The Caledonian Sleeper

After a slow and lazy day recovering from the exertions of the weekend we had a lift to the station in Stroud from Ed's mum and dad to catch the 4.30 pm train to London. We deposited mum at Swindon station and our train strikes a few minutes late into London Paddington just after 6.

We caught the underground to King's Cross St. Pancras where the Caledonian Sleeper was due to depart late that evening. The usual station, Euston was closed due to engineering works.

We had a quick stop at the LINER lounge before deciding to go for some food outside if the station as we had almost 3 hours to kill. After refueling at the Water Rats we walked back to the station and played some cards and had a drink at the Great North Hotel at King's Cross station before Guildford being able to board at 9.15pm.

The train is huge! 16 carriages and over 350m long. The train splits during the night with half of the rain going to Fort William and half you Inverness. Our carriage was towards the front of the train and so we walked all along the platform before getting on.

The corridors in the sleeper compartments are very very narrow (you can't wheel a suitcase down them!). We found our room (J4) - very compact and bijou. Enough room for our three cabin bags and for two people to just about stand up at the same time. A very small wet room serves as the toilet and shower with a sink in the room.

While Ed sorted some things, I walked along to the next carriage which holds the Club Car and found us a seat by the window. Ed joined me and by the time the train was pulling out of the station at 9.45pm we both had a drink.

We ordered some food (Ed had a cheese board and I had some chicken bites with chilli jam) while the train rattled along through North London.

By just after 11 we had finished our drinks and after the excitement if the weekend we were both tired. We turned to the room and turned in while the train continued it's journey north!Read more