I've not tried this myself, with the furthest I've done on one train being London to Inverness way back in 2007. However I do think it's a fascinating idea and a cracking way to celebrate a 40th. I've got the same milestone coming up next year, and I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to mark the occasion.
This certainly has inspired me to actually think about it, and with a little over a year to go until the event I think something big like this could work. Enough about me though, as one can tell from my trip reports thread I talk a lot so let's avoid that and focus on your adventure:
First of all, it's a good idea to have some company with you. I get the feeling you'd not enjoy the trip otherwise.
Secondly, I hope you'll share the tale of the adventure with us all on here
I'm definitely interested in finding out how it went and I suspect plenty of other people will be too.
Let's talk routing. Penzance to Thurso's a mammoth journey, no matter how you do it. Going straight up the XC route to Edinburgh, then changing for Inverness and thus Thurso, that's the most logical in terms of convenience and speed. It's also not the most thrilling! I don't know much about your desires with scenery etc, but if I may, here's a suggestion:
- Penzance to Bristol, either on XC or GWR whichever is most sensibly priced, stopping off for maybe an hour or so for a leg-stretching break in the city to grab some good quality food for the journey etc.
- Bristol to Newport, nice and easy diversion into Wales with maybe time to grab a coffee at HiCoffee next to platform 4
- Newport to Manchester Piccadilly, preferably on a MK4 set for the additional comfort, with a leg stretching break for an hour or so again etc. Plenty of beautiful scenery on the way north through Wales, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire to enjoy, my recommendation is to sit on the left hand side in the direction of travel for the best views
- Manchester Piccadilly to Glasgow Central on Transpennine Express. I did consider recommending going over the Pennines themselves, for the scenery, but I'm a sucker for the views through places like Tebay in Cumbria
Actually, perhaps use any operator Manchester to Preston then change to Avanti north to Glasgow to sample the scenic delights while also enjoying the 8 degrees of tilt on a Pendolino
- Short walk through the city centre of Glasgow to grab a cuppa, stretch the legs etc, after enjoying the splendid station of Glasgow Central and then enjoying the modern architecture of the rebuilt Glasgow Queen Street.
- Glasgow Queen Street to Inverness, hopefully aboard a ScotRail HST. I prefer sitting on the left hand side in the direction of travel, for the beautiful views on the Highland Main Line
- Inverness to Thurso on a ScotRail 158. I haven't travelled north of Dingwall since June 2007, so I don't really remember much about the line, but I do know there's some really nice bits of scenery and you'll want to do that line in daylight.
There are alternatives throughout that plan, such as going via Worcester after Bristol for a short break to visit the city's cathedral, riverside walks and quirky railway layout, but there's not enough time left in today to detail every single option. Likewise, you'd have the potential option to break the journey at Shrewsbury for the beautiful town, its enormous signal box and riverside walks. Hereford is an option too for the cathedral, riverside walks and more too. As I say, there's options galore!
It depends really on how you want to do the journey. Is this part of a personal Land's End to John O'Groats challenge? Will it be a case of see how fast you can do the journey? Do you want to stop off along the way and enjoy some of the places this beautiful country has to offer?
I hope this gives you an insight into some of the options available. I just looked at approximate times for my proposed route above, and with an almost enforced hour's break in Newport off the 0640 Penzance to Cardiff Central, given there's just 4 minutes to make a connection onto a Manchester service, it's gone 2100 into Glasgow. That's with using the 0628 Penzance to Edinburgh as far as Bristol with a little under an hour until that Cardiff train, then an hour in Newport, and with an hour or so in Manchester that puts one onto a Transpennine Express service that terminates in Carlisle. However one can still transfer to Avanti before there.
The morning after, one can jump on the 0707 Glasgow to Inverness and have a 12 minute connection onto the 1041 to Wick, arriving Thurso at 1424. This is all based on times available on 5th December 2023, the timetable next year could well be different. Incidentally, one could make it to Inverness with just one 25 minute connection in Edinburgh from that XC at 0628, arriving at Inverness at 2124. That's a long day with not much happening though, and while the journey would still be scenic I'd say there would be less of interest.
As I say, it's up to you how you want to do it. Be warned that Inverness can get very expensive for hotels, so it's worth considering breaking the journey elsewhere. Edinburgh isn't cheap for hotels either, unless you're willing to settle for poor quality accommodation. I've been bitten by that before, and given you're marking a milestone event I can't imagine you'd want to risk a bad hotel.
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