Birdbrain
Member
- Joined
- 16 Jun 2007
- Messages
- 398
Where to start with this one!? So earlier this month I traveled with my girlfriend on a trip to Scotland stopping off at various places. It all started as my trips usually do, on board the 1938 tube stock for the trip to Ryde Pier Head! Bumpy as usual we arrived on time at the pier for the short dash to the ferry. Wight Ryder 1 was the vessel for the day and we soon off onto the mainland for the start of the holiday. When we arrived at Portsmouth Harbour we had to be very quick at we were traveling to London using Southern rather than SWT. I'ts only a 3 minute connection of the ferry so we had to run! Southern was chosen because of the bargin YP day travelcard at only £14 from Portsmouth.
We took seats in the leading carriage both facing forwards around a table. The train soon became busy and we were joined at our table by more pax at Fratton who seemed to talk and talk about their jobs and lives. I think i could probably write a book about them! An interesting bit happened at East Croyden as there was an argument between an RPI and a passenger about 1st class. Somewhere around Crawley the guard had made an announcement that 1st is declassified. However when we joined with the Bognor Regis portion the RPI hadn't been told! I don't know how it was resolved in the end but it didn't seem fair on the passenger! We arrived at Victoria and took the tube to Euston where we left our bags for the day. Hungry, a big mac was consumed before taking the tube to North Grenwich to try the Cable Car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541620098/
It was surprisingly busy as we had to wait to be sold tickets and wait to get a cable car. It was quite cheap as we had a travel card and we were both very impressed. When you compare the price to that of the London eye it seems very reasonable. We headed across to the DLR and took it as far at Stratford. My girlfriend was very interested in how the whole system was driver less.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541616256/in/photostream/
We then walked around Westfield Centre, brought nothing and returned to the station to take the DLR back to Bank via Canary Wharf. It is a really interesting system, much better than a tube system for that part of London. We had dinner in weatherspoons before heading to Euston in time to board the highland sleeper. Boarding commenced at 2030 on the dot, and we took to long walk to the end of the train to join the Fort William portion. Check in was completed with a very cheerful man who also sold us the breakfast upgrade. For £4 it was worth it in my opinion, especially if you sit in the lounge and make it last! 90024 was the traction for the section to Edinburgh.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538821929/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541607534/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538812443/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538808099/in/photostream/
The berths are compact but cosy. I took the lower bunk and slept reasonably well. I slept much better on the lowland, probably as I wasn't filled with as much excitement! I heard the shunting at Edinburgh and remained asleep in the cabin until somewhere around Bowling where we awoke to find 67004 in charge. We had requested breakfast in the lounge so around Ardlui we picked up our breakfast from the hosts compartment and took a seat in the lounge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541588614/in/photostream/
This part of the trip really did feel special. There is something amazing about drifting through the west highlands at 30mph in a proper loco hauled train in a proper mk2 seat that is really excellent! We ate our fruit, croissant and shortbread enjoying the views of Horseshoe Curve, Rannoch Moor and Loch Treig.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541578902/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538771517/in/photostream/
All too soon it was time to return to the cabin to pack up and alight at Fort William. Luckily we had not been delayed so we could take the Jacobite as planned.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538762895/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541557072/in/photostream/
There was slight dissapointment here as we had booked forward facing seats and were given backwards ones. Also the weather was getting really bad so sadly most of the views after Loch Eil were hidden in the mist! At Glenfinnian, everyone on the train moved over to the left hand side like a heard of elephants almost squashing us up against the window. It seems manors are left behind when the camera is in hand! Anyway we arrived at Mallaig and ate a pasty while waiting for the boat.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541540770/in/photostream/
Mallaig is missing a trick, everyday huge numbers of people want to eat and drink between 1230 and 1400 and every cafe in the town was full leaving people just stood outside. There is some money to be made for someone. The rain had got worse as we boarded the steep ramp onto the Skye Ferry.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541536952/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538742695/in/photostream/
At Armadale we boarded the 51 (which waited for all passengers off the ferry) to our b&b in Kyleakin where we stayed for a few nights. Kyleakin is now a sleepy village since the last ferry left almost twenty years ago. The public transport on Skye isn't great but everything seems to link up, normally at Broadford, and if you plan carefully you can have some good days out. We had one day out to Portree which for the islands main town was very small!
