawn the next day to try it out. The path leads through the reeds and forest paths behind our cabin and, as I walk, I follow the guide’s instructions to listen to the sound of the wind through the reeds. The ground is wet from overnight rain and the air is charged with the calls, rattles, clicks and chitter of blackbirds, goldcrests, reed buntings, wigeon and geese. At various points, I’m encouraged to do some gentle yoga, standing in poses inspired by birds or trees, or to look more deeply at the landscape. It’s not hard this morning. The rising sun is suspended in the ditches around me, coating the water with an ethereal bronze glow.

The route leads to an observation tower and when I reach the top, it feels as if I’m at the very soul of the national park, a million shades of sugary golden brown spilling out around me. Towns glimmer on the horizon and a distant road rumbles, but here the hush is broken only by two geese honking away at eye level, and the reflective glint of a nearby windmill.

Later, over coffee, I read that one of the park’s key plants is frogbit. In summer it floats above the water but in winter it retracts below, freezing until the spring, when it re-emerges in search of sunlight. The guide tells me: “It’s also very important, of course, for humans to slow down, take a breath, reflect and rest.” But De Alde Feanen has already taught me that.

Transport from London to Amsterdam was provided Eurostar, which is launching a fifth direct weekday service on 15 December; advance return from £78pp. Onward travel to Earnewald by train and bus. Alternatively, hire a car from Leeuwarden station (greenwheels.nl). Two nights at De Ooievaar campsite from €352. For more information about De Alde Feanen national park, see np-aldefeanen.nl

TRAVELLERS will soon be able to fly between a popular town in Cornwall and a major London airport once again.

The previously suspended route operated by Eastern Airways, which fell into administration earlier this month, is being reinstated in a matter of days.

Eastern Airways had operated flights between the seaside town of Newquay in Cornwall and London Gatwick seven times per week.

But in early November when the regional airline fell into administration, the route was temporarily cancelled.

Now, Cornwall Council has secured a temporary agreement with Skybus to take on the route on a short-term contract, with flights resuming on November 23.

The Skybus service will operate daily with plans to increase to twice-daily flights on weekdays from 14 February 2026.

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Skybus will operate the route on its ATR72 aircraft, which has room for 70 passengers. The average flight time is around one hour and 20 minutes.

Leader of Cornwall Council, Councillor Leigh Frost said: “We’re pleased Skybus has worked with us so closely to get this over the line as quickly as possible to ensure that lack of service wasn’t prolonged.

“We know the train line into Cornwall is not great and other routes of transport are really difficult so we need that secure route so Cornwall can access the rest of the world.”

Skybus will operate the route initially until mid-2026 as Cornwall Council is seeking a permanent airline to take on a four-year tender.

Previously, the route has been operated by FlyBe and after that, British Airways.

Eastern Airways took over operations in 2020 until its collapse earlier this month.

Eastern Airways launched in 1997 and had been one of the UK’s remaining regional airlines, with services across England and Scotland.

Regional routes across the UK included Wick and Aberdeen in Scotland, and then Humberside, Teesside International, London Gatwick and Newquay.

For the 12 months to March 2024, Eastern Airways reported a net loss of £19.7million, which was £4.8million higher than 2023.

While Skybus is taking on the new route between Cornwall and the capital, it’s no stranger to Newquay airport having been flying from there to the Isles of Scilly for over 30 years.

Skybus runs services to the Isles of Scilly, with flights from Newquay, Land’s End and Exeter.

The airline’s owner, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company (ISSC) also operates boats to the islands.

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Plus, here are the pretty twin beach villages in the ‘forgotten corner’ of Cornwall.

For alternatives to Cornwall, one travel writer would encourage Brits to head to her county instead.

Check out these attractions in Newquay…

One writer visited Newquay during the summer and revealed their highlights…

“The open-air tropical room is a big highlight of Newquay Zoo. Birds fly completely freely among visitors and the lack of cages makes for a different experience than that of a traditional zoo.

“Here we watched a penguin feed on krill, saw a roaming peacock take up residence atop a bin and were charmed by the little squirrel monkeys swinging from ropes.

“We were staying at the Newquay Beach Hotel, which perfectly blends solid hotel basics with convenient extras like the Abangamba play room — a kids’ club with toys and games — and decorative flair.

“If you’re after food with a view, then the Stables pizza restaurant on Fistral beach might be the most beautifully placed UK restaurant I have ever enjoyed.

“And Newquay is surrounded by pretty beaches, no matter which direction you potter in. Towan Beach, slightly to the west of Newquay’s main hub, is a great spot for lounging, cave exploring and taking a paddle.

“And overlooking this lively stretch is the Blue Reef Aquarium, a must for anyone with little ones.

The world’s longest flight connects America to Asia, with passengers strapped into their seats for almost 19 hours – and it’s not for the faint-hearted

The world’s longest flight links America to Asia with travellers buckled in for nearly 19 hours. The current record holder for the longest long-haul journey is the Singapore Airlines route from New York’s JFK Airport to Singapore Changi.

The 9,537-mile trip has a scheduled flight time of 18 hours and 50 minutes and was introduced by the carrier in 2018. The service operates using Singapore Airline’s cutting-edge A350-900ULRs, which can remain airborne for more than 20 hours without refuelling.

The aircraft achieves such endurance thanks to a specially adapted fuel system. This enhancement boosts the plane’s total fuel capacity to an enormous 24,000 litres.

Yet the journey isn’t readily available to all, as Singapore Airlines doesn’t provide economy class seating on this route.

Rather, Singapore Airlines provides 67 Business Class seats and 94 Premium Economy Class seats. Premium Economy travellers can benefit from additional legroom, a footrest, and an adjustable headrest. Passengers can also utilise noise-cancelling headphones and WiFi throughout their journey.

Business class travellers experience ultimate privacy, whilst their seats transform into completely flat beds to ensure a peaceful sleep during travel.

Singapore Airlines assert that the A350-900ULR will provide customers with a “more comfortable travelling experience”. The aircraft boasts a range of additional features including elevated ceilings, expanded windows and specially designed lighting to combat jetlag.

The carrier maintains that the plane’s innovative carbon composite airframe also enables enhanced air quality. Those seeking a ticket are expected to be extremely wealthy, with seats routinely costing well into five figures.

Singapore Airlines’ CEO, Mr Goh Choon Phong, previously stated that the new route will be the “fastest way” to travel between the two major cities.

He said: “Singapore Airlines has always taken pride in pushing the boundaries to provide the best possible travel convenience for our customers, and we are pleased to be leading the way with these new non-stop flights using the latest technology, ultra-long-range Airbus A350-900ULR.

“The flights will offer our customers the fastest way to travel between the two cities – in great comfort, together with Singapore Airlines’ legendary service – and will help boost connectivity to and through the Singapore hub.”