Arisaig 2026 18: Odds and Ends

A ‘fill in the gaps’ post to set the stage for a multi-post account of the journey home.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th). This post sets the stage for a multi-post account of my return journey.

THE RETURN FROM KNOYDART

The voyage back from Knoydart to Mallaig was uneventful. We did some exploring around Mallaig before returning to the cottage.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE COTTAGE

The cottage was well situated, with some lovely views (I could see the sea from my bedroom window), and I was also impressed by the shower. On the debit side I found it very difficult to get comfortable in my bed, and the kitchen proved to be under-equipped. On the Wednesday night I cooked a version of my signature chicken and coriander dish, and found several problems. There was no way to make the ginger paste – all I could do was chop the ginger as fine as I could manage and add water to it. There was no stewing pot and the largest available pan was not really large enough to be ideal for the purpose, and as I had suspected and made allowances for also proved not to be non-stick, and the lid was not actually quite a match for it. Also there was no lemon squeezer, so I had to juice the lemons by using the thumb and forefinger of my right hand to squeeze. It all worked out well in the end however.

PHOTOGRAPHS

The last of the photos that do no relate to the homeward journey…

The Larven approaching Inverie Quay to take us back to Mallaig.
Malliag from above and the far side of the harbour.
Mallaig Station from the road.

Arisaig 2026 17: Inverie House to the Quayside

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a second post about our visit to the Knoydart peninsula.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my account of my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th). This post, which concludes my account of the time actually at the Knoydart peninsula, comes after a small hiatus caused by first work and then yesterday’s weather. It got so hot yesterday that one of the things I did after returning from the West Norfolk Autism Group committee meeting, getting home around lunch time, was to use my shower to give myself a sluicing with cold water just to cool down. Today is still hot, but it is not as brutal as yesterday was.

INVERIE HOUSE TO THE PUB

The walk from Inverie House took in a food garden (no picking allowed, and in any case there was precious little that was actually pickable), and a loop back to the main road, which we followed to the pub.

THE PUB

The Old Forge proved to be a splendid establishment. They had two locally brewed beers on tap, and I went for the historically named “Seven Men of Knoydart” – this designation referring to the first stand taken in the area against oppressive landlords (nb Knoydart has been community owned since 1999). The food was also good.

POST LUNCH

After lunch we walked a bit the other way, and it was during this walk that we saw the waterfall a video of which featured in my previous post (there is another today). We got back to the quayside in good time and waited for the boat back to Mallaig.

PHOTOGRAPHS

We start with the second waterfall video…

Now for the photographs…

Arisaig 2026 16: The Quayside to Inverie House

The first post covering our explorations of Knoydart. Features a waterfall video as well as lots of photographs.

As Norfolk swelters in a red alert heatwave I welcome you to the latest post in my series about my Scottish holiday. In the previous post in this series I covered the voyage from Mallaig to Knoydart. This post starts my coverage of Knoydart itself.

EXPLORING KNOYDART

We made our plan – we would walk to the beach and Inverie House beyond it, then turn and come back as far as the pub where we would have a break, before walking a bit in the other direction. There were lots of interesting things to see along the way.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As a bonus feature I start this section with a video, one of two I have of a waterfall that we saw after lunch.

Now for the photos…

The sign for Britain’s remotest pub, of which more will be said in the next post.
When you in as remote a location as this getting yourself banned is a very big deal!
This is no longer a church – as the skylights suggest it is now a private dwelling.
On the beach – there many shells – I looked for the most interesting ones, and rigidly followed the guideline for such situations “take nothing except photographs, leave nothing except footprints”
Inverie House

Arisaig 2026 15: The Voyage to Knoydart

Starting my coverage of the Friday of my Scottish holiday with an account of the voyage to Knoydart.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my account of my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th). Today we move on the the Friday, our last full day in Scotland. For this day we decided to visit Knoydart.

GETTING TO KNOYDART

Although Knoydart is part of mainland Scotland it cannot be reached from outside by road. The only ways for a visitor to get there are by boat from Mallaig or by hiking for over 15 miles across very rough terrain. We took the former option, and our voyage was a very enjoyable one.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from the voyage to Knoydart…

I was much taken with the statue/ monument that can be seen at the summit of this little headland, and took a number of pictures of ti during the voyage.
Approaching Inverie, the only settlement on the Knoydart peninsula

Arisaig 2026 14: Glenfinnan to Arisaig

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the journey back from Glenfinnan to Arisaig on the Thursday.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my account of my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th). This is the final post about the excursion to Glenfinnan.

BACK TO ARISAIG

After finishing in the museum we had a few minutes on the platform before catching the train back to Arisaig. We managed to find seats well placed to capture the best sights of the return journey, and the service ran according to schedule.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the pictures from the journey back to Arisaig…

An isolated little church somewhere between Glenfinnan and Arisaig (three pictures)
This wonderful map greets arrivals at Arisaig station.

Arisaig 2026 13: The Glenfinnan Station Museum

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.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Arisaig 2026 12: Glenfinnan Station

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.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is the photo gallery for this post…

Arisaig 2026 11: Arisaig to Glenfinnan

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.

Arisaig 2026 10: The Isle of Muck

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.

Arisaig 2026 9: Canna General

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 churchyard
Standing 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 bridge
I 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.