Llanberis to Holyhead

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains, as his journey follows the route of the Irish mail from Ledbury to Holyhead.

Michael takes the train to the top of Wales's highest peak, Mount Snowdon; witnesses the revival of Anglesey's sea salt industry; and discovers how the railways transformed the tiny port of Holyhead.