Day 4
I boarded the 09:46 LNER service from Newark Northgate to Edinburgh Waverley, with a scheduled arrival at 13:12. I had done the East Coast Mainline as far north as Newcastle and I was really looking forward to going beyond there that day. I tried out the Lets Eat At Your Seat service for the second time, hoping that I would actually receive my order! Thankfully my bacon roll, Kit Kat and Pepsi Max arrived not too long after I ordered, success! At £6 for the meal deal this was about what I'd expect to pay on a train, so not a bad price, though I will say the selection of snacks in the meal deal was somewhat lacking. I really enjoyed not only entering Scotland on a train for the first time (second time entering Scotland in my life) but also seeing the views of the coast as we sped up to Edinburgh!
After arrival at Edinburgh Waverley 2 minutes early, I had around 18 minutes until my next train. I took this time to grab some food, specifically a bacon roll from Costa Coffee inside the station. It was expensive at £3.90 on it's own but it was really good! I then boarded the 13:29 ScotRail service to Inverness. I recall seeing that this was meant to be a HST but it seems that something went wrong as it ended up being a class 170, oh well. Regardless, this was a very enjoyable journey. This was my first time to the Highlands and I enjoyed the views! I had a tight 7 minute connection at Inverness which if missed would through my entire plan into the bin. The train was running a little late so I was unsure as to whether I'd make it to my next train.
The train arrived into Inverness 4 minutes late at 17:10 so I had little time to waste making my connection. With just 3 minutes to go, I quickly made my way through two gatelines and luckily made it to my next train, the 17:13 to Aberdeen, which was operated by a HST. The train was quite empty and it was a nice journey to Aberdeen.
Upon arrival at Aberdeen 1 minute early at 19:36, I headed to the Sainsbury's Local near the station to grab some food for my next train, which was going to be my longest ever journey on a single train service yet. Once I arrived back at Aberdeen Station, I waited for the 20:26 Caledonian Sleeper service to London Euston. Boarding commenced later than planned however eventually we departed 18 minutes behind schedule at 20:44. The Caledonian Sleeper would allow me to have an absolutely amazing journey, being able to have a drink in the club car, having a bed in a private room on the train and waking up refreshed with a morning shower included - or at least thats how it would have been if I had bought myself a room supplement. Instead, I was in a seat, though this didn't mean I had a bad journey! Since I was in the same seat (with some minor differences) used in the first class sections on the class 80Xs, this allowed for a comfortable journey. I ordered some food to my seat, specifically some pepperoni pizza twisters, a portion of chips, a packet of salted crisps and a can of Irn-Bru! At £15 this was expensive but as it might be a while until I do it again, whether in a seat or in a berth, I thought I'd just bite the bullet and go for it, I needed some dinner anyway. With that being said, a word of warning for anyone thinking of purchasing food in the seated coach: I didn't think the food wasn't very good, the chips weren't very good in terms of quality and while the pizza twisters were nice, I only got two of them. Whatever I suppose, the views were very nice though and I got to see a lovely sunset! After midnight with the train being stationary at Edinburgh Waverley, I decided to try and drift off to sleep, which I thankfully succeeded in doing. While I did wake up more than once, I actually got more sleep than I expected.
And that is the end of day 4!
Score with two free nights, always a bonus on an expensive trip. I absolutely didn't envy the poor sleep going into the trip, but very much to be expected when really hyped for an adventure. How you kept going on such a small amount of food though is beyond me, all that travel on barely any food!
