Travel

The far north to London in July

Setting off

A sunny but cool day for the trip on the far north line.

Train arriving

And then on to the Caledonian Sleeper at Inverness.

Dinner

All very civilised, dinner (overpriced) and breakfast in the buffet car.

Breakfast cuppa

This is a very effective way to get to London, set off at 1632 from Thurso, arrive in 0800, 30 minutes earlier than expected. There were meant to be delays due to engineering works.

Arrival at Euston

After leaving Euston station I encountered action by people dressed in orange tabards, who I believe were Just Stop Oil protestors. This did not affect me for two reasons. I was cycling and I was heading in the opposite direction to the blocked carriage way. Traffic stationary on the other side of the road. A minute later I spotted a single police car trying to make its way through the traffic. Then another few minutes on half a dozen police vans with sirens blaring. The vans were struggling to get through the stationary traffic so they crossed over to my side of the carriage way. All very exciting. Why did they not travel from the opposite direction in the first place ?

Travel

Caledonian Sleeper

Go to sleep in the Scottish Highlands and wake up in the deep south of England. What better way to travel? Efficient, traveling while you sleep. Enjoyable, far more fun than sitting in soulless airports. But it is pricey.

The options are, sleeping in a recliner – cheap but not cheerful, a room to yourself or with a friend with a friend, or for a bit more with a en-suite shower/toilet. If you really push the boat out you can have a double bed.

The sleeper service uses the rail track infrastructure which is underused at night, which must be a good idea.