We also went over the bridge on the citylink coach and took the train to Plockton and then onto Duncraig and enjoyed some really good walks along the bank of the loch. My girlfriend enjoyed hailing the train at Duncraig as she had never heard of having to do this before! Plockton was also a nice villiage with an excellent inn and a few shop!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541523636/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541507790/in/photostream/
On our final day in Kyleakin we took a glass bottom wildlife trip from Kyle. This was brilliant and we saw plenty of seals, otters, porpoises and starfish among other things!
The next day we took the train from Kyle to Dingwall. I was amazed by the scenery on this line. It's hard to choose between this and the WHL for me. You skirt the lochs and mountains for the first part before suddenly being in the middle of no where and finally coming into more agricultural land near Dingwall. We changed trains here for the Far North and took to train all the way to Wick via Thurso. The far north line was equally as fascinating. Again it starts off more agricultural before snaking its way north first by the sea then inland and then a very pretty section to Helmsdale by the sea when more seals were spotted. After Helmsdale the line becomes very bleak with land that seems to go on for miles with nothing there! Altnabreac was passed at high speed and after 4 hours of jointed track we arrived, tired, at Wick!
That evening we took a walk to the harbour before eating dinner. Wick seemed to be a shadow of its former self, the fishing industry maybe smaller than it used to be with plenty of what seemed to be empty buildings by the harbour. We spotted another seal right in the harbour!
The next day we took the stagecoach bus 77 to John O Groats. It was an optare solo and we were the only passengers! Again it was flat, bleak and desolate.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541496446/in/photostream/
From John O Groats we had booked onto the Highlights day tour of Orkney, operated by John O Groats ferries. It was expensive at £51 each but I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Caithiness. We boarded the Pentland Venture which took us to Burwick on South Ronaldsly, Orkney.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538703155/in/photostream/
It was a calm crossing yet the boat still rolled a lot. This crossing must be bad in anything but a flat sea! We arrived on Orkney and were met by our tour guide, Brian! We then travelled around Orkney stopping off at Kirkwall with its interesting Cathederal, Skara Brae an ancient village, Ring Of Brogdar a stone circle much larger and more impressive than Stonehenge and an Italian chapel. We also traveled over the Churchill barriers which were built in the war after a ship was sunk in Scapa Flow by a german u boat. It was a facinating day out. Orkney had such a different feel to the rest of mainland Scotland, I would easily return!
The following day we took the train south to Inverness were we stayed for two nights.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538698607/in/photostream/
The trip south was good, my eyes glued to the windows! Also at this point I could mention that Scotrail seem to do their own catering on the trains, please correct if I am wrong. Most of the items seemed much more reasonably priced and a better selection than rail gourmet! We arrived at Inverness and had a walk round the city before dinner.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541474302/in/photostream/
The following day we had booked on a tour of Loch Ness. This also meant we could get half price on City Sightseeing, so we did!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538680853/in/photostream/
It was an interesting tour although Inverness isn't a large city so you could probably see most of it on foot if you wanted. Another tip if your in Inverness is to visit Leakeys Bookshop. It's a hidden gem and I emerged with £40 worth of rail books! In the afternoon we took the tour to Loch Ness and Urqhart Castle. The scale of the place is amazing and its just one of those things you have to say you have done.
