25 Aug. - Inverness
Thick fog as we cross the Forth.
Train seats not 'booked'.
Train crowded with bodies + baggage.
Fog lifted + crowd thinned in time for comfy + relaxing run through edge of Cairngorms.
All the young boys with long fingers + longer legs, clad in skin-tight jeans or trackpants.
Inverness small + tidy + dressed.
Ness broad, shallow + rippling with rapids.
Tannin stained, cool water, bright in the late afternoon sun - lighting the pink castle + silhouetting the Palace Hotel.
Twilight tourists snapping selfies under the hanging baskets of annuals.
Notes: Our train seats were booked, but we were reluctant to argue with the belligerent locals occupying them. This was the main line north via Perth, Pitlochry and Aviemore. Living in Sydney I am very familiar with sandstone, but the pink and red sandstones of northern UK are a novelty.