Scotland – Friday Overview

Continuing the account of my Scottish holiday.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next installment in my series about my holiday in Scotland. It is now three weeks since I returned, and I edited the last of the photos from said holiday only yesterday. This post is the first of three that relate specifically to Friday, there will also be several about the homeward journey and a special post about craft ales from The Isle of Skye Brewery.

FRIDAY MORNING

Someone from the National Trust called round to check on the cottage’s water systems. It was from them that we learned of the presence in the area that day of the world’s last remaining ocean going paddle steamer. Once they had finished we went into Kyle of Lochalsh, and while my parents went to check in on emails I went out with my camera.

Steamer2 — This was my first shot at the steamer – as you will see in a later post there were many more to come.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

After lunch I decided to do as much packing as I sensibly could given how early my train would be leaving on the morrow. This process brought to light the fact that my train tickets were no longer in my possession. All attempts to locate them and/or secure replacements having failed, the woman at the ticket office in Kyle of Lochalsh did her best for us by providing tickets for each part of the route, which reduced the cost of the tickets to a still painful £117.60. On the way back from this unwanted excursion we visited the Murchison Monument and revisited Balmacara Square, which will feature in the next post in the series.

FRIDAY EVENING

The steamer came past Ferry Cottage, enabling me to get some more photos of it (post coming up about that). After supper it was time for bed, bearing in mind the very early start.

Scotland – The Museum of All Shells

Continuing my account of my holiday in Scotland with a piece about shells.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about my holiday in Scotland.

EXPLANATION

One of the things I identified early on about where we were located was the preponderance of shells of various kinds. I decided therefore to include a post dedicated to them. I took my title from a chapter in Richard Dawkins’ “Climbing Mount Improbable”.

As with all activities on this holiday I adhered strictly to the policy outlined in this infographic of my own creation:

THE MUSEUM OF ALL SHELLS

Here to conclude the post are the shell pictures:

Scotland – Thursday: Fort William to Glaick

The return from Fort William to Glaick.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about a Scottish holiday. Having finished the account of my experience with The Jacobite, this penultimate post for the Thursday deals with the return journey from Fort William to Glaick.

LEAVING FORT WILLIAM

Before heading back to the cottage in Glaick where were staying we visited the Morrison’s in Fort William to stock up on food, including some ingredients which feature in the next post in this series. That done we headed off back towards Glaick, me with the camera at the ready.

Scotland – Thursday: Farewell to the Jacobite

The final stages of The Jacobite jnourney.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in the series I am doing about my holiday in Scotland. This post brings to an end the account of The Jacobite train journey.

THE LAST STAGE OF THE TRAIN JOURNEY

Once we were able to move on from Glenfinnan we encountered no further hitches and the train chugged into Fort William at 3:55PM, within a few minutes of the stated return time.

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
ON “THE JACOBITE”

This is unquestionably a very fine train journey, and to experience it on a steam train added something to it. However, I have to disagree with the ‘selectorate’ who named it The World’s Greatest Train Journey. Inlandsbanan in Sweden is one that I rate ahead of it, the other section of this same railway, Glasgow to Fort William, is as impressive in its own way, sweeping across a moor that sees it at one point seven miles from the nearest road, and as you will be seeing later in this series of posts the rail route from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness is pretty special as well.

Scotland – Thursday – Mallaig to Glenfinnan

The account of the first half of the return journey on The Jacobite.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post commences the coverage of the return journey from Mallaig to Fort William on The Jacobite.

EXPLANATION

Why am I covering the return journey? Because although I was still on the non-ideal side of the train, rge fact that the locomotive runs around the train to be attached to the opposite end did mean that I was facing the direction of travel for the return journey, which meant that I got more and better photos than on the outward run.

MALLAIG TO GLENFINNAN

Although we would not be stopping for long enough for anyone to disembark on this return journey we would have a stop at Glenfinnan to allow a regular service to pass us. Thus, Glenfinnan once again forms a logical break poiny.

GV1 — Glenfinnan Viaduct through the window.

