Just to add my appreciation of a tough but ultimately rewarding puzzle. Had I not managed to tease out the last few clues or finally spot the second city, I might be less in favour!
We had a family reunion in Muncaster 5-12 Oct (lovely walk up Black Combe on the glorious sunny Wednesday), so I started to tackle this on the train back. I knew I only needed to change at Barrow and Manchester for Nottingham but I'd got on an earlier train than scheduled. Deep in Listener thought, I heard a muffled announcement as we reached Preston, but only after we left heading the other way and a clearer announcement mentioned Keswick did I realise I should have changed trains!
Luckily Lancaster was only 15 minutes away and I ended up on the train from Manchester where I had a reserved seat, so no harm done.
I was so pleased with finishing the puzzle on Monday that I convinced myself I still had a week to post it. Realised after 5 pm today, so probably posted too late. Doh!
Can't resolve wordplay for 17 and 26A, but answers are clear enough.