Western Highlands Train from Glasgow to Mallaig.
We left the Burntisland hotel (although it wasn’t much of a hotel) around 7:45, heading back to the airport.. dropped off the car, and took the rental shuttle to the airport, Elana and I made our way to the very busy departures area where we stood on line together and separated at the point of no return, just before the actual security gate. I’ll see Elana again in few weeks, as she’ll be staying me for a while after her pending knee surgery (ouch).
I caught the airlink bus from the airport to Buchanan Street bus station in Glasgow, arriving about 40 minutes later, and walked the seven or so minutes to Queen Street rail station. My train to Mallaig was on the board, but wasn’t departing until 12:20, so I had the better part of two hours to kill. Rather than waiting at the station, I took a walk around the immediate area, which happens to be the city center, so I got a decent sense of the center as I walked for about an hour or more, backpack and all. I’ll be here again tomorrow mid-afternoon, and hopefully do a little more exploring, but the little I saw today was fun to see, and, like Edinburgh, has history.
The city seems to be doing a fair amount of construction and restoration and quite a few areas were cordoned off as a result. Last time I was in Glasgow was 1968 or maybe 69. Laurence, with whom I just went to Japan and Vietnam, is from Glasgow, and I was here to visit. I even worked in a street market one day around Christmas and played side snare drum on one occasion as a substitute for someone in the pipe and drum band that Laurence’s father ran. I got to keep the kilt, which I had for many, many years until giving it away several years ago. Those kilts are damn hot, at least the heavy winter kilts.
The weather started out nice this morning, and by the time I arrived in Glasgow It had become lovely and warm. It was definitely shorts and sandals weather, but I had nowhere to easily change (and there aren’t any phone booths any more), plus I didn’t know what the weather would be like in the western highlands when I arrived around 6 (about 5ยฝ hours). ย
I had clear sense of and was excited by what I expected to see on the train journey because I was in the magnificent western highlands just a few days ago. The journey is described online as “a stunning 99-mile journey along the famous West Highland Line, widely considered one of the most scenic rail trips in the world.” Actually, it’s 99 miles as the crow flies, but 150 miles by car and 164 by train.
It was in fact a lovely journey (how could it not be?), becoming more spectacular and more beautiful as we got further into the Western Highlands, although I wouldn’t call it one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world, beautiful as it is. Nevertheless, magnificent it was, and especially the last 45 to 60 minutes or so, and I was very glad to see the deep highland scenery and landscapes again. The area changed dramatically, from lochs, passing eight major lochs, to grass covered hillsides dotted with sheep and flat meadows and fields, to mountains and forests. It’s incredible, and vast. Compared to the Faroes (and it’s a silly comparison really, as both places are incredibly beautiful, and both are spectacular in similar and in different ways), the Faroes have less variation in their landscapes and overall seem more barren and remote, although much of the highlands are remote also. ย
It was difficult of course to get shots of the landscapes through the train windows, largely because of glare and reflections from inside the train, as well as dirty windows. But I did my best and will have another crack at it tomorrow on my return journey.
I was very excited to see the cloud shrouded Ben Nevis, which Elana and I weren’t able to see last week when we were here, which at 4,413 feet is the tallest peak in Britain. As we passed and left behind the Ben Nevis range, the train passed along loch after loch, with the sky reflected in the beautiful blue waters. Quite amazing. I’m so glad I took this train. The whole journey was great, but the final hour was especially wonderful.ย
I’m only sorry I’m not able to see the Jacobite Steam Train, which is a heritage steam train that travels between Fort William and Mallaig twice a day, but it pulls into Mallaig after I leave in the morning, so I’ll miss it. I’m even more sorry I couldn’t take the train, which I would have done had I known about it (more lack of planning on my part).
And then came Mallaig. What a lovely town. If you want to know about picturesque, quaint, and charming, look no further.
And what an unexpectedly lovely hotel, the West Highland Hotel. Really nice. Beautifully done with great amenities, including a balcony view of the Isle of Skye across the Sound of Sleat. My room was small, but very nice, with a wonderful view of the Sound.
Note to myself – stay here again!
As soon as I got settled in, I got into shorts and sandals and headed out to walk, but as it was getting late in the afternoon, and now around 6:30, that was a bit of a mistake as it was actually getting much cooler out. Still, I walked for a couple of miles, taking in the town and the scenery, and watched the sun dipping over the Sound of Sleat to the west, with views of the Isle of Skye over the sound, just about 7 miles west. Lovely, really lovely. I’m happy I came back to the highlands for another visit, short as it is, as I’ll be heading back to Glasgow tomorrow morning.
For dinner, I grabbed someย fish and chips from the local chip shop. Here’s an interesting note. Whereas cod is the norm for fish and chips in the south of England, it’s rare here in Scotland, where haddock is the most common fish served with chips as it’s local to these waters, whereas cod is not. Anyway, then back to the hotel where I sat on the hotel balcony for a quite a while, listening to music on earbuds and watching the sun go down over the sound and the Isle of Skye. Then to my room, blogged, and to bed.
Tomorrow morning I take the 10 am train back to back to Glasgow, where I’ll have another crack at highlands photos, and particularly Ben Nevis if I can. One night in Glasgow, and then back to London on Monday. I leave for Casablanca on Thursday.