Bargain Berths no longer exist, and the sleeper is now in the hands of a different franchise. So all information you find on my website about the sleeper and the old Bargain Berth tickets is redundant so please ignore this post. Find information about the Caledonian Sleeper from the current company running it. You may…
This post has been rather overtaken by events (the full story of which you can read in the comments below). The most up to date situation on the bargain berths can be found on this more recent post. I’m a big fan of the Caledonian Sleeper, which connects Scottish towns and cities with London via…
A great advantage of multi-leg rail travel is that you can, if you wish, spend a couple of hours in your interchange cities along the way. It’s something you just can’t do when flying, because the hassle of fighting your way out of the airport, finding transport, and then getting back in time to have…
I’ve always been drawn to little countries. You know, the sorts of places that are so small that there’s only room for two symbols on their television weather forecasts. Perhaps it’s due to being Scottish or growing up on an island, but there’s something quite captivating about a small nation that exists independently and sustains…
I’ve always maintained that Paris and London are incredibly alike. They’re both big, proud, characterful cities that utterly dominate their respective countries politically and culturally, and they both are world famous cities that are centres of major world languages. Also, they share a similar feel – engaging, gritty and down to earth, yet with an…
Our three week rail journey through Europe began with a twenty-four hour trip from Inverness to Toulouse. It could not have presented a starker contrast between the antiquated rail system in Britain and the superb high-speed rail network of mainland Europe. Our sleeper from Inverness to London was a cramped, clunky and slow old beast,…
Friday morning was the last cog in the wheel in terms of planning our summer’s European rail adventure: three weeks, seven countries, and eleven trains. You’ll of course be hearing more about this trip in due course. Over the past few weeks I’ve been watching various European train operators’ websites like a hawk, waiting for…
You may have read a wee while back about the Scottish Government’s consultation on rail services in Scotland beyond 2014. When launched, it made a few headlines because of eye-catching questions like whether alcohol should be banned from trains or whether the sleeper service and daytime cross-border journeys between the north of Scotland and England…
Nicole and I are heading off to France in September. It’ll be a chance to catch up with a few friends we have over there, and while we both really like the country I’ve not seen too much of it and my French could do with some significant practice. We’ve decided we’re going overland, which…