Writing up Day 3 is difficult. Difficult because I’m currently sat on the Carlisle-Settle route, one of the most scenic routes in the UK, and the scenery is nothing short of spectacular.
So Day 3, after a dull rainy start, was beautiful – travelling 180 miles from Inverness down to Glasgow in 3hrs, over the Druimuachdar pass which is the highest in the UK at 1,484ft. The diesel multiple unit train effortlessly cruised through the wild country with splendid views of snow capped mountains. Once again, a fairly long train journey whizzed by in a flash. My old friend from Hong Kong days was waiting for me at Glasgow Queen Street. He is more of a bus-geek but enthusiastic about rail.
OK, so the scenery did prove challenging and I’m now on the 14:57 Leeds-Preston service making a second attempt, after an interesting brief stop for lunch in Leeds
Alan, a tall Chartered Building Surveying Scotsman was one of the first people I worked with when I landed my first job with Hong Kong Telecom in, well, Hong Kong. He christened me Jimmy Whizz. He mistakenly thought the Beano character was called Jimmy, as opposed to Billy, and gave me the name on account of me whizzing around a 5-a-side pitch and generally leading life at a fairly rapid pace. The Scottish-fication of the character’s name stuck and will always remind me of some great fun we had at HKT.
Right to a point, we whizzed off for lunch, meeting his wife, Jill and eldest daughter, Jackie-May who I hadn’t seen in many years.
After lunch, we just about had time to squeeze in a quick pint of Scotland’s best Tennants lager in the famous Horseshoe bar which bore resemblance to the Philharmonic Pub in Liverpool. I didn’t have chance to check-out the urinals to see if it compared in that department (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, do some research!), and then round the corner to Glasgow Central for the 14:42 down to Warrington. As we departed, champagne corks were popping on a table of 4 ahead of what, by the looks of the start, was going to be a great weekend in London!
Again, it was a challenge to read anything due to the scenery on show outside and also the slow onboard WiFi (this has been consistently slow on all trains). I have no idea why I brought 3 heavy books with me as I’m not the best of readers. Well, the intent was there but I might ditch them when I spend a night back at home on Sunday.
Eased in to Warrington Bank Quay bang on time. It’s a station I remember from my teenage trainspotting days as being one the smelt fresh and clean and, after rain, had bubbles on the platform on account of the factory across the way (which has now closed and possibly be demolished). Waiting for me was a very nice pick-up in the form of a very sweet Aston Martin, although this was initially obscured by some party revellers who had fortunately been sat a little further down the train!
My friends in Warrington go back to my Hong Kong days, but lived in Australia. Maintaining connections over the years and miles with great friends is important and worth every effort to see someone, even if in this case, it hadn’t been much effort at all thanks to a breeze of a journey.
