Sunday, 11th June, 2023

We awoke to a somewhat gloomy looking day after it had rained during the night. The weather forecast was not promising so I took my umbrella with me. Luckily, it didn't rain all day!

The Jacobite Railway was made famous because both the train and a viaduct over which it travels were used in several "Harry Potter" movies. It runs from Fort William to Mallaig, a distance of 42 miles (one way). We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. On the outward journey, we were sitting on the right hand side of the train (which is the "wrong" side for taking good photos of the train going over the viaduct). After a little while, we realised that if we got out of our seat and moved to any carriage doorway, we could get much better views and we could open the windows thus avoiding the added difficulty of filming through glass.


LMS Class 5MT "Black 5" No. 45407 was built in 1937. It is named "The Lancashire Fusilier"







There were many and varying beauitful scenes as we hurtled through the countryside.






We were in the 1st carriage from the locomotive so we couldn't get a sweeping vista of the train. We did, however, get soot in our hair and eyes!









This is Beasdale Station. It's been converted into a house and is for sale for only £235,000! How great to have a steam train going past your front door four times a day!
We found that we could go on a one-hour "wildlife" cruise while we were in Mallaig, so we decided to try it. It was a pleasant way to spend an hour but there really wasn't much wildlife to be seen. Just some seals on a rock and one dolphin!


The "Western Isles"















Well, you can tell it's a dolphin at least!








We watched as a seagull flew by with its mouth full of a fish. Sadly for that bird, it dropped it but the other seagulls, which were chasing it, had a frantic feast!
Before it was time to board the train for our trip back to Fort William, we stopped at a local grocery shop to pick up some food we could eat in our carriage (it was 1:45pm by now). This time, we had a plan of action already in place for getting the coveted photos of the train on the viaduct!


At Arasaig Station, we passed the other Jacobite train.






The ruins of something or other!









Satoshi's viaduct video




Tim's viaduct video
We arrived back at Fort William just after 4:00pm and decided to get some food from the supermarket to take back to our accommodation for dinner.



We ate dinner at the picnic table on our host's front lawn. British flies seem to have better manners than their Australian counterparts and don't bother us!



This is Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, viewed from the picnic table above.
Another wonderful day!



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