Meeting down south – two nights on the sleeper

Posted on 3rd Sep 2026 by insightndes

Cheapest, most time effective and least stressful way to attend a meeting near Manchester in the south is using the Caledonian Sleeper. Travel while you sleep and no hotel needed.

I go to sleep in the Highlands.

And I wake up near Birmingham.

I get off the sleeper at 0620 at Birmingham International.

The only time a train was late on the trip was the train from Birmingham International to Birmingham New Street. I did not miss my next connection so no harm done. I eat my sleeper breakfast while waiting.

Glad I had the bike with me.

On to my destination.

After a day of work I catch the train to Manchester, with a stop for food.

The train that I am on takes me down to Birmingham International where I wait for the sleeper which comes in at 2240. Then to bed and sleep.

I grab breakfast in Inverness.

Then it’s back to the north.

I chose to get off and on to the sleeper at Birmingham international rather than Crewe as I got an hours more sleep in both directions. I did have to travel further but this was preferable to getting off the sleeper really early and getting on really late.

Why is this cheaper than other methods of travel? I saved two hotel nights, no airport parking no miles in the car, no flights. Easy win.

My carbon footprint was far lower than if I had taken a flight.

And I was relaxed. I had an Ok sleep on the way down and a really good sleep on the way back.

Tourism, Travel

Far North – Manchester – Aberdeen

Posted on 24th Jul 2026 by insightndes

A trip to the south, or the northwest of England as it is known, and then to the northeast of Scotland. This got off to a bad start when the ScotRail app told me at nine in the evening, before I was due to go, that the 0650 train was cancelled as it had broken down. Good that I was informed, bad that it was late in the day. The ScotRail app works well.

Could I catch the later train, and arrive late in Manchester or find an alternative? I went for the alternative, booking the Ember electric bus, meaning an earlier start, arriving an hour earlier in Inverness. The Ember bus is easy to book onto via the web.

The ride experience in the Ember bus was good, but still prefer the train. Early start meant packing a breakfast sandwich for the journey.

The elevation of the bus meant I could see far more than what I normally see from a car.

A wait in Inverness and then on to the next leg, back on track.

It is on to Edinburgh, where I changed trains. The temperature is far higher than further north.

Changed trains at Carlisle. The forecast temperature here is 24 degrees but the temperature in the glass roofed station is more like the mid 30s. It’s a greenhouse.

It was a twelve hour journey.

I am staying at the Premier Inn near the station, which is extremely close and convenient. I am on the ninth floor, a room with a view.

There are lots of canals in the centre of Manchester.

Manchester is an interesting city.

It is off to Crewe to catch the sleeper.

The Caledonian Sleeper is due at 2345, but as ever it arrives late at Crewe. I get to bed just after midnight and I wake up in Scotland.

Safety, Travel

Manchester, Birchwood, Inverness – drama in Edinburgh

Posted on 7th Nov 20256th Nov 2025 by insightndes

Back to Birchwood, the leaves have been cleared.

The train is delayed by trespassers.

The delay meant I could not get a decent lunch.

A short ride between Warrington train stations

The train to Edinburgh was delayed due to trespassers. However there was plenty of leeway to catch the connecting train, especially if I changed at Haymarket.

As we headed north the delayed train lost time rather than catching up.

We arrived at Haymarket. As I got off the train. I heard the Inverness train leaving. That added another hour to the journey. Why can’t the trains cooperate to avoid these problems. It was minutes. And why was the Edinburgh train continually slowed down.

Time to kill so time to grab food.

Now this is when things got crazy.

I was looking at the display times for the trains on platform four. A man stumbled down the stairs grabbed hold of one my belt loops, span round out of control, falling off the platform, onto the train track. At that point my thoughts were , was a train coming, how do we get this man off the tracks, going down onto the tracks was not an option, too risky. We coaxed the man to his feet, and four complete strangers hauled the man onto the platform.. We restrained the man to stop a further incident.

I thought that the next train was mine, got on discovered it wasn’t. After getting on the correct train I realised just how traumatic I had found the incident.

Travel

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Posted on 6th Nov 2025 by insightndes

The problem with catching the late afternoon train in autumn is that it’s dark. No views.

The ride from Euston to Paddington was less affected by the traffic lights than normal. As a result I managed to catch an earlier train to Reading.

Then on to Mortimer.

What a smooth journey, all the trains on time. No overcrowding. I had slept very well on the sleeper. A good journey.

And then……

On to the train at Reading to Manchester Piccadilly. It was rammed. Totally overcrowded.

Things started going really wrong and confusing as we went to Oxford. Announced that we would have to change trains. Then announced we would not have to change trains but we needed to go past Oxford into a siding and then come back. A long wait in the siding then back to the station. Then it was announced we would have to change trains after all.

There was a signal failure near Banbury.

We crossed Oxford Station and caught a train towards Hereford, changed at Worcester, heading to Birmingham. This was bad as now I was due to be in Manchester two hours late.