We’ve been telling people we’ve met on our journey about the trip, and they’ve pretty much all assumed we’re travelling by car. We’ve done car holidays before and I love driving, but there’s something genuinely fun about travelling pretty much exclusively on public transport on this trip. We’ve been on some great buses trundling between Orkney islands, or whisking us from seal-covered beaches to the heart of Aberdeen in minutes.
Ten years ago, this trip would have been a whole lot more difficult, needing paper timetables and a dose of good luck at the bus stop. But now, with decent 4G coverage even in good chunks of the Highlands, and apps like Google Maps and Bus Checker, there’s realtime info about buses and our location wherever we are. Trains are actually a bit trickier at least in terms of tickets, since travelling at short notice rules out the best value fares for us, and buying tickets from A to B often isn’t as a good a deal as split ticketing. But thankfully, there are apps for that too now.
We’re changing gear a bit in Carlisle from cultural and nature pursuits to altogether more energetic adventures. That said, I had a rather lovely morning coffee at the John Watt coffee shop in Carlisle while the junior Grays were bouncing at the trampoline park.
We all then had one of the best pizzas we’ve had on the trip at the Romana Pizza market stall, which must be the most unassuming #1 rated eatery anywhere in the country.
And then, on to Laser Quest…
Tomorrow we’ll probably be moving on South, after our first family climbing experience.