Glenfinnan Viaduct

We sit in cosy comfort as the little stations flash past; names like Arrochar, Ardlui, Crianlarich, Rannoch, Corrour, Spean Bridge, Loch Eil, Glenfinnan, Lochailort, Arisaig and Morar
Romantic names with Scottish history woven into their very fabric.

We see forests and distant peaked mountains cloaked in October sunshine. The near hills with sides covered in birch trees, alders and swathes of russet bracken, slope down to blue lochs stretching like mirrors as far as the eye can see.
Rowan trees bent low with bright red berries grow beside the track and little waterfalls tumble over stony drops. Sheep are noticeably absent, the moorland too inhospitable even for them.
Rusty disintegrating fences follow the contours of the land up and down hills and glens, with larger deer fences better maintained round shooting estates.

We wait at Crianlarich while the train splits in two, the front part going to Oban and our rear section going on to Fort William and Mallaig. Despite the sun and the warmth inside the compartment,the platform outside is liberally sprinkled with salt, a sign of the prescient winter.

We cross Rannoch Moor, boggy and bleak with no sign of human habitation save the little station in the middle with its white washed hotel 5 miles up the twisty road from Kinloch Rannoch. We wave to daughter#2 who lives at Camghouran on the south side of Loch Rannoch as we continue on past peat bogs reflecting the clouds, to Corrour and then FortWilliam, Glenfinnan, Arisaig, Morar and finally Mallaig, 5 hours and 20 minutes after leaving Glasgow.
What a train journey, world heritage stuff.