Scotland – Thursday: Mallaig

The stop in Mallaig.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post covers the hour and a half at Mallaig that The Jacobite allows.

MALLAIG

Naturally, I commenced proceedings at Mallaig by taking the opportunity to get some photos of the train:

I had noticed the presence of a Heritage Centre close to the station. Unfortunately such is the extent to which Mallaig has embraced its status as a tourist trap that they were charging for admission, so I got nor further than the gift shop.

The rain eased sufficiently for me to explore a little further.

While on the train I had purchased a souvenir route map. In Mallaig I also bought a pictorial map of Skye and Wester Ross:

The Iron Road to the Isles — The route map.

Skye and Wester Ross 2 — Two pics of the pictorial map.

Scotland – Thursday: Glenfinnan to Mallaig

An account of the Glenfinnan-Mallaig section of The Jacobite journey.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to another post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post covers the second half of the outward journey on The Jacobite, ending with our arrival at Mallaig.

HEADING WEST

Although we did not stop between Glenfinnan and Mallaig, two stops before Mallaig on the regular route is Arisaig which has the distinction of being the westernmost mainline railway station on the British mainland.

ARISAIG – MALLAIG

The finish of the journey provided few photo opportunities, although travelling back the other way (a journey I had previously made on a regular train in 1993) made up for this.

Loco1 — The locomotive at Mallaig station – there are more shots of this to come in my next post, this being an aperitif.

Scotland – Thursday: Fort William to Glenfinnan

An account of the Fort William – Glenfinnan section of The Jacobite journey.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in the series about my holiday in Scotland. Today we deal with the first section of The Jacobite journey, including a stop at Glenfinnan.

ON THE TRAIN

The train was full, although of course on a journey of this nature no-one was made to stand by the time we got under way exactly according to schedule. The limitations that an aisle seat facing against the direction of travel impose on photography notwithstanding I did get some pictures.

P1010023 — The first station beyond Fort William

P1010044 — The first of two shots that I got featuring the Glenfinnan Viaduct on the outward journey.

P1010046 — A view from the Glenfinnan Viaduct

P1010052 — Approaching Glenfinnan station.

AT GLENFINNAN STATION

At Glenfinnan we had a stop of about 20 minutes. There is a small museum there, but I did not venture in. Unfortunately the circular walk was too long to accomplish in the time available, so I acquainted myself with the station and augmented my stock of photos. I was not going to take any chances time wise because we had been warned when we needed to back on the train by, and such warnings need to be backed by action, i.e leaving late returners behind, if they are to have any force.

P1010055 — Ironic that the London and North Eastern should be featured here given that as you will be seeing in a later post while North we are most certainly not East.

1063 — The Jacobite at Glenfinnan station .

1067 — The Oban branch diverges from this line at Crianlarich, between Glasgow and Fort William.

Scotland – Thursday: The Preliminaries

Setting the scene for several posts about The Jacobite.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in this series of posts about my Scottish holiday. We have reached the Thursday, on which day my parents were scheduled to look at houses in the Fort William area (about two hours drive from where we were staying) and I was hoping that The Jacobite, a steam train journey from Fort William to Mallaig, an hour in Mallaig and then back, would be available as a way to fill my day.

THE PRELIMINARIES

The advance bookings for The Jacobite had closed, but tickets were available for purchase on the day. With this in mind we set forth from Ferry Cottage at about 7:30AM. Barring the very start of it I had never previously experienced the route between Glaick and Fort William before, and although the best pictures I got of it were on the way back having mentally noted potentially good possibilities on the way down, I did get a few pictures on this journey.

P1010011 — The white spots at the top of this hill are unmelted snow.

FORT WILLIAM STATION

We got to Fort William station just after 9:30, and an inquiry at the ticket office saw me pointed to a queue for the train. I joined this queue although I was not expecting success (I was assuming ill-fortune so that I could not be disappointed, only get a welcome bonus). However, as time passed and the queue moved forward with no-one being turned away I began to speculate on the possibilities. Then came the moment when I was the next person to be served and I thought that it would be seriously rough luck to miss out at that juncture. I was duly issued with a ticket and took my place in coach C. Lady Luck’s support had been limited – although I had a seat it was an aisle seat facing against the direction of travel, which meant that taking pictures of the journey would be a challenge.

