The Brain Line

Recently I was moaning about having to spend half an hour wiping the mud off Hooli every time we went for a walk and someone suggested we walk along the disused railway line nearby. It was an inspired suggestion, and life has been much easier (and quite interesting) since we started taking walks there.

This is what used to be Swanbourne Railway Station. It is now a private residence, but the platforms and railway line are still there, although the line is rather overgrown.

This used to be known as the Varsity Line, because it was the link between Oxford and Cambridge. And sometimes it would be called the Brain Line, (Main Line/Brain Line). It was closed in 1967 during what was called the Beeching Axe.

Here's a section of the line near the old Station.
This bridge seems to connect the two sides of a farm that must have been split when the railway was built.

Here's Hooli trying to get into a badger's sett. Luckily he's too big, and badgers are nocturnal, or he might have got his nose scratched.
A line of trees on the horizon, broken up by that strange helicopter-like tree.
It's sad to see it overgrown and disused, and in places the rails have been removed completely, but it's a really nice place to walk.