Day 2 - More trains, further north!

Yesterday little did I realise that I would find myself the spectator of some kind of all-night snoring competition. The SYHA hostel in Glasgow is unable to provide small rooms, so Rosie and I found ourselves in bunkrooms. There were five other occupants to my room and I swear all of them were trying to claim the title of Scotland's loudest sleeper! It reached the point where my best chance of sleep was to put my headphones in and play some music loud enough to drown out the sound of the windows rattling.

Suffice to say I slept very lightly last night.

The good news was a gentle start to the day and a large continental breakfast. We were safely able to kill most of the morning because our train departed just after mid day.

The ride down to Glasgow Queen street station revealed the shocking state of Glasgow's roads, which were full of pot holes and incredibly rough. It made me consider that the couple of guys we'd chatted to yesterday getting off the train with their bikes weren't on mountain bikes because they were headed for the Hebrides, rather that they'd been to Glasgow before and knew what to expect.

Rosie wished she'd brought her mountain bike too.

Our train pulled out of Queen Street at 12:20 and headed north west onto the West Highland line. Once again the cycle storage facilities on the train were excellent, which allowed us to sit back and enjoy the views. This was certainly the most picturesque train journey I have ever been on, with sections boasting views where the only thing in sight that told of human presence was the railway. No roads, no tracks even, just marshes and mountains.

We arrived into Fort William mid afternoon. We're now installed in a room to all to ourselves, fed, watered, and hoping for a good night's sleep.

The cycling holiday begins tomorrow!