Lansdowne Green a new start!

Well it all started with an advert in the newsletter of the 7mm NGA, Narrow Lines. Roy, a member of some seniority, was looking for a new home for his module, Lansdowne Green, part of the Cottesmore Light Railway, an 0:16.5 layout from the 1970's. Not much of the original layout still exists, though one module is being extensively renovated, Worton Court, by some of the founders of the Cottesmore group. Following a series of phone calls, texts and emails it was agreed that I would go and collect the layout fromRoy and his long suffering wife Jenny on the 13th of October. What I had not fully grasped was WHERE I was to collect the layout from. I live in Bognor Regis, and Roy and Jenny have retired to Fort Augustus, on the southern tip of Loch Ness! A one way trip of 620 miles!
Having recovered from teh initial shock, it all became an adventure. I asked Doug, a fellow member of the South Downs Area group of the 7mm NGA, if he would like to join me and share the driving, to which he said yes! A 6am start from home found us passing Winchester before the rush hour began, though traffic did start to build by the time we passed Newbery. The weather was changeable and I was glad that I had the wiper blades replaced on my Peugeot Partner. An accident in the Birmingham area led to us leaving the motorway and having fun and games finding an open on ramp to get back on! I had planned on filling up at ASDA in Carlisle, but we missed the signs for the exit, and soon found ourselves in Scotland. We pushed on, and filled up at Sainsburys in Hamilton, my old home town (Come on the Accies!)
Once again, due to road works, rejoining the M74 was quite a palava, but we made it and then turned off via the M73, M80, M9 and A84 passing Callander and along the shores of the beautiful Loch Lubnaig. Continuing up past Bridge of Orchy we spotted a freight train, carrying Aluminium ore, which we HAD to photograph! (The Network Rail guys working at the station must have thought us mad, but we explained that at home we see almost no freight, so it was a novelty!)

Onward we passed Loch Tulla before heading into Glen Coe, which offered us an amazing sunset!

Then onward in the dark, and trust me it is VERY dark up there, through Ballachulish and Fort William before arriving at our hosts in Fort Augustus. 
Doug and I had a superb dinner at the Lock Inn (yes it is spelt correctly) before collapsing into our beds for a well earned nights sleep! In the morning Jenny, our wonderful host, insisted on making us breakfast, a fantastic bowl of steaming porridge for me, muesli for Doug! Fed and watered we then loaded our treasure into the car, and, after a little sight seeing in Fort Augustus,

we set off via the back road ( the B862) towards Inverness. There was so much to see and photograph we made slow progress, heading south via Boat of Garten, to see the Strathspey Railway

(not running THAT day),Dundee (for the Tay Bridges) and Edinburgh for the Forth Bridges. from here we drove to Washington to spend a night in the Campanile Hotel. A nice clean twin bed room with en suite which didn't break the bank!
Saturday saw us heading further south to make a stop at the National Railway Museum, York 

where we whiled away a good few hours! From there, onward to sunny Sussex, and home!