bluca

The Strait of Hormuz is open for transit

It will be a cold, cold day in hell when the north british branch office of labour loses Murray's fiefdom in Edinburgh South

If only there was some sort of scheme to give some kind of incentive, let's say financial, for people to bring back spent glass bottles to certain collection points. Obviously too much for wee stupid Scotland. Thankfully we have been spared the embarassment by our enlightened overlords down south

Croftathon: Leith’s Own Backyard Ultra! Inspired by the Backyard Ultras, Barkley Marathons and Forest Gump, Croftathon brings endurance and community spirit together in the heart of Leith! Every lap counts toward our ambitious goal: 4,536…

I'm running in the Croft-a-thon today - laps of Leith Community Croft to raise money for the amazing #Leith organisation behind the Croft, Earth in Common. I'm aiming to run at least 10k.

You can contribute here:

Edinburgh Tram

And as it began, so it must end: in the drizzling rain, on a ding-ding wagon. We made it home! #FlightFree Edinburgh to Austria, and back, with a dog

LNER Azuma 1st class menu, listing a special haggis pie for celebrating Burn's Night

Yasss lunching in style, the perfect welcome home to Scotland

LNER Azuma locomotor at the platform

And as the final train of the journey, this red boi is going to quickly (but not quick enough) take us out of England, from London back to Auld Reekie

Made it across - back in old blighty, a Southeastern from Folkestone to London, bang on time

Le Shuttle locomotor at the euro tunnel terminal

As always, because #EurostarHatesDogs instead of just taking a train from Brussels to London like civilized people we have to get a taxi from Calais to Folkestone. Huge waste of time, money and CO2, but there's no alternative when traveling with a pet. Thanks, #Eurostar

Last train of the continent: a TGV-repurposed-TER from Lille to Calais, where the pet taxi awaits

After a surprise night in Brussels, onwards and upwards, towards Lille - with DB no longer involved we should now be safe, and indeed left bang on time. Of course SNCF being involved, had to fork 78 euros for 2 second class tickets for a 40 minutes journey. And they don't accept interrail passes.

Made it out of Koln, so we'll at least get to Brussels. Was supposed to get to Lille, but of course #FunWithDeutscheBahn happened instead. We'll have to start earlier tomorrow morning to make up for it

What's the quickest way to get from Berlin to Koln departing in the early afternoon? But why, to take an ICE, of course. To a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and then change to a regional train. Because #FunWithDeutscheBahn never truly ends

aaand we would have made it, except the friggin elevator at Berlin hbf was broken, of course. As we reached the platform the long way around, the train left. Why is everything broken in this country? #FunWithDeutscheBahn

We are running with a 35 minutes delay. That means 8 minutes to change in Berlin hbf, where of course the ICE has moved platform to the sbahn platforms, so we have to go from the bottom of the station to the very top, 5 levels. Easy. #FunWithDeutscheBahn

Apparently ICE 558 will both depart and NOT depart from Berlin hbf. How is that possible? The secret is that it moved platform, so according to DB's system it technically won't depart from hbf, since it's at a different level of hbf. But in the same literal hbf building. Yep. #FunWithDeutscheBahn

Is Deutschebahn running this CD Praha to Berlin train? Not even left Praha yet and it's already 5 minutes late

Glass of Czech imperial stout branded with the Sibeeria brewery logo

I always thought Czechia was all about boring pilsners. I was so, so wrong

This Czech ComfortJet has the LOUDEST INTERCOM EVER, a genuine heart attack every time a station is approached and it is announced

OBB locomotor approaching platform

Arrived 15 minutes late but no bother, as the connection was also late! The second leg of today's journey will bring us to Prague, where important work quality testing the local beer produce will take place over the next 3 days

OBB Railjet locomotor approaching platform

After 2 weeks of frolicking, the long way home starts with this red boi, taking us to Vienna, and already 25 minutes late

Here's the route visualized on a map

Train station sign "St. Paul im Lavanttal"

With 45 minutes of delay, we made it! #Edinburgh to #Austria #FlightFree travel is possible, but especially with a dog not for the faint of heart. 2 days of travel with a city break in between wouldn't be too bad, but the additional day due to the taxi-in-eurotunnel leg (thanks, Eurostar) add up

ICE locomotor at platform

At least it recovered some of the delay, only 15 minutes. For now. At least it still exists! #FunWithDeutscheBahn

DB timetable showing 45 minutes delay

...it was going far too well, this was bound to happen, wasn't it #FunWithDeutscheBahn

ICE locomotor approaching the platform

Made it on time! Onwards toward Munich on this ICE Sprinter. Isn't it funny that the Inter City Express was so slow it needed a Sprinter version? I do find it funny #FunWithDeutscheBahn

Patterdale terrier staring outside the window on the train

LOOKOUT MODE - ACTIVATED

ICE approaching the platform

Time to move on and start the final part of the journey. This old ICE is ferrying us from Dresden to Erfurt. On time for now. Will it last? #FunWithDeutscheBahn

Yep, it's the only way when traveling with a dog and without a private car - there's tons of cross channel "pet taxi" services which means there's obvious demand, but god forbid #eurostar did something clever business-wise for once

This concludes the first half of our #FlightFree travel from Scotland to Austria. We'll stay in Dresden for a few days sightseeing, beertasting and pigeon hunting, before continuing