I have to say that there must be many worse ways to travel across the country than by train. For all that I complained about the train-wait-coach-wait-train arrangement back from London the other day, and about having to wait for almost 2 hours in Preston in December, when the trains work, I love them. There may be cheaper ways to travel, but if you book in advance then you can get great deals, like £8.75 from London to Manchester. You can get up and walk around, there are toilets and you can buy hot drinks and food. On Virgin trains you can even plug your headphones into the seat and listen to the radio, or charge your phone or laptop. Added to this, the seats have high backs and are therefore pretty comfortable, you can get into your luggage during the the journey (unlike the coach), and you get a much better view than if you are just driving up and down motorways. Even inter-city rail journeys can take you through fantastic areas of countryside and, because I'm a geek, and travel by train a lot, I have a few favourites. I know, this is a bit sad...

(Note: I'm excluding anything North of the Central Belt, partly because I don't know the routes well enough and partly because it's pretty much all amazing scenery.)

1. Edinburgh to Fife - I'll admit that going past the end of the runway at Edinburgh Airport when a plane is landing can be slightly unnerving, but just past that is a little pond where you can see grey heron and other birdies. Then you come to the Forth Rail Bridge which, on a nice day, gives you fantastic views up and down the river. On a misty morning, when there is a proper haar, you can't see the sea from the bridge, which is a bit like travelling through clouds.

2. West Coast Main Line - The section of the journey up to Edinburgh around Oxenholme and Penrith is pretty, but my favourite part is after Carlisle, when the train goes through Lockerbie and Carstairs. It's beautiful Borders scenery and the last time I travelled up there it was really frosty, making everything look really Christmassy. There were even little mini icebergs in the rivers and burns.

3. East Coast Main Line - Pretty much anywhere between Edinburgh and Newcastle. It's properly on the coast and you can look down over the cliffs and see the waves crashing against the rocks. Really cool on a clear but windy day.