Michael Portillo: Great British Railway Journeys – #59 – #14/25 – S03E14 – Cardiff to Brecon

Michael Portillo – Great British Railway Journeys – this is a great series. .

Portillo’s enthusiasm is infectious and fun.

This Episode

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw’s Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us and what remains of Bradshaw’s Britain, in a series of five epic journeys.

All this week he is travelling west, from Oxford in the heart of England, through the Malvern Hills and into Wales, taking in the unique Victorian heritage of the South Wales coastline.

Today Michael discovers the Victorian coal heritage that turned Cardiff into the city it is today, explores the 19th-century reason why Barry Island isn’t an island, and takes a steam ride through the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park.