Crewe – London Euston – Crewe (en route to Inverness)

I’ve wanted to do the Caledonian Sleeper for ages, but have never quite had the excuse or opportunity to do it. A few months ago they put up an offer on their Club Class rooms, which are the en-suite (and so most expensive) option. I picked a date well into the future where they had availability. The specially priced Friday night bookings had sold out before I’d even seen the offer, and they don’t run on Saturdays, but a Sunday/Monday run north sounded like a great idea.

All this was organised well before the Interrail trip had been put together so this day was not actually an Interrail pass day (the return will be, which is why I’m including it in this diary.)

I started from Crewe. I can leave the car near to the station for free there, and it is famously well connected, which gives me better options that Stone or Acton Bridge for a late night return journey on Tuesday. I’d been busy in the morning so took the quickest train to London, which was an Avanti service. The walk up fare with my railcard was around £40, compared with £26 on the stopping service, but had the advantage of arriving an hour and a half earlier, in London.

I’ve had a couple of shockers to and from London in recent weeks, and at the same time as I was going south my sister was struggling with a northbound service from Milton Keynes. However, this time, the journey went well. I had a bit of a surprise as stepped from the train to see what had just pulled into Platform 1.

This incarnation of the Polar Express was doing hour long trips which only go as far as Wembley and back, but with frosted windows, the passengers have no idea. They were running trips all through the day. There was an awful lot of dressing up (not just the children!) and I saw lots of happy faces as young and old made their way back off the train.

I’d decided that I would leave my bags at Euston. The “official” bag drop costs £10 for 3 hours, which is outrageous, but it was also full. I used a much smaller place just around the corner which cost me £4 for the rest of the day.

Returning to the station I hopped onto a tube to Pimlico. Unfortunately, and surrounded by crowds of Christmas shoppers, I wasn’t paying full attention and carelessly ended up going the wrong way by one stop before spotting my error and swapping platforms at King’s Cross.

My destination was Tate Britain to see an exhibition about one of my favourite photographers, Lee Miller.

Leaving the Tate I decided to walk over Vauxhall Bridge and catch the tube back from there. I rarely use this bridge and was surprised to see that the London Eye appears from here to be on the north bank of the river!

On my way back to Euston I had a change of plan. It was still very early and I diverted to Waterloo so that I could have a look at my favourite bit of the river in central London. The markets were in full swing and I grabbed a hot chocolate from one of the stalls. I usually cross the river on the other side of this bridge but the views towards the Eye and Parliament are super.

Back at Euston I collected my bag and headed to the Caledonian Sleeper Lounge, with free soft drinks and snacks. I had an orange juice and a banana, but went back for tea and a chocolate brownie.

I went for a walk to the end of the platform before we boarded. Not having seen the sleeper in action before I’d not realised that it leaves Euston as a 14 car set, though it splits three ways in Edinburgh.

I’d read online that the restaurant car can get busy and especially on a Sunday, so the advice was to drop your bags in your room and get a table straight away. There was time for a look around first, and also to fill in the card they had left for me to select my breakfast.

I was first into the dining car and was asked to sit on one of the single seats that run down one side. I didn’t find it terribly comfortable, they’re a bit small, I thought. By the time we left Euston, 6 more people had arrived. Two couples and two solo travellers.

Nobody else arrived all evening. I asked one of the staff, who said this was unusual. I’d guess there were seats for 25 or so, and the train has another of these at the other end. I bet it’s a great space when it is full of people though. I always remember the restaurant car on the train in Finland that had a lovely atmosphere, a couple of years ago.

I ordered just a drink to start with as there was no rush. When it came to food, I settled on the haggis, which seemed appropriate for this trip (most of the menu has a Scottish theme, the drink I had ordered came from Black Isle Brewery, north of Inverness.)

In all honesty, it was a bit disappointing. The haggis itself was OK (Macsween’s so it should be) as was the whisky sauce, but the “neeps & tatties” were tasteless. Very clearly all just reheated, most likely from frozen.

Conversely I very much enjoyed the cheeseboard. It was a good selection of cheeses and the apple & pear chutney was lovely.

I finished off with a cup of tea (served with shortbread) and returned to my room.

By this point we were near Rugby. I sat up for another hour or so, before calling it a day somewhere near Crewe. I must have dropped off pretty much straight away, as I don’t remember us stopping there.