17 May 2008 →Wick (North Highland)

When Pigen and Piching Waited for the train to Wick, there's nobody but a stationmaster in the rail station. Time passed by, the stationmaster suddenly came to announce that there's no train on that day. The reason was caused by an accident. The train departed from Inverness and hit a car. Luckily, there's no one hurt and die. (However, the truth was the car driver suffered a broken wrist and suspected broken leg, but was conscious as he was removed from the vehicle.) This news quite surprised Piching. She had no idea how to deal with this situation. Would they return to Inverness? Many questions appeared in her mind.
等待往威克的列車時，火車站裡除了站長以外，毫無其它人影，時間快接近時，突然站長過來告知這天火車停駛，原因是從茵凡尼斯出發的列車與汽車相撞，所幸無人傷亡(不過事後看新聞，汽車駕駛手腕斷裂及疑似大腿斷裂，不過仍然意識清醒)。這個消息令P青訝異不已，心想該怎麼辦才好？今天回的去茵凡尼斯嗎？

Before she thought too much, the station master told her they had arranged taxis to drive them to Wick. All passengers didn't need to pay extra money if they had train tickets. Soon after, a couple came to join the short trip to Wick. The lady was expansive so she sat next to the driver. Thus, there was no awkward conversation happened in the taxi.
幸好，站長馬上說她會安排計程車載送我們到威克，乘客無需負擔任何費用。稍後來了一對夫妻，也是要去威克的，所以剛好一輛計程車便可以把全部旅客載送到目的地。太太是個很健談的人，所以坐在駕駛座旁與駕駛聊天，避免整車冷場。

Even the taxi departed much later than the scheduled time but it arrived at Wick on time.
Thurso to Wick 14:27-14:57 via taxi

計程車出發的時間比原本火車預定時間晚很多，但卻非常準時地在兩點五十七分到達威克。
樂索到威克 14:27-14:57 計程車接送

They only had less than one hour to stay in Wick because they had to catch up the train on 3:52pm. Thus, they walked along the River Wick to the Wick Bay and were disappointed about the view comparing with Thurso's. Wick was divided by the River Wick. Its population is less than Thurso's. There's Wick Airport in the north providing transport for the rather isolated Caithness community. Wick has world's shortest street, Ebenezer Place recorded in Guinness Book of Records. It only two meters long.
因為等回兒要趕搭三點五十二分的火車，所以P根與P青只能在這裡逗留不到一個小時。威克被威克河分成兩邊，人口比樂索少一點點，其北邊有威克機場，提供通往開斯納斯郡更偏遠孤立的區域。由於時間倉促，所以P根與P青趕緊先沿著威克河走到港口，不過景色與樂索相比，的確失色，這裡還有創下金氏記錄-世界最短的街道Ebenezer Place，只有兩米長。

(蘇格蘭山脈上有許多黃色的植物，有時候可看見一大片，有時候卻是一叢一叢分散著，聽司機說才知道，原來是之前曾經發生過火燒山，全部都燒光光了，好不容易過了好幾年，才長成現在這樣子，不然以前滿山遍黃，非常漂亮。)

North Highland Lines still stopped because of investigation, the train station arranged a mini-bus to pick up passengers along the lines. The mini-bus took less time than the train's scheduled time so passengers could walked around to see the different view from the train lines' if they arrived at the stop early. After Pigen and Piching arrived at the final destination, Inverness, the driver had to drive back to Wick alone. Luckily, direct driving without stop only took him two hours from Inverness to Wick. It was very soon!!!

Wick to Inverness 15:52-20:05 via mini-bus

北高地路線仍然因意外調查中而全線停駛，所以安排了小巴士沿路載乘旅客，因為小巴行駛在公路上比火車快速，所以常常比預定時間早到車站，如果比較早到，就會在車站停留比較久的時間，這時候，大家就可以下車四處逛逛，欣賞與火車路線不同的景觀。到達茵凡尼斯後，司機還要獨自開回威克，不過他說沿路不停駛，直達只需兩小時!很快吧～

威克到茵凡尼斯 15:52-20:05 迷你巴士接送 (事實上比預定時間更早到!)

P.S.不過，令人好奇的是，其它上車的乘客真的有買票上車嗎？因為過了五點，這些小車站都已關閉營業，照正常程序，這些非旅遊因素而搭乘火車的乘客都是在車上跟車掌補票，但沿路上並不見司機跟每位乘客查票，或許這也是一種造成交通不便而回饋乘客的睜隻眼閉隻眼的免費服務吧！

[→Aberdeen]
[隔天回程順便去亞伯丁走走吧！]

Go to Pigen's Flickr to see more pictures.
到P根相簿瀏覽更多相片。