08:00 and things take a turn for the worse! The engine has run out of juice so there is no more hot water for tea or coffee! Still no sign of this replacement engine.
09:40 we have been loaded onto coaches for a 4-5 hour road journey to Edinburgh, still no food or drink!
11:30 a 45 minute stop at services at Charnock Richard between Liverpool and Blackpool means I can finally buy some breakfast and have a comfort stop, but it now means arrival into Edinburgh is not expected before 3:30, 8 hours later than originally planned.
12:30 M6, Lake District, at least the journey is through some of the prettiest scenery in England.
13:25 More than 10 hours after we should have done so on the train, we finally cross the English/Scottish border at Gretna Green.
16:25 Almost 9 hours to the minute after we were supposed to arrive, the coach pulled to a halt on the side of the road on the Waverley bridge. Having spoken to the ScotRail duty manager and getting lots of abject apologies I headed over to my hotel to check in.
I had a big plan of things I was going to do, unfortunately a large proportion of this worked on the basis of the sleeper actually reaching Edinburgh, so with glorious weather still in control I headed off to the edge of the city to climb to the top if Arthur's seat, the highest point in the city.
The views from the top on a beautiful clear spring day are spectacular. Stretching from the Forth Bridge across the Firth of Forth to the Southern Highlands. After spending almost half an hour taking in the views I walked back down (taking longer than the climb up!) to the city centre for dinner.
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