Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the Glenfinnan Station Museum, with plenty of photographs.
Welcome to the latest post in my series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th). This is my third post about the Thursday.
A COMPACT MUSEUM
There is a small museum at Glenfinnan station, around the history of the line and the station. For all its small size they have managed to cram a lot of interesting stuff in there. We visited it after the weather intervened sufficiently to prevent as from doing a walk that would have taken in a view of the viaduct. It is well worth a visit.
A look at Glenfinnan Station, as I continue the account of my Scottish holiday.
Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th). I started my coverage of the Thursday with a look at the journey from Arisaig to Glenfinnan. This post picks up where the previous one left off.
A MINOR STATION WITH MAJOR INTEREST
As you will see in the next post in this series Glenfinnan Station is home to a small museum that well repays a visit. It also boasts two old railway carriages, one a sleeper, which you can arrange to stay in for a price, and one a pullman style restaurant carriage in which you can get a splendid meal, as we did. There is also an old oil store, a solar powered snow plough, which saw serious action the winter of 1962-63, an old signal box which you can look at, and a crane. There are also various walks which take in the Glenfinnan Viaduct, though the weather stopped us from doing that. We also overlapped with the westbound Jacobite Express.
Moving on to the Thursday of my Scottish holiday, with an account of a train journey from Arisaig to Glenfinnan.
My account of Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th) moves on to the Thursday. This is the first of a number of posts about was originally the only day for which we had nothing planned.
A LATE ADAPTATION
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the weather that we had been led to believe was going to blight the Thursday actually showed up a day early. The Thursday by contrast was comparatively benign, so we decided to go out after all. We opted to make the train journey from Arisaig to Glenfinnan and back and do some exploring at Glenfinnan. There was a train heading east from Arisaig at 10:27 (the same train that my return journey from holiday would begin on two days later). It is policy at Arisaig that although all doors could safely be opened they only have one set operational, but we were able to board without too much difficulty. There are two stations between Arisaig and Glenfinnan, but Beasdale and Loch Ailort are both request stops, so we might very well have had an unbroken run. We arrived into Glenfinnan just in time to overlap with the westbound Jacobite Express.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here is the gallery:
My first picture from inside the train – the entire steam train planter.
Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the Wednesday, when we visited the Isle of Muck.
I have completed my coverage of the events of the Tuesday of my Scottish holiday (May 30th – June 6th), so now turn my attention to the Wednesday. On that day we visited the Isle of Muck, which entailed catching a boat from Arisaig.
THE ISLE OF MUCK
The Isle of Muck is one four small isles very close to one another in the Inner Hebrides. It is the third of the four I have visited, having visited Eigg on a previous holiday, and Canna, as detailed in recent posts, earlier in this holiday. The odd one out is the mountainous Isle of Rum which I saw from Muck in the course of this day. The weather let us down on this day – the forecasts had indicated that the Thursday was due to be vile and we had planned accordingly, but it was actually the Wednesday that was the worst day of the week weather wise.
We did at least time our activities on the island well, going walking first and then sampling the pub later, which meant we were outside for the only dry spell of the day, and under cover for the very worst of the wet stuff.
It was worth making the journey, though unlike Canna, which I saw less of than I would have liked to, I would not particularly want to go again.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are my photos from this trip…
A slightly unfortunate spelling of this name – had they gone ‘Shearwater’ they would have shared their name with a sea bird.A wildlife guide on the boat.
Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the island of Canna and the return journey to Arisaig.
Yesterday in my series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th) I dealt with the grounds of Canna House. Today I conclude my coverage of the Tuesday.
THE ISLAND OF CANNA
Canna is a beautiful little island and we only saw some of it – the grounds of Canna House were as far as we got, meaning that much, including the main church and an important bridge escaped us. We found out not long after landing that the cafe was closed, but the shop, which operates an ‘honesty box’ principle was open, and there were tea and coffee making facilities there. We also saw a very curious little church – it was utterly devoid of any kind of embellishment, and had no altar, just a large pulpit from which the preaching would be done. There was some interesting bird life. The journey back did not feature any go-slows for wildlife, but there were still a few things to see.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here is my gallery for this post…
The outside of the tiny church mentioned in the text.The gateway to the churchyardStanding alone in the churchyard, a Celtic cross grave.Inside the church.A view of the outside of the church.The map on a t-shirt I bought from the shop.Oystercatchers in numbers (several pictures)A large corvid with a silver patch on its upper back.The bridgeI could not work out what species these birds were. I have included six pictures of the Jacobite Express.These last few pictures feature Morar, the only place of significance between Mallaig and Arisaig.
Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the grounds of Canna House.
My most recent post in this series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th) covered the outbound voyage to Canna, which was run as a wildlife cruise. This post now deals with the only special activity we had time for on the island.
