Taking that midnight boat to Shetland

I thought about many routes I could take to get from Edinburgh, around Scotland and then back down to Glasgow. Almost until the day I left Edinburgh, I still hadn’t decided what to do. Finally I decided to just go ahead and start my trip with the parts that excited me the most – Shetland and Orkney.

Day 5: Train Day

This is the day when I got my bike, a hybrid Trek that I rented for this part of the trip. A very nice man from Tartan Bikes met me at Waverly train station (you guessed it – named after Sir Walter Scott’s first novel) and passed it off to me, along with helmet, pump and a few other necessities. I then spent about 20 minutes stressing out at the train station because they announced my platform very very late, and I wasn’t totally confident about how to put my bike on the train, but it worked!

Here is the bike cubby with my bike in it.

The train took me to Aberdeen. It is a city of hardworking dockworkers, full of grit.

And then the overnight ferry to Shetland. It was great, because it wasn’t necessary to waste a day traveling – all the hard work was done while I slept. (Like with my lovers.)

  • The docks.
  • Left this mothefucking suitcase with the handle that doesn’t pull out behind. Wouldn’t fit on the bike anyway.
  • Up to the boat.
  • British food on the boat.
  • Sleeping pod.
  • Bye, mainland Scotland!
  • Hello, Shetland!