T he Christmas market doesn’t know what’s hit it. At 8.30 on a mid-November morning Exeter is a whirl of white, a city half-blinded by tumbling flakes.
Four market workers, caught out by this overly authentic addition to the festive decor, are busy shovelling the ground in front of the bao stalls and craft gin chalets. Above them, the cathedral’s medieval towers stand tall and cold in the heaven-filling flurry. Winter has arrived in Devon with bells on.
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I’m here to catch a train to see some birdlife. A breakfast blizzard wasn’t part of the plan, but sometimes these things don’t go as expected. The city’s Queen Street has turned into a real-life snow globe – Narnia with sandwich shops – yet the little two-carriage train I’m catching trundles into Exeter Central bang on time.
I find a window seat and settle in. Snowy rooftops roll by. Somewhere, an estuary lies in wait.
The Avocet line – named after the wader bird on the RSPB logo – runs between Exeter and the coastal town of Exmouth. It’s an epic rail journey, but not in the customary sense. “That’s £6.
40 return,” says the ticket-seller. “And not a problem to break your journey in Topsham on the way back.” Built in 1861 as the Exmouth branch railway, the line covers a mere 11 miles, passes eight small stations and takes less than 30 minutes to travel end to end.
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