SCARBOROUGH, ENGLAND (June 17) — It is my turn to leave Scarborough. Mae and Meredith went south to London and then on to Paris yesterday. I’m heading north today into Scotland for a Larwood Symposium (run by the International Bryozoology Association) in Thurso and later Stromness.
The trip is nearly 12 hours long by train, with connections in York, Edinburgh, and Inverness. I’m getting good use out of my BritRail Pass. I hope to see much through my windows as we cross through Lowland Scotland into the Highlands and eventually the north coast. Thurso is the most northerly station in the British rail system.
Did you know the world’s longest bench is in the Scarborough Rail Station?
That really is a remarkable bench. It is a remnant of the days when special excursion trains ran from the industrial cities of northern England to Scarborough every weekend. The bench would have been used by factory workers waiting for their train home after a long day at the seaside.