We have checked out of the hotel but left our bags with them until later. We have the morning to spend in Glasgow.

Cloudy and damp

It’s a cool, damp and cloudy day today but we have had sunshine too during our stay so I won’t grumble about it.

Caffè Nero

We came to Caffè Nero in Sauchiehall Street for breakfast. (By the way, Sauchiehall is derived from Gaelic meaning “willow grove”. Hence, too, the name of the Willow Tea Room.)

Breakfast
Photo by Tigger

We had our usual coffee and croissants.

Mackintosh high-back chairs

At Mackintosh at the Willow there was an exhibition and a guided tour. We went along. The exhibition comprises a film, a lot of information panels and a few actual exhibits such as the above.

The tea room today

The tour lasted about 45 minutes. I had difficulty understanding the tour guide because of her accent and high-pitched voice, ill-suited to my hearing loss. That means I won’t bore you with an account of the tour. You can read about the history of the Willow Tea Rooms designed by Mackintosh here.

The upper tea room

The Salon de Luxe Tea Room

Mackintosh chandelier
Photo by Tigger

Earlier, I had tried to top up my phone as I was running low on data. Something went wrong so I had to go to a Three shop to sort things out. As we had to go back to the hotel to collect our bags and then go to the station to catch our train, this meant we were in rather a rush.

Aboard the 17

I pick up the story where we had left the hotel with our reclaimed bags and boarded a number 17 bus to the station.

Glasgow Central Station

We arrived at Glasgow Central Station with some time to spare. I looked after the luggage while Tigger bought things for a picnic lunch on the train.

Queueing for the Euston train

Our train was to leave from platform 1. There was a queue for the train and we had to join it – a form of rehimentation I have not encountered in any other station.

Aboard the Euston train

We had reserved seats but it turned out that the seat reservation system was not working so there was a free-for-all for seats. Fortunately, there were enough seats for everyone.

Hurrying south

Our train departed from Glasgow at 13:35 and is due to reach Euston at 18:34, a five-hour journey.

Arriving at Euston

Five hours is a long time to be cooped up in a train but we arrived in London at last and set foot on terra firma in Euston Station.

The next question was whether the buses would be on strike. We checked the dates of strikes (thank goodness for smartphones and the Internet) and found that buses would be on strike on Sunday and Monday but not today.

Aboard the 30

We clambered aboard a crowded number 30, dumped our suitcases in the luggage rack (that’s Tigger’s orange suitcase front left) and found seats near the back.

A few stops later, we were home, bringing to an end our Glasgow adventure, at least for this time around.