CANNA HOUSE
Canna House is now owned by the National Trust. One can only go into the house if one books a tour, which we did not have time for. The grounds however are freely accessible, and feature a lot of interesting stuff. The gardens feature a lot of food plants, and there is some interesting historical stuff to be seen as well.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are the photographs for this post…
This was the first of a number of ‘information trays’ that found within….…this structure, which challenged visitors to look inside in a way that I just had to respond to. Ancient stonework preserved in the grounds of Canna House (three pictures)An excellent view of the front of Canna House.
Continuing my series about my Scottish holiday with a look at the journey to the Isle of Canna.
We have reached the Tuesday of my holiday in Scotland (May 30th to June 6th), which featured a trip to the Isle of Canna. This post is the first of three about the day, with the grounds of Canna House getting a post to themselves and also a general post about Canna and the return journey.
THE WAY THE TRIP WORKED
The boat for Canna runs from Mallaig, eight miles north of where we were staying, and the outbound trip from Mallaig to Canna was the ‘wildlife cruise’ element, with a professional wildlife spotter on board, and several go slows for good sightings. We then had a short time on the island and a swift return journey to Mallaig.
FROM THE COTTAGE TO CANNA
We had a straightforward journey to Mallaig, and boarded our boat in good time. The voyage out was magnificent. I have touched briefly on it in two previous posts, one covering a minke whalesighting and one about some of the best wildlife I saw during this holiday. The sea was calm that day, and there was much to savour.
PHOTOGRAPHS
With a reminder that individual photographs can be viewed at larger size by clicking on them here is the full gallery for the outbound voyage.
The wildlife spotter card (two pictures as it is double sided)The best of the puffin pictures.The minke whalearriving at Canna.
A look at the cottage we stayed in and its surrounding area, featuring pictures from among others three walks that I took on the Monday.
I am now back from my Scottish sojourn, though I have a large amount of photo editing still to do. I put out a few small posts while in Scotland, though have not put anything up since Thursday. I now resume chronological coverage of the week, going back to my second full day in the area, the Monday. My parents had to go to Fort William and back, and had to do so by car, because the most important thing they had to do was set for a specific time that was enough to rule out the train journey. I opted to stay at our cottage, and was left with the key so that I could go walking if the weather allowed.
THREE WALKS
My first walk started at 11:30AM after a couple of false starts, when opening the front door revealed that the rain had not in fact abated. I was out for an hour and a half on this walk, and did not get wet. I walked in an unfamiliar direction and got as far as Traigh Golf Course before I decided to return. For my second walk I took the second unfamiliar road and followed it for a while before turning back. The third walk followed the route of the first as far as the river crossing before I returned. Two of the pictures that featured in the ‘wildlife feature‘ post were taken during these walks, and in the gallery that follows you will see another of these pictures, taken through my kitchen window.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The walk pictures start with this one.The last walk picture.
Some pictures of the Jacobite Express as it leaves Mallaig on the return run to Fort William.
On the way back from Mallaig after our return crossing from Canna yesterday we overlapped with the departure from that station of the Jacobite Express making its return run to Fort William. I capture a very short video which is below and a few photographs. For an account of what the actual journey is like start with this post from 2017 and read the next few as well.
Remember that to view photos at larger size you need to click on them.
A look at some of the creatures I have been privileged to see here in the wild west of Scotland.
There is some amazing wildlife to be seen in the wild west of Scotland, and this post shows of some of my favourites so far. Most are from today’s Canna Puffin Cruise including the Minke whale that has already had its own post.
WILDLIFE PHOTOS
I will again display one by one:
I displayed this one as part of my gallery for the Mingary Castle post – it shows four alpacas and two sheep.
I saw this splendid wading bird while out walking in the vicinity of our cottage yesterday.
I also saw these two splendid equines while on a local walk.
These two pictures, one cropped but not edited, and the other edited show a large deer that was near our kitchen window.
Four sea birds flying nearly in parallel
Close focus on the three birds flying closest together.
Four puffins in the sea – the leftmost bird shows the characteristic bright coloured bill.
Two puffins in the sea. The colouring of the birds is very obvious in this picture.
Four guillemots make their presence felt.
Four guillemots, one with wings outspread.
Closer focus on the guillemot with spread wings.
The Minke whale showing itself – the people who run these cruises recognize this as a great photograph (I have emailed them).
Four guillemots
A huge corvid, tentatively identified courtesy of Mastodon as a hooded crow perches on a fence post on Canna.
A pair of ducks of some species or other that like the far north – the one on te left with the elaborate colours and markings is clearly the male.
Two black and white (with a hint of gold) beauties, taken just before leaving Canna.
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