Our Edinburgh Visit
Well having been working none stop on our latest project, a new website for the South side of Loch Ness. www.lochnesswelcome.co.uk we decided to take a well earned break in the Scottish capital. Believe it or not we have lived at Inverfarigaig a tiny village on the shores of Loch Ness, for 15 years and have in all that time never visited Edinburgh! This time being our first visit thought we would break the mould and leave the car at home, and take the train. Not only that mould, we decided to break another and go B&B. We have self catering cottages at Loch Ness and have always chosen them for our holiday choices, at least if we had taken holidays over the last 15 years we would have chosen self catering, but then again we have been camping in the wilderness a few times during that time.
Anyway,
We took the train the firs train we had been on for 15 years and it looked very familiar, almost like stepping back in time! as for some unknown reason I had it in my mind that trains would have been modernised and comfort levels improved, not so, in fact i do believe the trains of yesteryear were a bit better than the Inverness to Edinburgh, cant call it an express as the 3 hour journey ended up taking 41/2 hours. one thing that had changed though was the prices of the snacks and drinks being sold by the trolley which constantly went up and down the isle.
A cup of tea £1.45 !! must be the most expensive cuppa i have ever had, needless to say i just had the one cup. By the way during our stay in Edinburgh i do believe we found the cheapest POT of tea in Scotland at just 48 pence! and in the most unlikely place, the new Scottish Parliament building, at least they manage to make tea under budget.
Couldn't help thinking as we sat on the train watching the world go by that some of the stations, built by the Victorians mostly, how sad and grimy they looked, you could see in places the paintwork on the ornate iron girders, beneath the pigeon droppings and years of dirt. It was in Perth station that I wondered what first time to Scotland tourists must think when travelling through some of these railway stations having been told of pristine environments clean air and healthy living.
It would just take a coat of paint and a flower basket here and there to transform some of those beautiful old Victorian railway stations, for heavens sake we need to do it now before our tourism industry goes the way of the motorbike, car, steel, shipbuilding etc etc etc, industries.
must go, tell you about our fabulous Edinburgh break next time.
Anyway,
We took the train the firs train we had been on for 15 years and it looked very familiar, almost like stepping back in time! as for some unknown reason I had it in my mind that trains would have been modernised and comfort levels improved, not so, in fact i do believe the trains of yesteryear were a bit better than the Inverness to Edinburgh, cant call it an express as the 3 hour journey ended up taking 41/2 hours. one thing that had changed though was the prices of the snacks and drinks being sold by the trolley which constantly went up and down the isle.
A cup of tea £1.45 !! must be the most expensive cuppa i have ever had, needless to say i just had the one cup. By the way during our stay in Edinburgh i do believe we found the cheapest POT of tea in Scotland at just 48 pence! and in the most unlikely place, the new Scottish Parliament building, at least they manage to make tea under budget.
Couldn't help thinking as we sat on the train watching the world go by that some of the stations, built by the Victorians mostly, how sad and grimy they looked, you could see in places the paintwork on the ornate iron girders, beneath the pigeon droppings and years of dirt. It was in Perth station that I wondered what first time to Scotland tourists must think when travelling through some of these railway stations having been told of pristine environments clean air and healthy living.
It would just take a coat of paint and a flower basket here and there to transform some of those beautiful old Victorian railway stations, for heavens sake we need to do it now before our tourism industry goes the way of the motorbike, car, steel, shipbuilding etc etc etc, industries.
must go, tell you about our fabulous Edinburgh break next time.
