"This is where the fun begins"Aer LingusDublin, Ireland: The Battle of JetLagIreland: Wicklow and the last day in DublinOur London experience...Change of plans - I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye (Part I)Change of plans - I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye (Part II)The cross country tour: Edinburgh (Part I)The cross country tour: Edinburgh Castle (Part II)The cross country tour: Journey to Thurso (Part III)The northern adventure: Thuro, Stromness, and WickEdinburgh, Glasgow: To and fro'A few randomsOban, Scotland: The AC Choir and the ColiseumCraignure, Isle of Mull: Yeah...about thatOban, Scotland: Back to Oban / Queen's HotelWestern Adventures: Mull, Iona, Staffa, & Oban (Part I)Western Adventures: Mull, Iona, Staffa, & Oban (Part II)The finale: Last morning in Oban / Last day in Glasgow
 | Zathrak |  | Ireland, England, & Scotland |  | The cross country tour... |
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May 5 2010, 12:51 PM
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Inverness, United Kingdom
(Jo)
And I’m back for the fun stories. Actually, I’m not sure how fun it will be, but we’ll see!
This morning started bright and early for us, I think the first alarm went off at about 6am, and I believe we finally pried ourselves out of bed around 6.30am. Our train was scheduled to leave the station at 8.30am, and we still had all of our packing to do (you have a ton of stuff when you’re traveling around for just about 3 weeks let me tell you what! As a side note I cannot wait to be in Thurso because we’ll be able to settle in for a whopping four days, hooray!). So one we got all of our stuff together and were ready for the day, we decided that we should have some breakfast before we started our long train journey today.
Cue my first rant of these posts. The “traditional breakfast”. Oh what I would give for some French toast, or even decently made eggs. So let me explain this breakfast that I’ve had to sit through quite a few times now. The eggs come as either scrambled (watery one’s at that too) or fried. I know that Jes is a fan of them, and mister Danny Balger has had them as well and likes them, but I just cannot get into them! They’re greasy and hard. Maybe I just haven’t had them made right, but I’ll pass for now. Then there’s the meat. They have “bacon” (which is really just slices of ham), and the sausage (I don’t know what kind it is, but I had one bite and it was like creamy meat and I haven’t touched one since). Then comes the fun bits. They always come with a steamed tomato, black pudding (if you are really curious, Google it. I won’t spoil the appetite of all of our readers with its description, but trust me, it is just terrible), a potato cake, and beans. You can add toast if you’d like, but that’s basically it. I think if I have to attempt to stomach too many more of these breakfasts I might rebel against all breakfasts for a while when we come back. End my breakfast rant.
So once we got done eating, we checked out of our wonderful Jurys Inn hotel (I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Edinburgh!), and walked down to the train station. Once we were there we collected our tickets, found our platform, and got on our train! And well that is where this post first started. Like Jes said, these trains are great. The seats were comfortable, we have a tabel, a huge window to look out of, and it’s not incredibly crowded at all. The first leg of our journey was just over 3 hours long and that took us from Edinburgh to Inverness. I did in fact rock the Sudoku, and Jes wrote the start of this post. The view was just absolutely breathtaking. There are no words really. We went along the coast for about an hour before traveling up into the mountains. There was the best combination of sun, clouds, mist, snow (that’s right, snow, in May! On top of the mountains of course), and mountains. Those will definitely be some of the pictures to check out, though I’m sure they won’t be nearly as beautiful or entertaining as the view was in person, but for us this long train ride and those particular bits were worth every pence and the days travel!
We stopped in Inverness and had a layover for about two hours. We decided instead of venturing out into the city with all of our luggage and such, we would just have lunch at a pub right there in the train station. So we went in and I kindly asked the woman at the bar (who looked like the one in charge) if we could have a table for lunch. She said we were welcome to a table but the chef took the day off so all they were serving was breakfast. So, I have a few points to make. First off, it’s the middle of the week, and the chef took a day off? Ok, I can overlook that (this was what Jes first thought), but you only have one chef? This Is not a small train station, and you’re a pub, with one chef? What sense does this make? And thirdly, all they were serving was the traditional breakfast I had just ranted about, so there was no way we were hanging around. So we made our way next door to a little café and had a small sandwich and chips and hung around until we could board the train. I decided to buy two newspapers (because all we have been doing here when we’re not out and about is watch the news, it’s quite fascinating really, I’m loving having the BBC). Though there were so many papers I had no idea which to chose, so I just grabbed two and they both turned out to be duds and extremely boring to the point of almost putting me to sleep on our train ride.
When we boarded this train we found it not to be quite as nice as our first one, but the seats aren’t bad, we have a huge window still, and our table. We’re stopping at most of the stations we pass along the way, so I think we have upwards of 15 or so until we get to Thurso. We did have one British jerk (I’m telling you, none of them are nice or pleasant!) who joined on a few stops past Inverness. He proceeded to drink three vodka and cokes (ew! Who drinks that really?) in a fairly short period of time and then he fell asleep with his headphones in. And then let the snoring begin. Oh my goodness and the teeth grinding. Doesn’t he know he’s in public and the rest of us don’t want to hear him? Clearly not, so he just stayed there slumped over in his seat and we went right past his stop. It was actually just a bit ago when we stopped that he jerked awake and asked if we had passed his stop. I really had no idea if we had or not, but I knew that the one he said started with an “A” and the one we had passed a few stops back started with an “A” as well. Maybe if he hadn’t been sleeping or snoring or have his headphones in he would have been ok. At the next stop he got off and asked the driver and he was clearly upset and got back on grabbing his stuff and mumbling angrily. The only thing I was able to make out was something along the lines of “mumble mumble….fucking Scotland…mumble mumble”. He left his have drake coke, his empty travel vodka bottles, his boarding pass, and a whole lot of scrap paper and rubbish.
Outside of that this trip has gone quite well! We’re making our way up along the coast and mountains again and it is just beautiful. The best part Jes and I would have to agree is all of the green, the views, and without a doubt the sheep! The sheep and lamb are all over and they are just about the cutest things you have ever seen! I have decided to make it a point to find a lamb and hold it and give it a hug. I may even try to sneak one back to the States with us. They really do have a thing for hills, and so all along the hillside and mountains you will see them just spotted with sheep. When they run it is the funniest and most adorable thing ever. When the train scoots by they get scared and scamper away from the fencing. But for the most part they are just able to roam around and decide where they want to go each day. I’m sure I could go on and on, but the moral of the story is we love sheep!
Now we’re off along the ocean coast and it is beautiful. We just seen some otters not a few minutes ago! Soon we’ll be up in the mountains and to Thurso (where it is the surfing capital of Scotland according to our weapons friend at the kilt shop). It is going to be a beautiful adventure and I can’t wait to get there. Only two more hours by train left!
The end.
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Still Gagging..........
Written by Mummy 38 months ago
I'm still gagging from the Haggis post..........I can't seem to move past it :-) LOVE YOU
Question.........
Written by Mummy 38 months ago
So what's the weather like over there?????
Re: Still Gagging..........
Written by Zathrak 38 months ago
Hahaha you have to quit bringing it up because I have to gag every time I think of it! Love you more! :-)
Re: Question.........
Written by Zathrak 38 months ago
It has been lovely! We've actually lucked out big time on weather! There has been hardly any rain, and up in Thurso/the highlands it was in the low 40's and windy, but here in Glasgow/the rest of our trip it is nothing but sunny and in the 50's/60's. We couldn't have gotten any luckier! :-D