With an invite for Esther’s 3rd birthday, we decided to go to Dundee by train for the Bank Holiday weekend. It’s a long way to drive and with reasonably priced tickets makes a better option than taking the car or van for a short trip. Left Matlock Bath at 0944 for Derby on a CrossCountry train to retrace our steps back via Belper then Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield and York. From here we joined the east coast main line, constructed in the mid-19th century to link London and Edinburgh with the industrial cities of the Midlands and Yorkshire. This is the best part of the journey and we rolled along the Northumberland coast and Berwick-upon-Tweed to change for Dundee at Edinburgh Waverley. On a ScotRail train we crossed the iconic Forth and Tay rail bridges to arrive at 1723. Journey time just over seven hours with only two changes, it’s certainly quicker and more relaxing than a 400+ mile drive. Simon and Esther came to meet us at the station.
After Saturday brunch on Perth Road we went to the park for a birthday picnic with Esther’s friends and cake made by Simon. Sunday found us all fitting snugly into the car for a ride to Dunkeld, a favourite spot not far from Dundee with excellent pizza and tacos for lunch at the Taybank Hotel Gardens. Driving on to Loch of the Lowes we spent an enjoyable afternoon watching osprey from the bird hide, going for a walk and doing a bit of sketching.
Ricarda had to go to work on Monday, so we set out in the car with Simon & Esther for forest trails and a picnic at the beach. First stop Tentsmuir Forest where we followed the Ice House Trail. Esther rode her bike and we enjoyed walking the forest trails as far as the sand dunes. Just south of the Tay Estuary, this wonderful coastal grassland is an excellent spot for having fun by the seaside. After our walk in the forest and lunch at the playground, we set out for an afternoon on the beach in glorious sunshine paddling in the North Sea, building sandcastles and, for me, doing some more painting.
On Tuesday Ricarda left for work on her bike, Simon took Esther to Nursery then gave us a lift to the station on his way to work. We enjoyed good coffee with croissants and bought lunchtime goodies for the train journey south at Empire State Coffee, just opposite the station. Departing Dundee at 1109 we caught a LNER Azuma train to Newcastle. Introduced in 2019 the LNER website states “Built by Hitachi Rail in County Durham, Azuma trains embrace Japanese bullet train technology with award-winning interior design.” The Azumas are hybrid, using electric overhead power where available, otherwise diesel. The Standard seats and general layout of the carriage are certainly significantly better than Cross Country! More legroom, higher compartment making space for deeper luggage racks and handy lighting display showing seat reservations (red/amber/green).
Changed at Newcastle onto Cross Country train with very grumpy ticket collectors and arrived late into Derby at 1705. Decided to treat ourselves to an Uber ride home rather than wait in the heat for the Matlock service! Home in style at 1805, just right for a spritz on the terrace before cooking supper.