This morning I rang our tour operators and requested an earlier time for our taxi transfers to the railway station. Given our recent history with taxis not being able to fit all our luggage in, I didn’t want to be cutting it fine with taxis shuttling us in groups between the guest house and the station. We checked out of the guest house, left our luggage in storage and took a final stroll down into Thurso, which is a place we’ve all loved. We picked up something to eat on the train and a few other supplies before heading back to gather our suitcases and wait for our luggage.
The same two taxi guys that picked us up two days ago arrived. They’re probably the only two in town, and they’re quite comical. The first guy to arrive opened his boot and it was full of junk, just as it was the other day, so we waited while he shoved it around to make some space. While doing so he discovered a windcheater he’d been looking for for a week! For a guy who transfers tourists and their luggage around on a regular basis, it might have made sense for him to clean it all out and make some space. Surely he doesn’t need to drive around all the time with a large computer printer in his boot, let alone all the other stuff. Anyway, with his junk rearranged he managed to fit all of our suitcases in – it was crammed into the boot and in the passenger seats. His mate arrived and we rode with him while his mate brought our luggage. When these two dropped us off, they hung around with us cracking jokes until it was time for one of them to go and get the American group. He brought them back, then hung around some more. I guess some days there’s not a lot of work for taxi drivers in a small town.
Our train was not due to leave Thurso until 1.06 pm. We were going back to Inverness on the same Far North Line that we’d come in on two days earlier, the one I’d said was my favourite train journey ever, so I was looking forward to the journey. We’d woken to blue skies and a promise of temperatures about 18 degrees, but we still had a couple of layers on as we waited on the platform.
It was warm on the train. No windows were open and there was no air conditioning. We peeled off layers. Our seats were on the side of the train with reputedly the best views, but unfortunately, were also copping the full force of the sun. Neil and I had the window seats and spent a good part of the journey trying to avoid the glare of the sun in our eyes. And sitting in those window seats, with no air con, it got really hot. So, for a good part of the four hour journey that I’d been looking forward to, I really just wanted to be somewhere else. I’ve put a photo at the end of this set below that shows the blinding sun that was our travelling companion. It’s a pity the only seats available when we boarded the train were on this side of the carriage, because the guys opposite us travelled with cool views of firths, lochs, the North Sea and blue skies, but without the heat or glare of the sun. Still, I must give credit where its due, and the scenery we passed for much of our journey really is beautiful.
The best part of the trip for me was when I spotted about 15-20 deer standing in a stream, only about 50 metres from the railway line. Several of them had antlers. Most had turned their heads to watch the train go by. Because my seat was facing the back of the train, I hadn’t seen them coming up so I didn’t have my camera ready to get a shot. I searched online and found a photo that very closely matched what I saw. You can see it by clicking this link. We also saw a few individual deer near the track in the first half of the journey.
We changed trains at Inverness. Our new train was heading for Glasgow, but we were only travelling to the third stop, Kingussie, high in the Cairngorm Mountains. This was a much more comfortable journey. Air was flowing through the carriage and often the trees of the mountain forests shielded our eyes from the sun, which was still shining brightly. I didn’t take many photos because tall trees were often rushing past just metres away or, when we were in full sun, our reflections in the window appeared in the photos.
Our hosts picked us up from the station at Kingussie and transferred us to the guest house. The American group are also staying here. It was formerly a tweed mill. Its power was generated by the stream running alongside it turning a water wheel. We’re looking forward to having a better look around tomorrow, because our host told us he is ‘re-wilding’ the area, taking it back to the natural environment it once was, and he wants to create a wildlife corridor that will see deer, foxes, red squirrels, hedgehogs and other native animals using its grounds.
As well as a guest house, this place doubles as a gourmet restaurant, so we were served a really fine dinner, one of the best we’ve had in our travels to date. We’re only staying one night, but our train for Pitlochry does not leave until tomorrow afternoon, so we plan to go for a walk in the morning and enjoy the natural surrounds deep in the heart of the Cairngorms.
On The Road With Garry 