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"The Far North Line will be closed north of Dingwall for a three-week period this summer so that an £11.5 million track upgrading programme can be carried out.Network Rail says the work will increase reliability of rail services for passengers by refurbishing a five-mile stretch of track between Brora and Helmsdale and replacing almost nine miles of track between Invergordon and Fearn.
To allow the upgrades to be delivered safely and efficiently, the line will be closed with no trains running north of Dingwall from Sunday, June 8, until Monday, June 30."
The replacement bus service will not carry bikes. Anyone looking at doing a Lands End - JOG better get in eaely with the one way car hire from Wick. May be busier than usual.
These guys might be even busier than usual.
https://www.johnogroatsbiketransport.co.uk/
Maybe I should do a month as a temp driver 😂
Funnily enough I have just been looking at all the options for Lejog, though the timing of the line closure does not affect me, yet!
I did try to book the Caledonian Sleeper, but after 2 phone calls to them (the 1st guy didn't know), it became apparant that once you're on the sleeper at Inverness (and other Scottish stations?) you cannot get off the train with your bike in England until you get to London!
Why? Because the train is to long for the platforms and where the bikes are stored on the train means you can't them off.
What ever happened to levelling up 🤷♂️
Ive wondered how the get away with not allowing bikes on replacement buses. Seems odd particularly as coaches have plenty of luggage space
plenty of luggage space
yes our 'Goldliner' coaches here in Northern Ireland carry bikes in the hold.
When I did LeJog I actually just chanced it. Turned up at Wick Station for the first train and got let on. As far as I remember the train only officially had two bike spaces at that time. They were booked from Garve to Inverness so the guard let me on. We just packed three bikes in for the last leg from Garve.
I can't recommend it though as I have also seen the guard at Oban refusing to squeeze on a local cyclist going 2 stops. No booking no travel.
No booking no travel.
The problem with that line is it can get ridiculously busy. I used it once (without a bike) for the full journey from Wick and it was dead quiet but sometimes you can have an entire coachload of walkers, tourists etc get on at Thurso. A lot of the stops in the middle only exist to serve one tiny hamlet, sometimes even just a single farm but then the stops nearer Inverness will get busier.
The guards will know the route, the hotspot stations and how likely it is to get busy on any given day / time of year so I can understand how a conductor might be lenient on one day but then totally by the book about it the following week.