Tag: Arisaig

Arisaig 2026 2: The Big Day

My second post in the series about my holiday in Arisaig, dealing with my birthday itself.

Welcome to post two in my series about this year’s holiday. My birthday this year (the same number birthday that Bilbo Baggins missed due to other events on the day of his arrival by barrel at the shore of the Long Lake) fell on a Sunday. The birthday meal was booked for Mingary Castle (there is also a Mingarry that has a good restaurant, but we were going to Mingary, we where we had eaten last year) at 1PM. Therefore we set off at 11AM.

THE OUTWARD JOURNEY

To get from Arisaig to Mingary Castle we had to go east, south and then west rather further than we had started, since this castle is quite near the western end of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. Along the way we crossed the river Shiel by a stone bridge that I remembered with crystal clarity from an earlier Scottish sojourn. We then had a long run west along the northern shore of Loch Sunart, passing Salen (a place I first saw way back in 1993), Glenborrodale, site of a nature reserve, the Ardnamurchan distillery, and sundry viewpoints. The turn off for Mingary Castle is just east of (i.e before) Kilchoan, and we arrived there in good time, but not ridiculously early.

THE MEAL

It did not take long to identify two courses I wished to eat (a pork terrine starter and slow cooked beef with Yorkshire pudding, carrot, broccoli and triple cooked potatoes) and a suitable beverage to accompany them (Dark Mile, brewed by the local Glenspean brewery). The food was excellent, and the surroundings pleasant (I was one of at least three people that day who had come for a birthday meal). After I had finished I did some walking around outside the castle and got some photographs.

THE JOURNEY HOME

We went home by the same route we had come, which enabled me to get pictures of places I had missed on the way out (I sat in the same seat, the non-driver’s side rear seat, for both journeys, so was facing opposite sides of the road each way). Thus as you will see from the gallery the outbound journey was light on pictures from Loch Moidart, which was on the wrong side of me that way, and heavy on pictures from Loch Sunart, while the homeward journey was the reverse.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The crossing of the river Shiel on the outbound journey – only the third picture I took because I was on the wrong side for most of the good early scenery.
Mingary Castle
These woolly creatures are not the local sheep – I reckon they are alpacas, and as such a long way from their native Andes.
Here as well as the possible alpacas there are two ordinary sheep for comparison purposes.
The images from the drive back start here.
The Bridge of the River Shiel – compare how many pictures there are still to come with how few there were before the first picture of this crossing.
A couple of pictures of parts of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
Beasdale is such a minor station that is actually a ‘request stop’ – if you intend to alight there you must notify the conductor.

Scotland 2022: Eigg to Acharacle via Mallaig

Finishing the account of the Friday of my Scottish Holiday.

This post continues my series about my holiday in Scotland with an account of the journey back from Eigg to Acharacle which included a diversion north to Mallaig. This is my fourth post about Friday’s activities and the penultimate post in this series.

EIGG TO MALLAIG

The voyage back to the mainland was calm as the outward voyage had been, and we set off along the coast road to Mallaig (there is a quicker main road which we used on the way from Mallaig to Acharacle). This route is very scenic. Mallaig was very busy when we got there but we found a parking space not too far from the centre.

MALLAIG AND BACK TO ACHARACLE

Mallaig well repaid a brief visit – there a few things of interest to be seen there, including a good account of the coming of the railway (late by British standards, early 20th century), and some splendid views. I first passed through Mallaig nearly three decades ago, when I arrived by ferry from the Isle of Skye and travelled on by train to Oban (one change at Crianlarich), and also saw the area immediately around the train station much more recently when I travelled on The Jacobite between Fort William and Mallaig in 2017.

The journey back to Acharacle passed without incident, bringing to an end the active part of a very enjoyable final full day the holiday.

Scotland 2022: The Crossing to Eigg

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the crossing from Arisaig to Eigg.

I continue my account of my recent Scottish holiday with a look at the boat trip from Arisaig to Eigg. This post picks up where yesterday’s left off.

THE BOAT TRIP TO EIGG

Though not by any means a large craft the boat taking us to Eigg was considerably larger and stouter than the one on which we travelled between Alderney and Guernsey earlier this year. Additionally, the presence of so many islands so tightly clustered together means that the Sound of Arisaig is not by any means as savage as one might expect of sea of the coast of Scotland. Finally, there was very little wind about, which further contributed to the crossing being a smooth one.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the pictures between Arisaig and Eigg…

Scotland 2022: An Adventurous Friday

Starting an account of the Friday of my Scottish holiday. There will be several more posts about the day.

I continue my coverage of my Scottish holiday with a multi-part account of Friday’s activities. In this post I set the scene for several more post.

THE PLAN IN OUTLINE

We had arranged to visit the island of Eigg, which involved journeying to Arisaig (home of mainland Britain’s most westerly railway station) to catch the boat. We would explore Eigg, get the boat back and then pay a quick visit to Mallaig before returning to Acharacle. To ensure not missing the boat we were underway by eight AM.

ACHARACLE TO ARISAIG

The journey from Acharacle to Arisaig is exceedingly scenic. Capturing said scenery on camera was rendered slightly challenging due the problems created by being in the back seat of a car with rather small rear windows, but I did get some good pictures. We arrived in Arisaig in good time, and were seated aboard the boat by 9:30, for a 10AM sailing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from leaving home to getting on the boat…

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. 

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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.

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