Wow, where to start?! What a fantastic trip, I can't thank my Auntie Jean enough for taking me with her on this fabulous train trip up to the far North of Scotland. It was magnificent, luxurious and so very interesting. I can't possibly provide details of the entire trip because it would take a book (mm, maybe not a bad idea!?). I took hundreds of photos, both with the dodgy cellphone and also with the Nikon. It's not easy taking photos from a moving train but I think the images that I sent back via Whatsapp to the family were clear enough for them to see what was going on. We were in 'Premier Dining' class, which is the top of the range First Class way to travel. 12 train carriages in total, with one car devoted entirely to the kitchen. 450 people on board. Two chefs and easily over a dozen waiters and waitresses. We were very well looked after, didn't want for anything at all.
Okay to begin. We were picked up in the very early hours of Friday morning from Jean's house by my other auntie, Barbara, who kindly drove us the 35 minutes or so to Ludlow station. Thanks Barbara for giving up your early morning to take us through there in the fog! Our train arrived round about 7.15 and we got on in coach B. We had to walk through the plebs to our coach (H), pulling our cases behind us - not much of a problem at all, to be honest. There could have been more stowage space on the train though - because I had taken the biggest 'small' case that you can and of course, battled a bit to find a place to put it. We were seated at a table with space for two other people, who joined the train later on. Opposite from us sat a couple (Ray and Den) who were so sweet and interesting to talk to - we had a lot of fun talking to them. The couple who sat opposite us, eventually disembarked from the train at Thurso and the woman (Mary) promptly had a heart attack and was rushed to hospital. They didn't get back on the train, needless to say. Quite sad for them but to be honest, Jean and I were a bit relieved not to have to spend anymore time with them because they were both really miserable.
The whole of Friday was spent travelling up through some absolutely magnificent English countryside (we went through the Lake District in parts), up into Scotland via Carlisle and on to Inverness, where we stayed at the Kingsmills Hotel. Gorgeous hotel, lovely comfortable beds and room, breakfasts laid on.
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| Just for perspective - this shows the distance from Ludlow to Inverness - which is 466 miles - or 749 kilometres. Inverness was our base. |
I have to say that I must have put on about 4 kilos during this trip because we had the most wonderful food - most of it haute cuisine. Anyway, I'm going to start posting below some pictures, to get you all up to speed as far as the first day is concerned.
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| Outside our carriage in Carlisle ... Jean peeping at me. |
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| Carlisle station |
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| Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness - lovely little town. |
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| Ray and Den - Ray is a retired farmer. |
We had full breakfast on the train on Friday morning and then Dinner. The food on this trip was amazing, David asked me to stop sending photos on Whatsapp because I was making him hungry.
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| Cumbrian free range chicken stuffed with Scotland's finest haggis, wrapped in Parma ham oven roasted and served with sweet Madeira wine and wild mushroom sauce. Plus veggies and er ... only ONE bottle of wine (we were on our best behaviour). |
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| Orange and Champagne Torte with rasperry and mango sauce and creme fraiche ... darling. |
So that's a potted overview of the first day on our tour.
Whilst I was away Ewan received a special award at school, as well as a badge that he wears for the week, so well done my boy.
Ewan missed me a lot I understand, he kept asking his mummy when I was coming home 'Two days is a lot, Mummy' ... Hayzel didn't have the heart to tell him it was 4. He also told his mummy that if I didn't come home soon, he'd come and get me himself. He wanted to listen to audios of my voice and ended up sending me a little audio himself, telling me how much he missed me and he "croyed" ... His sister also missed me. Hayzel found her sitting on my bed one day and she said the room was empty without Nana. It's good for them to miss me though, makes them appreciate how fantastic I am, I guess!
More on my Scottish trip to follow.
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