Hogwarts Express

Mallaig

After the sunshine of yesterday, today was nothing but grey and wet. Plans were changed and instead of a motorbike ride around the north west Highlands we jumped back in time and onto a steam train from Fort William to Mallaig ("The World's greatest railway journey for the second year running" the leaflet said). We thought it'd be nice and quiet when we bought our tickets on the deserted platform but when we headed back an hour later the bus tours had arrived and the train was packed.

After some confusion over the seating arrangements - one couple couldn't tell the difference between an 'E' and an 'F', or a '9' and a '10' - we found ourselves sitting with a charming American couple that were so in awe of the countryside we were passing through that they slept for most of the second half of the journey.

The countryside we passed through was impressive but it's not so easy taking photos through soot and rain covered windows when you're travelling backwards, and, as luck would have it, all the good stuff was passing by on the other side of the carriage (The Glenfinnan viaduct that appear in the Harry Potter films for example).

We arrived in Mallaig after a couple of hours and tried to outrun the busloads heading for lunch all at the same time; some of those pensioners can move when there's fish and chips to be had. Other than that, we wandered a bit around the fishing village in the rain then squelched back to sit and wait on the train to return along the line. Thankfully (although inexplicably) we were on different seats on the return which meant we did manage to see some more interesting scenery than on the outward leg.

At least we made it onto the train this time (tried the same back in April but missed the train by seconds) and I'm sure in better weather the journey would be spectacular. Still, it was much better than being cold and wet in bike leathers.