A trip to Scotland inevitably—for me at least—includes a change in London. This time I really made the most of it, and included a visit to a museum, a brewery taproom, and an Indian dinner.
Of course it was a national strike in Belgium, disrupting public transport quite a bit. Luckily the lines I needed to get to Brussels Midi station were still running, albeit less frequent.
When I arrived—well ahead of time—the Eurostar terminal looked slightly different than last time… I soon found out what changed: whereas the British border control had been an automated passport scan for a quite a while already, the Belgian side now has similar gates as well. No human interaction at all required anymore!
After boarding, I quickly found my comfortable solo seat, number 61. Not the one The Man in Seat 61 usually books, since his is in Premier class, while I was ‘just’ travelling in Plus. Note to self: check which power socket a booked seat has, because a UK plug and a USB-C cable aren’t much use when the seat only has a EU socket and USB-A outlet…
Plus class includes a light lunch, and today it was grilled courgette and marinated fennel salad bowl, Sicilian gemelli pasta with tomato, capers and olives, and basil ricotta.
After arriving perfectly on time, I first headed to a Stasher location near Euston station, to store my bag for the day. After a rather short night, I was desperate for a coffee, so I headed to Origin Coffee Shoreditch for my first one.
I picked that area to be already near the Museum of the Home, a free museum I hadn’t been to yet. It turned out to be quite nice! Although you start to feel old when the more recent interiors seem very familiar…
Time for another coffee at Gram’n Degrees, mainly to kill time until the Great Beyond Brewing Co brewery taproom opened. They were still in full Oktoberfest mode, but luckily had some non-lagers—brewed in house, of course—as well!
Since my stomach was still on Belgian time anyway, I decided to beat the Friday night dinner crowd, and head to Punjab restaurant early. I had one of their specialties, the Acharri Murgha, with same garlic naan and a mango lassi of course. Delicious!
After picking up my bag, I made my traditional stop at Euston Tap, for a last pre-train beer. Or three…
The Caledonian Sleeper guest lounge wasn’t too full when I arrived, and I had my room key, some shortbread and Irn-Bru in no time.
After boarding, I headed to the Club Car to hand in my breakfast card, and secured my stool at the window bar. While I was enjoying a Black Isle beer, the Caledonian Sleeper London Euston – Fort William departed perfectly on time. Just 925 km in 12h45 to go…
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