Day 3 of the journey . . .

By now being quite keen to get home, I rang the Inverness airport first thing.  Yes, there was a plane to Kirkwall, but I would have to be there in less than an hour and it was going to be too much of a rush, and £152!  Decided to stick to my original plan and catch the train to Thurso for the very modest sum of £21.

It snowed heavily all the way up through Lairg, Rogart, Brora, Helmsdale, Forsinard, Muir of Ord and all the little villages with their request stops.  Really beautiful to see all the trees heavy with snow and lots of deer down by the tracks.

The train was warm and I was cosy in all my layers, and well supplied with vittals!  I finished the pair of socks I started knitting just as I left home, and started on another pair!  Great to have USB sockets next to the seats too, so I could keep my kindle charged.  

We got to Thurso with four hours to kill before check in for the ferry, so I trudged through the snow, past folk pulling sledges laden with their messages (groceries), to the Tourist Information.  In the cafe there I warmed myself up with a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then discovered they also had a Dounreay  exhibition.  Dad was part of the team which had developed the atomic energy plant there in the 1950s, so I scoured the photos for a sight of him, but no joy.  Fascinating to see it all the same.  There was also a selection of very highly decorated Pictish stones, so well worth a visit, but sadly the centre closed at 4pm.  

Next stop a cafe, but they closed at 5pm, so then I retired to a pub - seemed a good enough excuse - and read for a while.  Back out into the snow, which was still falling, but the bus for the ferry terminal never arrived.  I accosted a taxi driver and although he was waiting for someone else, they hadn't turned up, so he drove me down to the boat.  

Finally it looked as if I actually would get home tonight!  It was a choppy crossing, and we went through the Flow for a bit of protection from the worst of the weather, which took a bit longer, but by the back of 9pm I was reunitied with Mike and Ollie in Stromness.  Hoorah!  A very slippy and slidy icy journey home, but we made it!  8am Sunday to 10.45pm Tuesday  - not a journey I fancy doing again for a while!  

A good job I hadn't hurried for the plane, as it was cancelled!  A couple with eight day old twins had been booked on it, but ended up having to come up on the train to Thurso instead.  Tiny babies, all swaddled up in their travel seats, as good as gold.  What a journey for their parents!