Best Of

I went up to Scotland last week (I might have mentioned it). I hate trains but I like the idea of a posh train to somewhere nice. That leaves me the Night Riviera sleeper train to Penzance, the Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness, or the Eurostar to Lille. Not big places, smallish nice towns with nice places where I can sit down and read books, reasonably luxurious and historic with nice buildings. Anybody been to Penzance, Inverness or Lille?

I’ve been to all of them. They’re all great in different ways, and with flaws

Penzance: real end of the line feeling. You are definitely at a terminus and it’s at the very end of Cornwall. The station is by the sea. You exit to ozone and gulls and fish and chips and saltiness. And you are surrounded by Wild West Cornwall

But Penzance is a bit run down. Druggies and shuttered shops

Inverness is quite a handsome town. Granite everywhere. It’s not as dramatic as Penzance but you’re definitely on the door of the highlands and the wilds. The train over to Kyle is spectacular

Can also be rundown. And cold

Lille is probably the most architecturally appealing in itself. Nice French Flemish feel. But much more boring in location and nothing to see - unless you like world war 1 battlefields, in which case it’s fab

I'd agree with all that - but for the Penzance option: why not add on a short branch line hop (changing at St. Erth?) and finish at St. Ives?

On Lille - my daughter went on a school trip to Lille last winter to visit the Christmas markets - less famous than the German counterparts but just as worthwhile. Perhaps you could do that?

All that said, if it were me I'd definitely go for Inverness. Regardless of the city at the end, that's the best train ride.

Inverness - maybe walk over to the Caledonian canal lock staircase and along the canal end to the sea lock. Maybe even a cruise along the canal into Loch Ness (which is some way away, but not too much). Good base also for side trips to eg Elgin, Strathpeffer, Cromarty.

I think they do cruises from Dochgarroch from memory?
If not jump on the bus to either Drumnadrochit and do the Nessie tourust stuff and a cruise or down to Fort Augustus where they do some nice hourly cruises
If going to Fort William by sleeper, Linnhe Cruises do a great cruise on Loch Linnhe, you get up close and personal with seals and its very informative

Yes, Dochgarroch is the bit of [edit] south west Inverness where there is a lock. The canal runs roughly north-south

Edit: memory failed me - Muirtown a little to the north is where the lock staircase is (which is separate from and a little way from the sea lock to the north): ISTR another firm operates from there. Mrs C and I usually stay in a bijou B&B almost next to the canal there But not recently been so can't give a current recommendation. It's a fair walk from the town centre with luggage though.

Nice river park walks too in the centre and south of Inverness.

Edit: can't opine on cruises as we got a taxi to Loch Ness and met our friends circumnavigating Britain in their yacht and had a private cruise along the canal and helped lock down in the staircase.

Dochgarroch is where you get the ferry boat down to Loch Ness, it’s about four miles south of the city at the last of the canal locks. The boat ride takes two hours and costs £30, it goes half way down Loch Ness to the ruined castle and back again. The boat company is www.jacobite.co.uk

The most impressive locks on the canal are those known as Neptune’s Staircase, just North of Fort William. Easy to miss if you’re on the A82, we may have had to loop back.

Proper procedures, full confidence latest

NEW: Mandelson email to Epstein in June 2008:

“I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened.

"I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can... everything can be turned into an opportunity and that you will come through it and be stronger for it.

"The whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are, and how strong.

"Your friends stay with you and love you.”

Subcribe for more later on: youtube.com/@harrycolesave…

Hmm. In some ways this gets Mandelson off the hook. He's clearly besotted with the man and believes him to be the innocent victim of some sort of witch hunt. Now, you can call that naïve and his loyalty appallingly misplaced, but that's better than the charge of knowingly hanging out with a sex fiend and partaking in his perversions. Mandy might just get away with this.

Starmer is lucky the BBC haven’t put the PMQs footage on the Mandelson/Epstein story.

What is the Mandelso/Epstein story except for some prurience by a few second rate hacks. Has he done something illegal? I loathe Trump so would be delighted to have someone less sycophantic representing UK interests but that's nothing to do with Epstein. This guilt by association is pretty tabloid and unattractive,

When you accept the hospitality of someone who has just been convicted of a serious sexual offence, well, as the saying goes:

"Lie down with dogs, and pick up fleas."

It's a bit Prince Andrewesque.

The thing is, everyone knows that Andrew is very stupid, as well as being a complete shit.

I had credited Mandleson with more intelligence.

I remember hearing from somebody close to royal circles who observed that it wouldn't surprise him that one day news broke that Prince Andrew's own bodyguards had shot and killed him.

There was a review recently of a book about Prince Andrew which concluded he posessed almost every negative characteristic it is possible to have. He came across as not just by far the worst person in the royal family, but in Britain; possibly the world.

A 'warts and warts on the warts' portrayal. He must have some good points. Can he hold a tune?