P1010012 — The Jacobite, Fort William Station

P1010014 — Slightly blurred, but proof that even from an aisle seat I could take pictures through the window.

A Beach Hut at Old Hunstanton

An account of the NAS West Norfolk day at the beach hut.

INTRODUCTION

I am taking a one-post break from my series about my holiday in Scotland to cover last Sunday’s NAS West Norfolk activities centred on the Mencap beach hut at Old Hunstanton which we had for the day.

GETTING THERE

Having checked on google maps to remind myself of the distance between Hunstanton and Old Hunstanton I decided to get the bus to Hunstanton and walk from there. Having a choice between Stagecoach and a local operator (Lynx) I naturally decided in favour of the local operator. This decision was rewarded with a fare that was less than I would have paid on Stagecoach:

For a sunny Sunday in June the traffic was quite light, and the bus reached Hunstanton pretty much on schedule. I then set off on the walk to Old Hunstanton. I have stated before on this blog that the shortest route is not always the best on my reckoning, and this was another situation where my chief criterion was not shortness. For reasons that I will not insult the intelligence of my readers by elucidating my sole criterion for choosing my route was to stay as near the sea as possible.

Old Hunstanton Beach. I initially failed to identify the correct beach hut, but after a few minutes scouting I was noticed by one of the others.

PRE-LUNCH – THE LIFEBOATS

Having got to know the beach hut some of us took the RNLI up on their kind offer of a tour as they explained about what they do, their boat and their hovercraft. This latter is one of only four in the whole country. The boat has to be towed into the water by tractor, and anyone familiar with north Norfolk beaches at low tide will therefore have little difficulty in understanding why the hovercraft which is an amphibious vehicle is sometimes necessary.

Propellers — I took these first few pictures before the initial tour – the building was open and no one attempted to stop people from looking.

beach friendly wheelchair — One of the bits of equipment the beach hut have – a wheelchair specially adapted for going to the beach (btw it did get used as we had someone who uses a wheelchair in our group).

Ancient Mariner1 — Identifying a lunch spot.

Layer 1 - warmth — The first layer of a lifeboat person’s gear – this one is for warmth

Layer 2 - waterproofing — this wetsuit with built-in wellington boots goes on next to ensure that you don;t get absolutely soaked.

The helmet and lifejacket complete the outfitting — The ensemble is completed with a helmet that has a ;protective visor and a lifejacket with a few extras.

tractor cab — The cab of the tractor – it has two steering wheels and multiple openings.

TS1 — This tractor has particularly large wheels – that is me standing next to one of them.

LUNCH

I went to the Ancient Mariner for lunch, and it was quite excellent. I also had an outside table, which meant opportunities for taking photos.

	Thomas on World T20 Cup Underway
	Anna on World T20 Cup Underway
	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
	Thomas on All Time XIs – Detective…
	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…

INTRODUCTION

FRIDAY MORNING

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

FRIDAY EVENING

INTRODUCTION

EXPLANATION

THE MUSEUM OF ALL SHELLS

INTRODUCTION

LEAVING FORT WILLIAM

INTRODUCTION

THE LAST STAGE OF THE TRAIN JOURNEY

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS ON “THE JACOBITE”

INTRODUCTION

EXPLANATION

MALLAIG TO GLENFINNAN

INTRODUCTION

MALLAIG

INTRODUCTION

HEADING WEST

ARISAIG – MALLAIG

INTRODUCTION

ON THE TRAIN

AT GLENFINNAN STATION

INTRODUCTION

THE PRELIMINARIES

FORT WILLIAM STATION

INTRODUCTION

GETTING THERE

PRE-LUNCH – THE LIFEBOATS

LUNCH

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
ON “THE JACOBITE”