This time round I didn't splash out for an expensive sleeper, but just a regular return ticket. Left London via Euston at night, and arrived in Kingussie just slightly after 7am the morning of Tuesday.
As luck would have it, I didn't know how to get off the train :P My first time up to Kingussie a godsend then, as I had passengers get off the same cabin as me. Not this time though.
It seems that the procedure (hey, I'm new to the uk please! :P ) is to unlock the door and get out yourself. Well, fine and dandy, but I couldn't figure out how to open the door!
Well after the train left Kingussie (and me going.... oh crap....) I was told by one of my fellow passengers that I'd need to actually pull the windows down, reach out and open the door. From the outside!
Oh well lesson learned. But in anycase, it was a blessing in disguise - a new town to explore, and not too far from the Highland Wildlife Park.
Saw these critters scampering around, immediately pulled out my 70-200.
Must have been for the local residents to see someone with a long lens walking around chasing lagomorphs :P
The town was still very quiet (it was only about 8am) and I walked almost to the end of the town, before doing a 180 back to the station. I was hungry, and the places that were open I didn't want to eat at. I finally found the Mountain Cafe at the Cairngorm Mountain Sports shop. Ordered tea and full english brekkie, and it was MASSIVE. The scrambled eggs kick ass too, one of the best I've had in a long while. Service was also top notch.
Lonely Tree - inside the Highland Wildlife Park
Hung around the shop till about 10am, then walked over to the train station and caught a taxi down to the wildlife park.
Tracks at the top of the lookout in the HWP.
At the end of the day, I head over to The Ossian Inn, located just a few miles from the wildlife park. It is slightly more pricier than the offerings in Kingussie, but the service and food are really good.
Inside the wildlife park.
The next day went fairly the same, brekkie at the Ossian, bidding my farewells then heading to the park. The sun was quite low at about 4, and the taxi came a tad earlier at half 4 (I'd asked to be picked up at 4.45 :)) which was nice as I was quite exhausted.
The rest of the night was spent having THE BEST fish and chips ever, at the Happy Days Fish and chip shop. Having had the cod last time round, I couldn't resist and had a cod, haggis pudding and chips (too... much... food....). It is definitely very fresh, the batter excellent. I then went to the train station, idled there for several hours (I was at Kingussie before 5... my train back was at 9.42pm :P), needed a piss so went over to the Silver fjord to relieve myself, as well as get a nice warm cup of tea to wait out the last hour.
The way back was nice! I was given a sleeper cabin :>
Hoping to visit Greece next week, I'll see how that goes.
GW
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