SLEEPER TRIPS - SEVENTEEN AND COUNTING

Every year, on or around the summer solstice, a small but persistent band of members swop their humdrum, monotonous lifestyles for a week of excitement and adventure. The annual sleeper trip, no less. The destinations have varied in the seventeen years we have been going, and have included those well-known Celtic outposts, Cornwall and Ireland. The basic format has not changed much, although the length has gradually increased:

Tuesday
Meet at the Fisherman's Rest at 2200 hours for kit inspection and issue of beer rations, before departure to Preston station.

Wednesday
Entrain at 0048 hours on the sleeper from Euston. Convince steward that the date on our tickets relates to the day of our joining his train rather than when it started its journey ('Are we not a day early, sir?'). Negotiate with now-harrassed steward on availability of a cooked breakfast for the morning. This seems to vary with the tides, like so much else belonging to our many and varied rail franchisees. Progress to lounge car (equipped with real, movable tables and chairs) to consume additional beer rations, and play guess-the-station as lights flash past in the darkness of North Lancashire and the Lakes. Retire to bed sometime after Oxenholme.
Reveille at approx. 0330 thanks to much shunting and banging at Edinburgh Waverley, as the train is cut in three to serve Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William. Drift off to sleep again hoping that we are still going where we thought we were. Secondary reveille from the steward at 0700-ish to better appreciate early morning over the West Highland/ Cairngorm/Grampian mountains, depending on sleeper route selected. Take breakfast in the day coach amidst superb scenery, either real or imagined, depending on the weather.

Arrive at the sleeper's destination and switch to a local Class 156 for onward travel, to such exotic places as Mallaig, Kyle of Lochalsh or Thurso, amongst fellow travellers mostly of antipodean or North American extraction. Their common feature, apart from shorts and sandals, seems to be financing their trip by winning the college Design-a-Giant-Rucsac competition. Arrive at pre-selected bed and breakfast accommodation to deposit bags and seek advice on availability of local cuisine (the nearest curry house).

Thursday
More travel, either astride the breadth of Scotland from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and back again, across the water from Oban to Mull or a return from Caithness to the deep south (Inverness). Sample more of the local cuisine (the nearest Chinese).

Friday
Morning at leisure, stocking up on the duty-paid and similar valuable souvenirs. Afternoon train back to Glasgow to connect with the Euston-bound service. Haggle en-route over the ubiquitous mobile phone to persuade/ encourage/ require selected friends and relatives to attend Preston station to pick up assorted weary travellers. Back in Southport in time for debriefing at the weekly SMRS meeting.

Click here for recent sleeper trips, and here for older ones.