Those who have been round for a while will realise that I have been rather quiet of late.
If truth be told; it’s been over a year!
But, that’s all about to change.
You may get sick of me in the next few months, but lots to update. Many posts will be backdated to when the drafts were penned.
Hope you enjoy
The sun was warm, although the sky was grey; the air reminded me of London, yet the feeling I got from this city was very different. It was as if when I spoke people softened.
Maybe it was hearing my southern English accent or maybe it was just the way I spoke. Whatever it was, it was very welcoming.
The train assistant walked me out onto the street beside Glasgow Central station and told me to turn right and then right again at the corner. To go to the crossing and I would find myself beside the river, from there I should turn right again and walk alongside The Clyde and I would reach The Glasgow Crowne Plaza.
Walking towards the Clyde had another reason; according to google maps, it was where the closest patch of grass was for Fizz to be able to have her breakfast and do ‘her business’ after all I was very aware that she had been on a train for eight hours without any option of relief!
The walk was lovely, calming yet refreshing and i was able to enjoy the varying architecture and engineering of the many different bridges we passed. (I later discovered just how many bridges there where)
The hotel was sat just after an odd ‘armadillo’ shaped building. I later discovered this to be The SEC Armadillo (yup that its official name) beside the SSE Hydro, a large exhibition, show and conference space.
While on the other side of the river there was The Glasgow Science Centre, IMAX cinema and The Glasgow Tower. But given the mix and mismatch of buildings and paving shows how there has been an increase in renovation and regeneration within the area in recent years.
This would do nicely, very nicely as a base to explore from. Surprisingly even at 8am in the morning my hotel room was ready for me, so instead of just leaving my bag at the hotel, I was able to check in, refresh with a lovely shower and sort myself out read for an adventure.
The hotel was beautiful, with 16 floors I took the opportunity to go upto the very top floor to look at the views (after photographing them and then zooming in) here are just a few of them.
When initially researching the hotel I had found that there was a train station closer to the hotel, but because this would have been involving walking away from the grass area i had decided against it originally. However I re-looked at it as a way to get back into the city centre for part of my exploration.
And when I did I discovered not only that the train station was just 3 minutes walk away, but that it was fully accessible over a large dual carriageway thanks to this beautifully designed fully covered in, ramped bridge.
Can you tell that the design geek in me was happy?
The train took me less than 5 minutes to travel back into the center of Glasgow. Where I quickly found that my google maps was struggling a little because of the high buildings and built up area just like it does in London.
We (Fizz and I) walked for hours, admiring buildings, discovering Glasgow Queen Street station which would be the station I would need to continue my travel later. And in finding other station just a few moments walk from The Central Station I discovered this beautiful mosaic.
I could continue to bore you with photographs from around Glasgow, but actually all I will say is that I walked over 20,000 steps in this beautiful city and saw some amazing buildings along with meeting many MANY many tourists from lots of different countries.
Fizz walked her paws off and she was a superstar for me. With the odd little ‘mischievous quirk’ when she discovered a near by costa and clearly felt we had walked enough for the moment and walked me quickly to the crossing, causing traffic to stop before I had realised what her plans were …
Who am i to argue with a guide dog?
Stop, refuelled and ready for more…. off we go again.
TO BE CONTINUED …
With a coffee in hand, along with my suitcase, book bag, handbag and guide dog I soon found the mobility assistance within London Euston Railway station. My assistance had been pre-booked so at just after 22:00 i was guided to my train.
The man assisting me happily took my case and my book bag and off we went.
It was a very different ‘check-in’ for The Caladonian Sleeper. It reminded me more of checking in to a flight.
First I checked in and was informed by the staff that I would be upgraded to a berth, they allocated me the ‘accessibile berth’ so that I was directly beside the toilet and just a door away from the lounge car.
The train measured over a quarter of a mile long and I was towards the furthest end. This is because the train that leaves Euston travels towards Scotland as one train, before splitting; with one part going towards Edinburgh and the other part towards Glasgow.
Once onboard the train, my room wasn’t quite ready, so I was seated in the lounge car where I was able to enjoy reading the extensive whiskey menu before I settled for a glass of red wine; before making myself and Fizz comfortable for the night in our berth.
The bed was comfortable, I took the extra pillows off the top bunk and although I looked at the little ‘sleep pack’ that was sat on the bed, I chose not to make use of the eye mask or ear plugs. For my first ever sleeper journey I wanted to be as aware of my surroundings as possible.
I plugged my phone and watch in the USB ports, worked out which switch was for the main light and the bed light; popped to the loo again for one last time and tucked in to bed to listen to my audio book all before the train had even left the station.
This was a school girl error as I suddenly felt very aware and awake when the train did start moving. Especially at the beginning when we were stopping at other London stations (just like a normal train would) so it was not until we were clear of London that I found myself getting comfortable again and drifting off to sleep.
I remember waking several times throughout the night, but there was not a clear reason for it. It wasn’t until I awoke in a panic when the train seemed to ‘turn off’ that I got a reasonable nights sleep.
My panic awakening was because I felt that we must surely have arrived in Glasgow, although upon reaching my phone I realised I was over an hour early for the arrival time of Glasgow, let alone for the extra thirty minutes I had to vacate my room once we did arrive.
So I took the time to get dressed and raise the blind in my room to let the Scottish scenery in. I even made myself a Herbalife shake for breakfast and got packed up.
It wasn’t long before we pulled into Glasgow Central Station and the kind staff gave me a bottle of apple juice and informed me that my requested station assistance was ready to guide me from the train to the exit of the station.
It was lovely to walk into a quiet station (being 7:10 on a Tuesday morning). The rail assistance asked me where I was heading and asked if I needed help getting a taxi, I politely informed him that I was going to head to my hotel to drop off my case and enable Fizz to stretch her paws along The River Clyde.
Because thanks to more support on social media and google maps I knew all I had to do was walk toward the river and then along it for 19 minutes to reach my base for the next day and a half. The Glasgow Crowne Plaza.
TO BE CONTINUED …
