WHEN A TRAIN GOES BY IT'S SUCH A SAD SOUND

There's a real romantacism and timeless celluloid quality to a long train journey, surrounded by strangers, watching the city become the countryside and the countryside become the mountains, over streams and past lonely white painted houses. The wildlife becomes more rugged, the weather gets more bitter.

Recently I took the four hour, early morning train ride to Edinburgh. I went on a rain soaked walk around the Old Town streets and found The Red Door Gallery, an excellent little shop on Victoria Street where I bought a beautiful illustrated postcard set from Laurie Hastings and an interesting local guide book.

Most of all I loved all the ghost signs and the colour of the wet sandstone that much of the city is built with.

CE

INVERNESS

We recently spent a couple of nights in Inverness. It's a standard, Croydon-like town built into a spectacular glen. We spent a lot of time wandering around Loch Ness and the Craigmonie Woods. Sadly we didn't spot any prehistoric water monsters. Instead we probably had too much fun playing with the Nessies in the gift shop, sampling the highland whisky miniatures and reading the local headlines.

CE