The train to Aviemore

We’re spending the weekend in Aviemore in the Cairngorms and I’m writing this from the train. Oh, how I love trains, even all the bad things like when the people sitting nearby seem to fart the whole way or whenย a group of rowdy youths gets on stinking of cigarettes or when you go to the toilet and after finishing the task, smother your hands in soap from the soap dispenser only to discover there’s no water to wash it off with. It’s all part of the adventure.

We always reserve seats. Our seats were in coach B so when the train arrived we got on coach B. But our seats were not in coach B. Someone told us there was a second coach B and a third coach B and maybe even a fourth so we walked through three carriages until weย reached a dead-end. Somewhere in Scotland are four trains all missing coach Bย because our train stole them all. The sequence of coaches was D,B,A,B,B,B.

The dead-end was mid-train but the only way to get through to the coach on the other sideย was to climb out a window, crawl along the roof and then back in through a window in the next coach. We decided not to do this. Another option was toย wait for the next station, get off, walk around to coach B thenย get back on again.ย The third option was to sit in the vacant seats in first class. And this is exactly what we did ๐Ÿ™‚ Fortunately the nice conductor must have understood the difficulty we faced and let us stay there.

A couple of hours later and the kids haveย watched “Spiderman”ย and Ben and I haven’t had to do any driving. It’s marvellous.ย We’re nearly there and hoping to seeย some snow, which is highlyย likely given it has been snowing for much of the day in Aviemore.


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20 responses to “The train to Aviemore”

  1. ...and Then There's Physics Avatar

    Was skiing again with my son’s class this morning on the dry ski slope. Except, this time it wasn’t completely dry as there was actually some snow!

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      How nice! So they don’t have to close those slopes when it snows? That would be a bit silly I guess. There wasn’t any snow in Aberdeen at all this week ๐Ÿ˜ฆ

      1. ...and Then There's Physics Avatar

        The snow mostly falls into the gaps, so it wasn’t very different to having no snow, but some powder made it seem a bit more authentic. Also, having the hills covered in snow was lovely, and it was clear with no wind.

      2. Rachel M Avatar

        I bet is was beautiful. You should post pics. You no longer have an excuse not to ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. ladysighs Avatar

    You make everything sound like fun. ๐Ÿ™‚ Sort of.

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      It was fun! I promise ๐Ÿ™‚

      1. ladysighs Avatar

        Good to know.

  3. Chait Avatar

    That’s too many coach Bs for one train ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      Whatever were they thinking ?!?!

  4. scifihammy Avatar

    Trains are a very civilised way to travel, so you can arrive at your destination with energy to actually enjoy your visit. Hilarious about so many coach B’s!! Hope there was lots of snow for you all ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      Trains are great. I love that you can walk around on them, read a book, play with devices, or watch a movie. And the sound and motion is quite pleasing too.

      1. scifihammy Avatar

        I find it the least tiring form of transport ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. anniegoldfisher Avatar

    I wonder if the B coaches are the result of a dyslexic railway employee. At least you got a nice 1st class seat.

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      Yeah, 1st class on a train is a first for me. But seriously, what a silly thing to do to put four coach Bs on one train.

  6. fossilcyclist Avatar

    That coach layout looked like a really bad guitar open tuning. Love train travel, have done the eurorail thing a couple of times as an mature adult – great.

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      Haha, I hadn’t thought of it that way. I want to try the overnight sleeper one day too.

  7. GrahamInHats Avatar

    Perhaps it was a message to a railwayman’s girlfriend. Intended to be Dear Babs Be Back Soon. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he couldn’t find the rest of the coaches. I would like to add, that I’m not a hopeless romantic, only the forrner. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Rachel M Avatar

      Haha. I like this possibility. It makes the inconvenience of searching for seats much more tolerable.

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