A Taste of Scotland
with Lorna McNee

The Royal Scotsman departs Edinburgh Waverley in the early afternoon, heading north through Perth towards the Highlands. The train lingers at a comfortable pace through Dunkeld, Pitlochry and Blair Atholl, where the castle sits imposingly above the river, and Champagne Afternoon Tea is served as the hills of Perthshire rise around you. It is a very good way to spend an afternoon.

The landscape grows more dramatic as the train heads further north towards Aviemore and the gateway to the Cairngorms National Park. By evening the train is settled in the Highland village of Boat of Garten on the private Strathspey Railway, and the evening begins with a champagne and canapé reception before dinner. Lorna McNee has designed a four-course menu for the occasion, drawing on Scottish produce with the kind of technique that earns restaurants Michelin stars. It is an exceptional first evening.

After breakfast a short coach journey takes you to Rothiemurchus Estate in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. The morning offers a genuine choice of Highland activities: clay pigeon shooting, fishing on the river, a guided estate tour or a hike with one of the park rangers. All of them take place in surroundings that most visitors to Scotland never reach, and the estate team know their landscape thoroughly.

Lorna hosts a barbecue lunch at the estate, with the mountains of the Cairngorms providing a backdrop that is very difficult to improve on. The quality of the cooking reflects where she learned her craft, and the informality of an outdoor lunch in that setting makes it one of the more memorable meals of the journey.

The train collects everyone at Carrbridge and a champagne reception begins as the journey heads south through Inverness and along the east coast of Scotland through Aberdeenshire and Angus towards Dundee, the City of Discovery on the Firth of Tay. This evening is a formal gala dinner, so dress accordingly. Lorna joins guests in the Observation Car afterwards for music, farewell drinks and the kind of conversation that tends to happen at the end of a very good couple of days.

A final breakfast is served as the train leaves Dundee and travels south through the former Kingdom of Fife. The crossing of the Forth Railway Bridge is the proper ending to a Scottish rail journey, the Victorian engineering as impressive now as it was when it opened in 1890. Edinburgh Waverley arrives shortly after, bringing a thoroughly enjoyable two nights to a close.

Itineraries and timings shown may be changed for seasonal or operational reasons.