Eight-year-old child among four paddleboarders rescued at Llandanwg Beach, south of Harlech, Gwynedd


An eight-year-old child was among four people blown offshore on Thursday - Image © RNLI

Four paddleboarders, including an eight-year-old child, have been rescued at sea after being blown offshore by the wind.

Two teenagers, one adult and the child were using two paddleboards when they were blown offshore at Llandanwg Beach, south of Harlech, Gwynedd, on Thursday.

RNLI said volunteers were called to the "rapidly evolving situation" at 16:15 BST, after a family member on the shore became concerned.

One paddleboarder was found in the water "suffering severely from the effects of the cold", while the others were holding onto one of the paddleboards some distance offshore. All four paddleboarders were rescued, as well as a member of the public who entered the sea to try and help.

Criccieth RNLI launched its Atlantic 85 lifeboat, The Frank Townley, in order to reach the distressed paddleboarders. A Coastguard rescue helicopter from Caernarfon was also scrambled.

Owing to the tide, the lifeboat landed on a sandbank on its return, and the casualties were walked ashore - with one of the five carried on a paddleboard owing to their "weakened condition".

Holyhead Coastguards and the RNLI said it highlighted how quickly conditions can change at sea, particularly with offshore winds. It comes as the lifeboat charity issued a general warning about cold water and tidal dangers ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

The RNLI cautioned that while it may feel warm outside, the sea temperature remains cold enough to cause cold water shock. "Anything below 15C is defined as cold water and can seriously affect breathing and movement," said Ross Macleod, RNLI water safety manager.

There was also a warning about spring tides - which are currently occurring across the UK. A spring tide means at high tide, the water comes in further and can move faster than on smaller tides, increasing the risk of becoming stranded.

Macleod urged those visiting the coast to check tide times with a trusted source such as the Met Office, before they travel, "and to be aware that the high and low water may change quickly and very differently to what may be expected".

Red squirrels 'close to extinction' in England


A petition calling for urgent action has attracted more than 75,000 signatures - Image © Save Our Reds

England's red squirrels are close to extinction and the government needs to do more to protect them, an animal welfare group said.

A petition set up by Save Our Reds, has attracted more than 75,000 signatures, urging more action. Founder of the campaign Marie Carter-Robb, said: "We have a series of urgent actions that need to be brought together into one joined-up national plan."

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said the government was protecting endangered red squirrels by tackling the threat of non-native grey squirrels.

Combining data from a number of wildlife organisations, the group said the endangered species, which "still clings on" across Cumbria, Northumberland and the North Pennines, could disappear within 25 years. It also said only 120,000 to 160,000 remained, with as few as 15,000 in England.

According to Natural England causes for the decline include the introduction of grey squirrels from the USA and Canada from 1876 spreading the squirrelpox virus, which is fatal to the red squirrels only.

The group said habitat loss and weak enforcement of existing protections were adding to the problem.

Carter-Robb, said: "The map is shocking. It makes the reality impossible to ignore. This is not theoretical, without action we will lose our red squirrels." She said the "urgent actions that need to be brought together" were "fragmented" and "we are simply managing decline".

The campaign called for a national plan to humanely manage grey squirrel populations and urgent investment in squirrelpox vaccine development. It also wants support for fertility control research and deployment, and protection and enforcement of red squirrel habitat.

"We need government, conservation bodies, landowners, scientists and campaigners around the same table. The tools exist or are being developed. What is missing is coordination, funding and urgency," Carter-Robb added.

The organisation suggested that while it was illegal to kill red squirrels, their habitats were being destroyed.


Grey squirrels, native to North America, carry a virus which is deadly to red squirrels - Image © PA Media

A Defra spokesperson said: "Working alongside landowners and conservation partners, we are supporting promising research into fertility control so that we can manage grey squirrel populations and help our iconic red squirrels and native wildlife flourish.

"We support red squirrel populations in Cumbria and Northumberland by monitoring them and controlling the grey squirrel population. We also manage forest and woodland habitats to enable red squirrels to thrive. We work with and support partner organisations and volunteer red squirrel groups as part of our conservation activity."

They also said Forestry England managed the nation's forests, following "world-class, independently certified, sustainable forest and land management standards" to ensure they thrive and provide vital sustainably produced timber.


The group's map shows the collapse of the native red squirrel population over the past 150 years - Image © Save Our Reds

Is it just me, or does it seem to anyone else also think, that any new trains will not be in 2020s, and could be (at least) half a decade away

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28 is being delayed at Chippenham.
This is due to congestion.

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25
08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25 will be starting late from Swindon.
This is due to congestion.

