Yes, well, the rain…….. still falling out the sky. It’d been really windy and wet last night and a bit of mopping up was required. Seems to have come through tent’s seams rather than the main fabric itself. Mind you, I did better than the guys next door to me, who had small personal tents of some unknown make. One of them gave up and slept in his car !
Never mind, today is another of the “major highlights” of the trip – a steam train journey from Fort William to Mallaig along the West Highland Line on the Jacobite train, run by West Coast Railways. Described as the “greatest railway journey in the world”, it’s an 84 mile round trip. Starting near the highest mountain in Britain (Ben Nevis), it visits Britain’s most westerly mainland railway station (Arisaig), passes close by the deepest freshwater loch in Britain (Loch Morar), finally arriving at the fishing port of Mallaig.
I’d booked a taxi from the campsite to the station, as it seemed the best choice in the weather – and probably cheaper than all day in the station car park. The taxi guy cheered me up a bit by his greeting – “Hello, my name is Noah……..”. Even he was surprised how wet it had been in the last 24 hours…..
I suspect that the driest place in Fort William on this day was on the footplate of the loco ! Toasty warm……
On the train, it was very much social distancing and masks, which meant I had a table seat for 4 all to myself. Not easy to communicate with people across the aisle with masks, but we managed.
Thankfully the rain eased on the way, so the obvious highlights like the Glenfinnan Viaduct were readily viewed. Arriving at Mallaig, the sun came out, but it remained windy. Time for an ice cream…..
Mallaig is/was a big fishing port and the ferry “gateway” to Skye via Armadale, although since the bridge across to Skye was built, there is less traffic on this route.
Although cloudy/rainy/blowy the scenery definitely lived up to it’s reputation. In more sunny weather it must be really stunning. I’d previously had a bit of an introduction to what to expect by watching the live journey on Channel 4 and YouTube – no commentary, just the views, etc. Sad or what ? Here’s a shorter version, I guess done in the Summer and before COVID.
Weather was better (or less wet, if you prefer) on the return leg, so taking photo’s made a bit more sense. Anyway, what can be more pleasant than that unique smell of a steam engine on full belt – beautiful. The line’s route could be classed as challenging ; it’s notorious for being very twisty with loads of gradient changes. See below.
After an hour or so of walking around, it was back on the train for the return to Fort William. Guess what ? Just as we pulled into Fort William Station, it started to drizzle !!!! Ho hum.
Still a mega-trip, although the weather could’ve been a bit kinder. Another short taxi ride back to the soggy campsite. Hopefully the weather will relent tomorrow.