Wick; Monday, 04 May, 2015

Today was going to be about travelling, and after an early breakfast and checkout I started the journey with the walk across town to the station to pick up train number one.

Wick is the very end of the line for the Far North Line which pretty much sums up the remoteness of this part of the world from even Inverness. The train is timetabled, and took, just over 4 hours to travel the 100 miles or so south to the Highland capital, but the journey was pretty spectacular, particularly when the tracks dive down right onto the beach between Helmsdale and Brora, just feet from the pounding waves of the North sea.

Four relatively relaxed hours, and four large coffees, later we pulled into Inverness and I made the quick change to the Aberdeen train.

The Wick train had filled up down the line, but at no point was it actually full, whereas by the time the Aberdeen train pulled out of Inverness it was already standing room only and it only got busier as it went down the line.

Consequently I was jammed up by my half window in quite cramped conditions that made the two and a bit hours to Aberdeen feel far longer than the 4 and a bit hours down from Wick.

Arriving in Aberdeen I headed out of the station over to the bus stop and out to the airport to complete the last leg of the journey back into London.