Our cycling holiday to the West Highlands of Scotland, very nearly didn't start at all. We arrived at Euston Station, having caught the Thameslink train from Harpenden to Kings Cross Thameslink, and then struggled up the stairs before pushing the bikes in the evening gloom all the way between the two London stations. As we had the bikes, with lots of panniers and rucksacks etc., we'd planned to arrive at Euston with plenty of time to board before the 21:05 departure; so arriving at about an hour before the planned departure, we were somewhat shocked to find that our train, the Caledonian Sleeper, had been cancelled...
As ever, getting information out of anyone is like getting blood out of a stone; eventually we were told that all the passengers from the 21:05 Sleeper train would be taken on the 23:40 Sleeper train to Glasgow, and that there would be a coach transfer to Fort William. No-one was quite sure whether this would definitely include the bikes, although one helpful chap assured us that as we had bicycle reservations, that if we arrived at Glasgow with the bikes, ScotRail would have to get us to Fort William somehow. The cancellation was apparently due to the 'adverse weather' conditions that had caused flash floods in Inverness the day before. Not a good omen.
So, we had three hours to kill in Euston Station... Ho hum. Eventually the big hand dragged the little hand round enough times for boarding to begin. We stowed the bikes and squeezed into our cabin with 8 panniers and 2 rucksacks; and finally, we were off. We popped into the lounge car for a couple of nightcaps before bed; and I for one, slept like a log.
We arrived in Glasgow, on schedule, at about 07:16 the following morning. We retrieved the bikes and loaded them up with all our gear and set off to find someone who knew what was happening; we were directed outside to meet an inordinately cheerful man with a clipboard who assured us that the coach would take our bikes and that it would be quicker than going to the Glasgow Queen Street station to catch the 08:15 train to Fort William (It's funny how other trains were going to Fort William when our sleeper train wasn't!) Anyway, the coach eventually came and we set off for Fort William at about 08:00 In spite of having slept all night, I couldn't help but get some extra shut-eye regardless of the lovely scenery.
When we finally arrived in Fort William, it was about 10:45, only an hour or so later than we would have arrived if the train we were booked on had run...
