Former Transport Minister Michael Portillo films BBC documentary in Cumbria (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Former Transport Minister Michael Portillo films BBC documentary in Cumbria

8:20am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in News

A FORMER Minister of State for Transport has been in Cumbria as part of a BBC documentary.

Michael Portillo filmed his rail journey around the county for the television series Great British Railway Journeys, in which he discovers some of the UK’s most scenic countryside and coastline.

Mr Portillo started his journey travelling from Bardon Mill to Wigton with a stop at South Tynedale Railway, England’s highest narrow gauge railway, along the way.

Mr Portillo, who is passionate about trains, will also travel through Barrow-in-Furness, Morecambe Bay, Cartmel and then Grange-over-Sands before heading into Lancashire to continue the rest of his journey on the BBC2 series, which will start tonight and run until Thursday.

Managing director of Cumbria Tourism, Ian Stephens, is encouraging others to follow in Mr Portillo’s footsteps: “Cumbria has a great deal to offer and what better way to explore than by train - a stress free way of discovering Hadrian’s Wall Country, the Lake District Coast, the Furness Peninsula and the South Lakes.”