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.

Scotland – Applecross to Plockton

The final stages of the Wednesday of my holiday in Scotland.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post concludes Wednesday’s activities with some photos of the journey back from Applecross to Plockton which we did by a different route from the one we had taken there and an account of my birthday meal in Plockton.

THE JOURNEY

Other than a brief stop at Lochcarron we went from Applecross to Plockton without stopping. I will let the pictures tell the story…

THE BIRTHDAY MEAL

The food at the Plockton Inn proved to be every bit as excellent as we had been led to expect and there was an excellent locally brewed beer on tap as well (Plockton Ring Dong for the record). This was an excellent way to round off a splendid day.

Scotland – Applecross

An account of then time spent in Applecross on my recent Scottish holiday.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my Scottish holiday. This post deals with the village of Applecross.

LUNCH AND A WALK

We ate our sandwich lunches right by the water before setting off on a walk round the bay on which Applecross sits.

The Saint's Burial Place — :Possibly the spot where St Maelrubha was buried.

THE SECOND HALF OF THE WALK

The Heritage Centre was closed due to a funeral, so we turned back after a while in the churchyard.

Beetle — Earnest theologian to renowned biologist J B S Haldane “what have your studies of nature told you about god?” Haldane’s response: “that he is inordinately fond of beetles!”

919 — Outside table at a coffee shop we visited just before leaving applecross

The 2018 Wall Calendar – Oglach’s Selections

Oglach’s nominations for the 2018 wall calendar.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this special post in my series about my Scottish holiday. In the first post of this series I wrote about my now established tradition of producing a photographic wall calendar and invited readers to nominate pictures for consideration. Oglach, whose blog can be found here, has risen to the challenge by making some suggestions in response to my post about the ascent to the Bealach Na Va viewpoint.

OGLACH’S PICKS

Here, if I have followed his comment correctly are the pictures Oglach deemed worthy of further consideration:

AFTERWORD – HOW THESE
PICTURES WERE TAKEN

All of these pictures bar the last one were taken from the back seat of a moving campervan and carefully edited to bring out/ preserve their best points. I will certainly give careful consideration to including some of these in the calendar, and I end this little post by reiterating my invitation to my readers to nominate pictures for the calendar as and when they see them. If you put your nominations in a post on your own blog I will reblog it.

Scotland – A Very Scenic Journey 3: The Descent to Applecross

The final stages of the journey from Plockton to Applecross.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my Scottish series. In this post we conclude the journey to Applecross with the final descent from the viewpoint where the last post concluded.

DOWNHILL ALL THE WAY

Here are the photos from this section of the journey:

Scotland – A Very Scenic Journey Part 2: Strome Castle to Bealach Na Va Viewpoint

Continuing the account of the super scenic journey from Plockton to Applecross, reaching the Bealnach Na Va Viewpoint.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about my holiday in Scotland. This post continues the scenic journey from Plockton to Applecross, reaching the highest point of the road through the mountains.

PASSING PLACES

This section of the journey involved a road that was mainly single-lane, with signposted Passing Places where space permitted. The rule about Passing Places is: if it is on your left side you pull in to let the other vehicle through, while if it is on your right it is the other vehicle’s responsibility to make way for you.

INTO THE MOUNTAINS

Here is a photographic account of the ascent to the viewpoint:

Scotland – A Scenic Journey 1: Plockton to Strome Castle

Continuing the account my Scottish holiday – this post covers Plockton to Castle Strome.

INTRODUCTION

We are continuing with stuff from the Wednesday of my Scottish holiday. The second part of our itinerary for the day involved visiting the village of Applecross, which entailed a very scenic journey that I have split into two parts, using the brief diversion to Strome Castle as a natural divider.

ON THE ROAD

The road out from Plockton follows the shore of Loch Carron pretty closely for the first part of the journey. Loch Carron, like Loch Alsh is a sea loch (readers familiar with Norway should think ‘fjord’ – the Scottish sea lochs were created by the same geological phenomenon as the fjords). Not withstanding the limitations imposed by having to shoot through the window of a moving vehicle I kept the camera busy:

The end of the road — This road won’t be extended any time soon!

STROME CASTLE

This ruined castle is well worth the detour if you are heading towards Applecross. Here are the pictures:

Scotland – Wednesday Part 1: Plockton

The latest post ion my series about my Scottish Holiday, dealing with Plockton.

INTRODUCTION

We have reached the Wednesday in my series of posts about my holiday in Scotland, which astute readers will recall was the day of my birthday. For previous posts in this series please click here. There will be a number of posts about this day as we saw a lot of fantastic scenery.

PLOCKTON

Our first port of call was Plockton, where were hoping to book a table at the Plockton Inn (it is in the Good Food Guide). There were also a few other things to see in Plockton. Here are some early pictures:

We were lucky at the Inn – they did have a table, at 6PM, so we knew when we had to be back in Plockton. This sorted, it was time to explore Plockton:

Plockton Hotel — This ‘stone-look’ frontage is a fail as far I as am concerned.

Scotland: The Isle of Skye 4- Bridges and Departure

The final post about my day on Skye. Some remarkable river scenes.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my final post about the day on the Isle of Skye. This series of posts about my holiday in Scotland now runs to:

THE BRIDGES

I had identified a place for photo stop on the return journey while we were heading towards the Talisker distillery. It proved even better than I had expected, and in a few minutes I had taken a number of good pictures…

The Land of the Mountain and the Flood — Enter a caption

stone bridge 2 — At least one of these pictures will feature in the Calendar.

LEAVING SKYE

I got a few more pictures during the rest of the journey home…

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INTRODUCTION

ON THE TRAIN

AT GLENFINNAN STATION

INTRODUCTION

THE PRELIMINARIES

FORT WILLIAM STATION

INTRODUCTION

THE JOURNEY

THE BIRTHDAY MEAL

INTRODUCTION

LUNCH AND A WALK

THE SECOND HALF OF THE WALK

INTRODUCTION

OGLACH’S PICKS

AFTERWORD – HOW THESE PICTURES WERE TAKEN

INTRODUCTION

DOWNHILL ALL THE WAY

INTRODUCTION

PASSING PLACES

INTO THE MOUNTAINS

INTRODUCTION

ON THE ROAD

STROME CASTLE

INTRODUCTION

PLOCKTON

INTRODUCTION

THE BRIDGES

LEAVING SKYE

AFTERWORD – HOW THESE
PICTURES WERE TAKEN