Rang to get tickets - that little performance took five hours owing to the system failing twice at their end. Then my tickets wouldn't be posted until 6th March on next day delivery - booking being made on 4th March!! Finally, after four phone calls, was able to get a ticket to pick up at Glasgow Central. Duly took my reference number and card to said machine and - ticket cannot be issued here! Joined long queue and eventually tickets appeared. Made train by skin of my teeth. I could have done the train journey much cheaper by getting too singles but was told I couldn't get a single back from Gretna as it has no ticket office or ticket machines (true) but everyone else was buying tickets off the train conductor!!!
So, I paid £41.60 for the return trip, plus £20 towards friends' loan of car/fuel and £20 towards meal for all of them, because it really did put them out. If I'd taken my car, I'd have paid £15.70 for one ferry (Corran free as buy book of 30 tickets for a year and after first 10 trips rest work out free) and £140 for fuel (but would have some of that left to bring back onto the island. There would be some running costs, I appreciate, but I could have travelled a day later, come back a day earlier (impossible to get back to the island on a Sunday from Gretna by public transport) and six hours each way - far less stressful! Haven't had the phone bill yet!!!!