Day 0: Terminated Trains

Last week, the weather in the Western Isles was, according to pretty much every weather app going, pretty decent. That is to say 18 degrees and sunny. 

Last Saturday night, engineers had not decided to make a dogs dinner of repairs to the railway. 

Timing, as they say, is everything. 

Today started innocently enough. I had, months ago, planned transport which would take me from Wiltshire to the tiny village of Tyndrum, 55km from the Port of Oban and the smallest village in the world to have 2 train stations. 

Getting to Tyndrum was, in theory, reasonably straightforward. Get the train to London, ride across London to Euston, then take the Caledonian Sleeper train north. 

Those overnight engineers had other ideas though. The late finish had caused havoc with the train service from Bristol to London, with the train which I had booked and 3 others being cancelled. 

I plumped for an earlier train which was apparently running, and set off. The 10km or so to Chippenham was uneventful, the bike was working well and everything seemed to be in order. 

Arriving at the station however it quickly became apparent that the train was going to be busy, with 3 trains worth of passengers squeezed onto 1 train. Fortunately for me, there was still a bike space so I hung the bike and went to sit down. On the floor. In a crowded corridor. 

Fortunately, “family feral” were also spending the journey in the corridor which was a true joy. 

The ride from Paddington to Euston was also straightforward, albeit wet. I wasn’t too concerned since it gave me chance to test how waterproof my various bags and jacket really was. First test passed with flying colours. 

Euston came around soon enough and I negotiated a packed concourse which was rammed with passengers all trying to negotiate alterations due to a signal failure. I was beginning to think someone was trying to tell me something. 

Only one thing for it then; I found the bar and settled in for a pre-trip pint. 2 kind chaps offered to watch my bike whilst I nipped in to the station bar and ordered, they then invited me to join them as we chatted through our upcoming adventures. They were off to ride the Caledonian Way in 7 days, wild camping in bivvy bags and a tarp. Fair play. 

Soon enough it was time to board the sleeper, which was….interesting. So. I have a room, and my bike has a space. Lovely. But later tonight, at 3:30am to be precise when we reach Edinburgh, I will need to take my bike off the train and put it back on the train. I’m wandering if this is some kind of weird initiation ceremony but I’m going with it, albeit somewhat reluctantly. 

At this point I wanted to add a photo of the train, but the Caledonian Sleeper WiFi, it say no. I’m sure you’ll live. It’s quite a thing though, with at least 20 coaches. 

I found the buffet car without too much drama and ordered haggis, neeps & tatties and a glass of red before heading back to my small but perfectly functional room for a good 5 hour sleep. If I’m lucky. 

Tomorrow, the plan is that I will arrive at Tyndrum at 8am, ride to Oban and catch a ferry to Mull. Given how today went, I’m not counting any chickens.