The following morning we took the Highland Cheiftain south to London in 1st Class thanks to my free rewards tickets. I have posted about the catering on another thread but it really was good. We had tea and coffee after leaving most stations. A full breakfast, bacon roll, shortbread, crisps, cake, indian chicken dinner, juice, water. We didn't go hungry! We arrived an hour late at Kings Cross but this didn't really matter as we were being treated so well!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538672185/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538667845/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541454838/in/photostream/
We then headed south to Portsmouth with SWT and then back onto the Isle. It was such a great trip, I really hope I can return soon to scratch off Oban and Aberdeen! Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far and if you have any questions about anything just ask!
We took seats in the leading carriage both facing forwards around a table. The train soon became busy and we were joined at our table by more pax at Fratton who seemed to talk and talk about their jobs and lives. I think i could probably write a book about them! An interesting bit happened at East Croyden as there was an argument between an RPI and a passenger about 1st class. Somewhere around Crawley the guard had made an announcement that 1st is declassified. However when we joined with the Bognor Regis portion the RPI hadn't been told! I don't know how it was resolved in the end but it didn't seem fair on the passenger! We arrived at Victoria and took the tube to Euston where we left our bags for the day. Hungry, a big mac was consumed before taking the tube to North Grenwich to try the Cable Car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541620098/
It was surprisingly busy as we had to wait to be sold tickets and wait to get a cable car. It was quite cheap as we had a travel card and we were both very impressed. When you compare the price to that of the London eye it seems very reasonable. We headed across to the DLR and took it as far at Stratford. My girlfriend was very interested in how the whole system was driver less.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541616256/in/photostream/
We then walked around Westfield Centre, brought nothing and returned to the station to take the DLR back to Bank via Canary Wharf. It is a really interesting system, much better than a tube system for that part of London. We had dinner in weatherspoons before heading to Euston in time to board the highland sleeper. Boarding commenced at 2030 on the dot, and we took to long walk to the end of the train to join the Fort William portion. Check in was completed with a very cheerful man who also sold us the breakfast upgrade. For £4 it was worth it in my opinion, especially if you sit in the lounge and make it last! 90024 was the traction for the section to Edinburgh.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538821929/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541607534/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538812443/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538808099/in/photostream/
The berths are compact but cosy. I took the lower bunk and slept reasonably well. I slept much better on the lowland, probably as I wasn't filled with as much excitement! I heard the shunting at Edinburgh and remained asleep in the cabin until somewhere around Bowling where we awoke to find 67004 in charge. We had requested breakfast in the lounge so around Ardlui we picked up our breakfast from the hosts compartment and took a seat in the lounge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541588614/in/photostream/
This part of the trip really did feel special. There is something amazing about drifting through the west highlands at 30mph in a proper loco hauled train in a proper mk2 seat that is really excellent! We ate our fruit, croissant and shortbread enjoying the views of Horseshoe Curve, Rannoch Moor and Loch Treig.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541578902/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538771517/in/photostream/
All too soon it was time to return to the cabin to pack up and alight at Fort William. Luckily we had not been delayed so we could take the Jacobite as planned.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538762895/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541557072/in/photostream/
There was slight dissapointment here as we had booked forward facing seats and were given backwards ones. Also the weather was getting really bad so sadly most of the views after Loch Eil were hidden in the mist! At Glenfinnian, everyone on the train moved over to the left hand side like a heard of elephants almost squashing us up against the window. It seems manors are left behind when the camera is in hand! Anyway we arrived at Mallaig and ate a pasty while waiting for the boat.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541540770/in/photostream/
Mallaig is missing a trick, everyday huge numbers of people want to eat and drink between 1230 and 1400 and every cafe in the town was full leaving people just stood outside. There is some money to be made for someone. The rain had got worse as we boarded the steep ramp onto the Skye Ferry.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541536952/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538742695/in/photostream/
At Armadale we boarded the 51 (which waited for all passengers off the ferry) to our b&b in Kyleakin where we stayed for a few nights. Kyleakin is now a sleepy village since the last ferry left almost twenty years ago. The public transport on Skye isn't great but everything seems to link up, normally at Broadford, and if you plan carefully you can have some good days out. We had one day out to Portree which for the islands main town was very small!
