Derrie Danders: From Coleraine to the Walled City by Train

Northern Ireland's north coast rail line has been called one of the world's most beautiful train journeys, and it's easy to see why. On this train tour, you'll watch the Causeway Coast unfold between Coleraine and Derry/Londonderry. You'll also hear how tunnels, bridges, and wartime airfields shaped this stretch of the Bann, Roe and Foyle valleys.

The tour starts outside Coleraine Train Station, where you'll board for the forty-minute ride northwest. You'll cross the lifting Bann Railway Bridge, pass Castlerock's golf links and sea caves, then rattle through two Victorian railway tunnels blasted in the 1840s. Beyond them, you'll skirt the seven-mile beach used as Dragonstone in Game of Thrones, with Binevenagh mountain rising to your left.

Past Bellarena, you'll cross the River Roe estuary, where legend tells of a wolfhound's desperate leap that saved an O'Cahan chieftain. You'll pass the disused runway at Shackleton Barracks, once an RAF base, and City of Derry Airport, built as a wartime fighter station. Nearing the city, you'll see Lisahally, where dozens of surrendered German U-boats gathered at the end of World War II, before passing beneath the Peace Bridge. The tour ends at Derry/Londonderry Train Station, opposite the Guildhall and within walking distance of the historic Walled City.

On this 40-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Hear how author C.S. Lewis drew on nearby Downhill House and Dunluce Castle for his Narnia books
• Learn about blind harpist Denis O'Hampsey, who lived to 112 and how Jane Ross recorded the music of the Londonderry Air melody
• Find out about the Broighter Hoard, a cache of ancient gold artefacts discovered near Limavady in 1896
• Discover how the railway line escaped closure in the early 2000's
• See the Foyle Bridge, built near the site of King James II's 1689 river blockade during the Great Siege of Derry

By the time you reach Derry/Londonderry, you'll understand why this journey has captivated travel presenters and locals alike, and why the line itself which was once nearly lost for good was saved.