Easter's late again this year, I see 

I have just heard (1st May)  that my entry is not amongst the winners ... sure, it was a long shot.  I look forward to seeing the winning entries at the stations.

06:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport due 08:25 is being delayed at Reading.
This is due to congestion.

Photo here, courtesy of Simon Hickman.

Mark

Depends on the day. Once MK-OXF EWR is open, then it'd simply be two changes, from May 18th.

'I get to work on the most scenic railway line in the world'


The Settle-Carlisle line is celebrating 150 years having survived a threat of closure in the 1980s - Image © John Giles/PA

Have you heard the one about the railway line that was threatened with closure, so lots of people started using it and it was saved?

Welcome to the Settle to Carlisle line, the quirky steel road through some of Britain's most magnificent countryside.

The line starts in Leeds and passes through Shipley and Skipton, but it is the section between North Yorkshire and Cumbria that is world-famous for its views.

Heading north from Settle, the peak of Pen-y-Ghent soon looms large, with Whernside and Ingleborough following a few miles later.


The line was voted the second most famous in the world last year - Image © Nick Wooley/BBC

Karen Morley-Chesworth from the Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company said the route was "the best of British countryside".

"You can come on the train at Leeds where you bump into people every second, and you get off the train here and there's nobody. There's just scenery."

In the 1980s, there was a proposal to close the line but thousands of people - and one dog - objected. There is now a statue of Ruswarp the border collie, who signed the petition with his paw, and was classed as a paying passenger.

Passenger services started 150 years ago today, and to mark the occasion, tickets are being made available on the Northern-operated route for 150p each.


Ruswarp's pawprint was counted as a signature towards saving the railway - Image © Nick Wooley/BBC

This is a line with added value - it is not uncommon for the train conductor to give a running commentary on the landscape passing by.

Conductor Aaron Hendry said: "It's the luckiest part of my job, getting to be on this line. Last year it was voted the second most scenic line in the world, and I get to work on it. It's brilliant."

It could be argued there's a certain romance about the line too, according to operations manager Susie Smith. "My dad was a driver on the line and we used to come on holiday to Dentdale and stand in a field waving our tea towels, giving him a wave and he'd toot his horn," she said. "I met my husband, who works on the line, so we have our very own love story."

The crown jewel of the route is the legendary Ribblehead Viaduct. Blood, sweat, tears and death built this line. So many men died, many of them "navvies" who moved between major construction projects, they had to make local graveyards bigger. The viaduct consists of 24 arches carrying the track at more than 100ft (30.5m) high. It is an engineering marvel and a Yorkshire landmark.

Pete Myers, chair of the Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company, has spent his life working on the railways. He said: "Without the viaduct, the line just wouldn't be complete. If we are serious about carbon reduction and green travel, public transport is an instrumental part of that. It is a truly green way of looking at the Dales."

At Ribblehead, you will find a station and a pub; appropriately named the Station Inn. The hostelry has just been bought by Andrew Hields, who said the pub and viaduct were "iconic".

"It's a few thousand people a year who come in from the train for sure," he said. "This place wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the railway 150 years ago."

The railway has some stations so far from the towns and villages they purport to serve, you need to bring your walking boots - Dent is four and a half miles from the village itself, but geography dictated where the tracks went.

In 2026, the railway is used by regular passenger services, commuters, steam engines and even mainline trains travelling between London and Glasgow when a diversion is required. When a steam train passes by, you can easily imagine what it was like here a century and a half ago.

Ad today as tickets to the Hammersmith Apollo on sale tomorrow.
Refers to Christopher as 'author'

Europe’s Rail Ticketing Mess: Why Booking a Train Still Feels Harder Than Flying

The European Union likes to present rail as the backbone of a sustainable transport future. Yet, as an April 2026 report from think tank Transport & Environment makes clear, the reality of booking a train across Europe remains fragmented, opaque, and often frustrating. The core problem is not a lack of infrastructure or even demand—it is a failure of the ticketing system to match the expectations of modern travellers.

A System That Discourages Its Own Use

At its most basic level, the European rail ticketing system fails to do what passengers expect: allow them to book a journey from A to B in one go. On some of the EU’s busiest corridors, one in five international rail journeys cannot be booked as a single ticket through major operator platforms.

The problem worsens with distance. For journeys above 900 km, more than half cannot be booked end-to-end via incumbent operators. This is precisely where rail should be competing most strongly with aviation. Instead, it is here that the system breaks down.

Passengers notice. Surveys show that 61% of long-distance travellers have abandoned rail journeys because booking is too complex and booking a train can take up to 70% longer than booking a flight. In an era where convenience defines consumer choice, this is a critical failure.