Saturday 3 July 2010

My Visit to Scotland. The journey home.

Wednesday morning arrived far too soon. It was time to pack my suitcase after taking Sandy for an early morning walk around the estate. At least one was going to miss me even if the cats were glad to see me depart! They usually sleep in the bedroom, but I don’t let them come in as I shut the door, so they are really pleased to see the back of me.

The two boys take over the dog bedSandy refuses to have a photo taken

 

Sandy would miss our early morning walk though. I had been trying to get her to walk to heel as she really does pull all the time.  Okay, to be truthful I hadn’t really had much success during my stay, but the walk had been beneficial for both of us. It took roughly half an hour and included a flight of steps which was good for me to climb to put my heart through its paces.

After the children had left for school and said their goodbyes to me, we took  Cl to work and then waited back at home until it was time to set off  to Glasgow to the railway station. Cr would have to drop me at the entrance as he couldn’t park anywhere owing to the work taking place in the station. I assured him that I would be fine. I had my mobile with me anyway if anything went awry.  I watched him drive away and then made my way into the busy station.

am_glasgow_central1

In Glasgow station I had plenty of time to have a toilet break, and I also treat myself to a delicious looking ice cream from one of the many shops on the station concourse. I had bought a salad for my lunch to eat on the train from Morrison's supermarket when we dropped Cl off.

Virgin_Pendolino_390009_at_Carlisle_2005-10-08_01

Eventually my train pulled in. It was a Virgin Pendolino!  There were lots of spare seats available this time for my return journey, and although I did have a reserved seat, when I found it, it was facing backwards so because there was plenty of room available, I sat in a forward facing seat further down the carriage.   During the journey to Carlisle I struck up a conversation with another lady who was sat opposite me and that helped to take my mind off  leaving  my son and his family.

We soon arrived at Carlisle and my train to Leeds was already stood at  its platform so I boarded it, placed my luggage in the empty luggage  rack and sat down in the seat immediately in front of it. Amazingly there was a trolley service on this train!  What a difference this time to the journey I made up here. Lot’s of room for your luggage, lots of empty seats and a welcome drink of tea!  The journey back to Leeds was uneventful. I had my book with me, but I didn’t read it, preferring to look out of the window at the fabulous scenery of the Yorkshire Dales that you enjoy from this particular train.

We arrived in Leeds on time and after a toilet break I made my way to the platform for the train back home. As always at this time of day, the platform was packed with people going home from work or shopping, and when the train arrived it only had two carriages!  We all piled on and luckily I was one of the first to sit down. Lot’s of the other passengers had to stand up in the aisle and by the doors. The driver apologized for the fact that they were running a carriage short. Hmm, I thought to myself, you can tell I’m back home in Yorkshire, passengers packed in like sardines in a tin on a rickety old train!

Eventually I arrived at our little station and walked down to the bus station to catch the bus home.  I had enjoyed such a wonderful break up at my son’s.  Scotland, especially the whole area around where they live is absolutely beautiful and I thoroughly recommend that you pay Scotland a visit if you can.

TG

 

 




1 comment:

  1. I TG, thanks for sharing this story, and for the nice pictures. I have never been to the UK, but I like seeing what it looks like. I am of English, German, and Scotch Irish ancestry, So I guess I should be a little more educated about it and it's history.

    Also I noticed something interesting on my blog today. When I first brought it up my Followers gadget had changed into the "Join this site" gadget, which is the almost identical one you get by going to the Friend Connect site. But when I looked again later, it had gone back to Followers again. Blogger must be working on some more improvements. Maybe they really are trying to take full advantage of Microsoft's Spaces blunder. I guess we'll see.

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