7th – 10th October – Scottish Highlands Trip
The idea for this trip was to clear my last handful of Scottish stations needed for photographs, all which were located on the Kyle line, also it was a chance to sample one of the berths on the Cally Sleeper, a trip which has been pushed back a few times due to that C word.
Thursday
The trip began on the 17:59 service from Grateley to Basingstoke on a 159 (my last trip on 159102 before its accident), changing at Basingstoke to a pair of 444s to take me towards Clapham Junction with the original idea being the West London Line to Willesden for an Euston train but due to an earlier train fault the Overground from Clapham towards Willesden wasn’t running, so instead it was onto a low mileage 378 to Surrey Quays (little bit of a bonus), stepping back to the service behind to take me & Dan to Highbury & Islington for a slightly delayed Victoria Line service to Euston.
At London Euston, we sat around waiting for the sleeper to start boarding, which itself was delayed due to some reason (I believe it departed around 30 minutes late, time made up along the way). It was the first time in a Club Berth (the one with the en-suite cupboard), first impressions is that the corridor seems to be narrower than it was on a Mk3 and the rooms weren’t that big (with the only place to store luggage being underneath the lower berth, not ideal if you had anything bigger and were travelling as a couple).
The bed was quite comfortable, although took some time getting my body to angle over the safety bits (to stop someone rolling out). I can see why people complain about the light ring being quite bright and being unable to be turned off (I’m someone who likes rooms to be dark as possible). I had managed to book us into a berth in the middle of the carriage to avoid a noisy night from the wheels, but even in the middle of the carriage I could still hear the knocking.
Friday
I must have slept through, as soon we were heading out to the Lounge Card for a “Highland Breakfast” (full Scottish breakfast) which was very nice, as the train raced towards Inverness and actually arrived 30-odd minutes ahead of schedule (passing the LNER Azuma on the double track section closer to Inverness rather than in a loop). Winner 66761 was on front with 73971 providing power for the coaches so nice to get a winning 66.
 |
| 66761 at Inverness |
Due to early arrival we decided to cross the road and into the Sleeper lounge to get our things together (and Dan to have countless coffee as that’s what he is fuelled by). The original idea of a random trip to Wick & back was binned (something to do in the summer when both trips will be in daylight), so it was going to be a bus move towards Aviemore. Before that I ended up doing a short walk alongside the River Ness to reach “Ness Islands” (which were quite scenic) before heading back towards the lounge.
Dan and I headed towards the bus station to catch the route X37 service towards Aviemore via Carrbidge & Grantown-on-Spey. We had a private bus from Inverness towards Grantown, featuring a bit of fast running along the dual carriageway, and a nice scenic run from the bus windows. At Aviemore we crossed over the footbridge to platform 3, for the Strathspey Railway, purchasing our tickets and taking a seat on this near 10 mile long heritage line being hauled by a steam engine.
 |
| Steam Engine |
The railway ran to just beyond Broomhill station where the engine ran round before stopping at the remote Broomhill, before heading back towards Aviemore, where we crossed back to board a reasonably busy HST for the run back to Inverness, stopping in one of the loops between Carrbridge & Inverness for a southbound 170 to pass. At Inverness we walked to the Premier Inn by the river front (as where it was slightly more expensive than the branches located on the outskirts of the city, you didn’t need to take a taxi there). Although the rain had started along the way to the hotel, as we checked into the room for 2 nights.
As Dan had some work to do, I headed out for a longer walk, taking in a loop towards Muirtown for a canalside walk (Caledonian Canal) towards the railway swing bridge at Clachnaharry to the sea lock. I had good timing as an Inverness train was due to cross the bridge, but sadly my photo wasn’t the best. After crossing back over I headed along a path towards the Merkinch nature reserve then towards Carmac Point (where the River Ness meets the Beauly Firth), this area had some nice views of the Kessock Bridge.
 |
| Kessock Bridge from South Kessock |
After heading back to the road side, I headed back towards the hotel via South Kessock and close to the river, crossing over on Waterloo Bridge (waiting time to get a photo of a northbound train crossing the railway viaduct over the River Ness). Back along the riverside and towards the hotel just as darkness had started to fall, and after dropping my walking bag back in the room, met up with Dan in the restaurant area for a Chinese Takeaway (the restaurant itself was closed due to staff shortages, so the manager had no issues with customers bringing in their own food).
With dinner consumed, I headed back out for a little loop (just to see the lights on one of the bridges over the river lit up), before heading towards the room for the night. Not many trains featured today, but it was an enjoyable day never-the-less.
 |
| Ness Bridge, Inverness at night |
Saturday
It was a slightly later start to a Saturday trip than usual for me, as I was on the first Kyle train (featuring 2 coach groups!), so after getting some supplies from Tesco (for it was going to be a long day at rural stations) I headed to the station (where it was raining again). I managed to get a good seat for the departure putting in my request to the guard as she came through checking tickets (and taking requests for any mad people like me).
