Mainly on the train

The idea was to get the best value out of a special offer of £17 to travel by rail anywhere in Scotland. And we could go from Carlisle. I was in favour of going as far as we possibly could, but it was pointed out that, just arriving somewhere in order to turn round and go back again, was a little pointless.

So we compromised and decided on Perth, a place we had not been to before. We left the car at Carlisle station and travelled from Carlisle to Edinburgh and then Edinburgh to Perth. We had a few hours in Perth and then it was Perth to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to Carlisle. A beautiful day and some lovely journeys through the Scottish countryside.

We were pleasantly surprised by Perth. A lovely city with a lots of fine old buildings, huge areas of green space and a beautiful river. It did help that it was such a gorgeous day and it was nice to see people sitting out in the Café Quarter and lying about on the grassy areas.

There were lots of things I could have blipped, including The Fair Maid's House, the oldest house in Perth used by Sir Walter Scott as the setting for his novel "The Fair Maid of Perth'.

However, as I have been mainly on the train, here is a view from the train in the evening sun, as we travelled from Edinburgh to Carlisle. From a moving train, through a none too clean train window, with reflections because of the sun, I don't think it's too bad a picture. Down below you can see the M74, the road we usually travel. I think we might be using the train more often, which was presumably the intention of the offer all along.

Just realised that this is blip number 400. Doesn't time fly!