Reaching for the Skye

Today's admission is bought to you by Hauling My Carcass.

There is tiny possibility that I'm a little bit of a train geek.

I don't mean notepad and rain mac stylee but if I have the chance to travel on trains (especially sleepers) instead of any other transport which includes running, then I will do. And anywhere in the world too.

Travelling round Southern India with my Dad in February '08 by pretty much just train travel was without doubt one of the best trips ever, right along side seeing Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia in April this year with Lovely Girlfriend. Both trips were full of breathtaking scenery, amazing routes and great company. But the things I remember the most about these trips was the train travel. Ask LG and she'll tell you that whenever we were feeling tired from the heat or jet lagged, the thing that put a smile on my face was getting on the next train. Being rocked to sleep and then waking up in a completely different part of the country is a wonderful thing!

TO be honest, that's despite some of the places and times where trains dump you. A 4am start in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam rings a bell as does waiting for 4 hours between 1am and 5am in Coimbatore in India. Despite these things, it's a fantastic experience. It's the little victories that make it I reckon. Imagine spending those 4 hours trying to avoid getting eaten by mossies in quite a few layers of clothing but still very warm and trying to stay awake so you can keep an eye on everything. Now imagine the shear and utter joy that comes when you find, open, at 3am on an almost empty platform, a stall selling straight black coffee! There is nothing like it.

Now from reading some of the above, you may be expecting something about running, getting the minor victories and overcoming the bad moments but nope, not from me. I just want to talk about my next holiday.

I have never been to Scotland. Some of it's meant to be truly breathtaking but in 29 and a half years, I've never been north of the border. So after our polluting long haul flight to Asia in April, it was time to do something closer to home. So we picked Skye. Reasons? Well it just looks too beautiful not to really. Oh and hang on, you can get the Caledonian Sleeper up to Fort William and travel on one of the worlds most scenic routes and therefore do a little good, see some awesome scenery, tick my holiday 'geek' box and get rained on lots all in one holiday. Bonus! OK the last part isn't great but it'll still be fun.

They'll be no room for the running trainers but there will be some long hikes around various parts of Skye on most days so it's not like I'm going to be inactive. The train leave Euston station tomorrow night and I won't be back in London until Tuesday morning. And as it's camping, it means no laptops and no TVs or DVD players. I will however have a LW radio with me. After all, a certain cricket match starts tomorrow and we have some Aussie butt to kick! Hopefully.