Oh boy.

I’m sat in an Internet cafe in Kirkwall. The Orkney bus (connecting me with Inverness and all my trains back home) left an hour ago.

I’m a numpty.

Coming back from Greece in ’07, a delayed train screwed me over and forced me to buy new tickets (which I recouped some of the cost of, because it wasn’t my fault). This time, I’ve managed to write down the wrong departure time of the Orkney bus into my oh-so-organised travel notebook, and somehow failed to spot the error when I’ve checked through my notes – even though the right time is on the Orkney bus ticket. I can see exactly how it’s happened, even though it’s truly, gloriously dim of me. It’s most assuredly my fault this time.

So – a nice illustration of these tips in action.

Single rail fare from Inverness to York for tomorrow – £108.

(I may have panicked when I saw this. I may have spat coffee).

Single tickets from Inverness to Perth, Perth to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to York – £68.

Thank god for the extra money I put aside for emergencies, eh?