My first request was the rural Achanalt station; although I was surprised when 2 other passengers got off as well (they headed towards a waiting car and headed away). This is a station which serves half a dozen (or so) houses [which were all quiet during my stay at the station], nothing else other than a busy road. I crossed over the barrow crossing to a field for a little walk towards the riverside just to waste some time before heading back to the shelter (featuring a wonderful Perch style seat), and spent the time listening to music and reading the latest Branch Line News on my tablet.
 |
| 158704 departs Achanalt |
The 2 hours I had at the station passed and before I knew it the next Kyle train had arrived, featuring Dan, as we had a little catch-up along the way to the request stop of Duirinish (I also managed to get a picture of the 2 sprinters passing each other at Strathcarron). Sadly this is a station where I wished I planned my trip slightly better as I only had 25 minutes there and it looked like it had some good views of the loch. Sadly the weather wasn’t the best for my fester, so I spent it mostly in the shelter waiting for the 158 to return from Kyle, however the forecast was meant to be better and the sun came out the closer we came to my next station (where I left Dan to carry on back to Inverness).
 |
| 158704 passing 158710 at Strathcarron |
I alighted at Strathcarron, and after a short walk along the road to a bridge over the River Carron, I headed in the opposite direction towards Attadale, mainly for a time wasting move but secondary for some better pictures from one of my favourite stations, solely for the views across the loch from the short platform. I was expecting a hill to be in the way between the stations but wasn’t expecting it to be so steep on both sides! I arrived at Attadale with around 5 minutes to spare, the only other passenger was a vlogger filming the station.
 |
| Oh the train is here, I was enjoying the views |
Next station for me was Stromeferry which cleared all the Scottish stations for photos (woohoo) and with ~ 90 minutes to waste before the train returned from Kyle, I headed out for another walk, heading up the hill to the main-road, and headed towards the “Loch Carron Viewpoint”. Where I had some good views along the way, from the viewpoint it was mainly of trees with the loch in the background (so a bit disappointing). Heading back towards the station I swung towards the Storme Forest discovering a walk within the woods being signposted so with time to kill I decided to give it a go.
This was a walk better done in the summer time, not after it had rained as where the views were fabulous, some parts of the path were a bit slippery underfoot (wet rocks/mud), so I was a bit glad when I exited the forest onto a track back towards the car parking area. After exiting the car parking area it was back towards the station, where my timing must have been good as a couple minutes after I arrived the rain started again, so taking shelter I waited for the train to return.
 |
| Loch Carron from Strome Woods |
The final Kyle – Inverness service was lightly loaded (less than 10 passengers in total), so I sat down and relaxed for the return towards Dingwall with darkness slowly falling. I stepped back at Dingwall (for the want of a better photo of the station, although this is an area I wouldn’t mind revisiting one of these days as there seems to be some interesting looking paths). After doing a loop I returned to the station for the final Wick – Inverness train of the night, another lightly loaded train which was slightly delayed.
At Inverness it looked like 2 passengers made the fast walk to the final southbound service of the night, but for me it was a trip towards a takeaway place for a pizza deal, eating said pizza in the hotel restaurant next to Dan who had completed his work for the evening. After dinner we headed back to the room, to relax for the rest of the night, the end of a nice day on the Kyle line, clearing those last few stations for photos.
Sunday
To get back to London, I had 2 main options, either taking the direct London train which would take nearly 10 hours (calls pretty much all the stations towards Stirling & went via Carlisle) or heading to the airport to fly to Luton Airport. As much as I like rail travel, nearly 10 hours on a 800 wouldn’t be much fun, unless you were in the posh seats), so we went for the flying option.
Sadly the bus timetable towards the airport wasn’t the best (2 hourly service) so we ended up taking a taxi (which Dan paid for). Inverness Airport itself is small, security was cleared in minutes and there are 3 departure gates, so no long walk from the waiting area to a remote departure gate in some far off location. The Easyjet to Luton was pretty much full and an hour or so after takeoff we had landed, and were heading towards the bus stop for the connecting bus to Luton Airport Parkway.
 |
| Easyjet G-EZWY at Inverness Airport |
The bus was quite busy when it departed, as it headed towards Parkway station, the new light rail system looks good and will certainly be easier for passengers to use to link between the airport & the mainline station. We turned down the first service to take a stopper towards Kentish Town, where we would transfer to the Northern Line to visit the new extension towards Battersea, stopping off along the way at Nine Elms before reaching Battersea Power Station Station ;)
After a short wait at the new terminus, it was back towards Waterloo as I said farewell to Dan who was heading back towards Luton, and I headed to board a Portsmouth service to take me to Guildford for it was another weekend of rail replacement buses between Guildford & Andover (woohoo!). Like the previous time a couple weeks past, it was just organised chaos, from the sounds of things an Andover fast bus didn’t wait for the connecting train from London, but when the first Andover bus rolled up I boarded.
 |
| Entrance to Battersea Power Station (LU) |
It might have been the stopper, but there was no guarantee the next fast bus 30 minutes later would actually run. The coach lost a bit of time along the way due to traffic and congestion at Basingstoke (and also the detour it has to do due to a closed railway bridge in the Worthing area), but thankfully unlike a couple weeks ago it made it to Andover with time to spare for passengers to connect with the Exeter train. A pair of 159s were my final train of this trip for the short distance to Grateley, nice and quiet in one of the rear coaches [as passengers tend to board at the first door they come across when they come up from the ramp). I alighted from those 159s at Grateley and checking RTT if I caught that Azuma I would have just pulled into Kings Cross so flying was the much faster option.
 |
| 159020 at Andover |
No comments:
Post a Comment