On Saturday 16 March I wrote: we are on the train from Bath to Portsmouth where we will change to a train to Brighton. We chose this route as an alternative to the one prompted by British Rail because it gave an opportunity to view the Wiltshire country-side rather than the somewhat drearier view on the Bath to London to Brighton route and because of the relatively easier transit afforded by the flat platform at Portsmouth.

For  a few miles out of Bath the train follows the River Avon, passing for example, Bradford on Avon.