Failed again.

Well, we've reached the end of the year and how has the Smartie Challenge gone?

As you can tell from the lack of posting, completely rubbish.

It's not that I haven't visited any of these places, more that I didn't do it by train with the express intention of writing a blog post. In my defence, I've been very, very, busy this year. No holidays for Phil and not as many days off as I should have had.

So, despite having a new calendar this year, I'm going to stick to the 2015 list and do my best to tick them off as promised. I'll also try and drop in a few travelling related posts along the way.

If I can get myself organised, maybe I won't be so embarrassed next year.

The Smartie Challenge

Back in 2009, I decided to try and visit every location on the National Railway Museum's poster calendar. That year I failed miserably with only one town ticked off in 12 months.

Well, although my travelling track record has improved recent, what with Australia and the Isle of Man again, I still need more inspiration. So, I'm going to try again.

To make things easier, I'm using a more restricted calendar - The Midlands Poster Art Calendar isn't going to send me to Scotland or Ireland. This way everything can be done in a day trip and for sensible money even on our stupidly over-priced (Thank you John Major) rail system.

The list of targets is:

• Lincoln
• Ashby-de-la-Zouch
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• Malvern
• Shrewsbury
• Derbyshire
• Droitwich
• Rugby
• The Wye Valley
• Nottingham
• Stafford
• Warwick

A bit mixed - Ashby and the Wye Valley don't have railway stations so I'll have to get as close as I can by train and then bus the rest.

Warwick and Stratford are a whole lot easier since both are within a few miles of Leamington Spa.

Each visit will generate a blog post and also a nice day out for me - which is the point of the whole thing. And if I don't get a move on, I bet a weeks work and a RailRover could see pretty much all of them ticked off.