I’m writing this while thundering up the country on an overnight train. We’ve just passed Milton Keynes Central, apparently used as the filming location for the United Nations HQ in the low-budget Superman IV. That is apparently a bone fide FACT, trivia fans.

I’m travelling to Inverness, because a couple of months ago I decided it would be a good idea to cycle from there to Glasgow, over 200 miles away on National Cycleway No. 7. Don’t ask me why. I cycled about ten miles of it on a bike loaned to me by a helpful B&B owner, and it was fun. Clearly, twenty times the distance equals twenty times the fun.

The first leg of the journey is getting there, which involved getting into London, and getting out again on a ScotRail sleeper train. Arriving into Paddington and departing from Euston also meant a short hop across the mean streets of London by bike.

The first off-peak train from Oxford was a small three-coach affair, with no reserved seats, never mind dedicated bike spaces. Waiting on the platform felt a little fraught as it filled with an improbable number of passengers and fellow cyclists – would there be any room?! By a mixture of luck and judgement, I managed to be waiting just at the spot where the train doors would stop, and the other bike lovers shuffled off in defeat to other parts of the train. Result!

Sadly, my dreams of a gentle meander down the quiet streets of central London at 8:30pm proved a little naive – the place was still heaving. Luckily, bus lanes covered much of the route, and the bus drivers and cabbies knew the score! They were very accommodating, not at all like the London driver stereotype. It was surprisingly easy to cycle on the route I took, but I bet it would be a different story at rush hour!

So here I am, on a train for the next ten hours. One last piece of good fortune – the cheap seats I’d booked myself into are broken, or something, so I’ve been put into a first class cabin instead. Thanks ScotRail!

Next stop, Crewe. Next stop for me, bed.

Unrivalled in its ability to make even the most beautiful views look rubbish. In fact, I suspect there’s an unwritten law which states that a view isn’t truly worth seeing unless the iPhone camera can render it utterly unremarkable.

This post is secretly a test of posting from the iPhone Wordpress app. As you were!