We also went over the bridge on the citylink coach and took the train to Plockton and then onto Duncraig and enjoyed some really good walks along the bank of the loch. My girlfriend enjoyed hailing the train at Duncraig as she had never heard of having to do this before! Plockton was also a nice villiage with an excellent inn and a few shop!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541523636/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541507790/in/photostream/
On our final day in Kyleakin we took a glass bottom wildlife trip from Kyle. This was brilliant and we saw plenty of seals, otters, porpoises and starfish among other things!
The next day we took the train from Kyle to Dingwall. I was amazed by the scenery on this line. It's hard to choose between this and the WHL for me. You skirt the lochs and mountains for the first part before suddenly being in the middle of no where and finally coming into more agricultural land near Dingwall. We changed trains here for the Far North and took to train all the way to Wick via Thurso. The far north line was equally as fascinating. Again it starts off more agricultural before snaking its way north first by the sea then inland and then a very pretty section to Helmsdale by the sea when more seals were spotted. After Helmsdale the line becomes very bleak with land that seems to go on for miles with nothing there! Altnabreac was passed at high speed and after 4 hours of jointed track we arrived, tired, at Wick!
That evening we took a walk to the harbour before eating dinner. Wick seemed to be a shadow of its former self, the fishing industry maybe smaller than it used to be with plenty of what seemed to be empty buildings by the harbour. We spotted another seal right in the harbour!
The next day we took the stagecoach bus 77 to John O Groats. It was an optare solo and we were the only passengers! Again it was flat, bleak and desolate.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541496446/in/photostream/
From John O Groats we had booked onto the Highlights day tour of Orkney, operated by John O Groats ferries. It was expensive at £51 each but I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Caithiness. We boarded the Pentland Venture which took us to Burwick on South Ronaldsly, Orkney.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538703155/in/photostream/
It was a calm crossing yet the boat still rolled a lot. This crossing must be bad in anything but a flat sea! We arrived on Orkney and were met by our tour guide, Brian! We then travelled around Orkney stopping off at Kirkwall with its interesting Cathederal, Skara Brae an ancient village, Ring Of Brogdar a stone circle much larger and more impressive than Stonehenge and an Italian chapel. We also traveled over the Churchill barriers which were built in the war after a ship was sunk in Scapa Flow by a german u boat. It was a facinating day out. Orkney had such a different feel to the rest of mainland Scotland, I would easily return!
The following day we took the train south to Inverness were we stayed for two nights.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538698607/in/photostream/
The trip south was good, my eyes glued to the windows! Also at this point I could mention that Scotrail seem to do their own catering on the trains, please correct if I am wrong. Most of the items seemed much more reasonably priced and a better selection than rail gourmet! We arrived at Inverness and had a walk round the city before dinner.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541474302/in/photostream/
The following day we had booked on a tour of Loch Ness. This also meant we could get half price on City Sightseeing, so we did!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538680853/in/photostream/
It was an interesting tour although Inverness isn't a large city so you could probably see most of it on foot if you wanted. Another tip if your in Inverness is to visit Leakeys Bookshop. It's a hidden gem and I emerged with £40 worth of rail books! In the afternoon we took the tour to Loch Ness and Urqhart Castle. The scale of the place is amazing and its just one of those things you have to say you have done.
The following morning we took the Highland Cheiftain south to London in 1st Class thanks to my free rewards tickets. I have posted about the catering on another thread but it really was good. We had tea and coffee after leaving most stations. A full breakfast, bacon roll, shortbread, crisps, cake, indian chicken dinner, juice, water. We didn't go hungry! We arrived an hour late at Kings Cross but this didn't really matter as we were being treated so well!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538672185/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9538667845/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75113538@N04/9541454838/in/photostream/
We then headed south to Portsmouth with SWT and then back onto the Isle. It was such a great trip, I really hope I can return soon to scratch off Oban and Aberdeen! Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far and if you have any questions about anything just ask!
