You must take the A train...
Trip Start
May 19, 2008
1
23
24
Trip End
Jun 02, 2008
Fort William,
United Kingdom
Friday, May 30, 2008
Our train did not say Hogwarts Express, of course. It was named Lord of the Isles, and yes, there really was (still is) a Lord of the Isles. (That's the title of the chief of Clan MacDonald, whose castle, Eileen Donan, we also saw.) But it was a steam engine. And that turned out to be the problem.
We were seated opposite a very nice Austrian couple who does mission work in England, and across the aisle from a Canadian family traveling with two sons, the youngest of their five children. They were celebrating his return to health after a long bout with leukemia, with a six week trip around England and Scotland. We really enjoyed talking to them.
Lucky we did, because the train stopped in Glenfinnan, where the viaduct is, and we ended up not leaving again for four hours. The engine had overheated. Plan One was to bring a diesel engine to replace the steam engine, and take us for our visit to Mallaig, the coastal town to which the steam train travels. For whatever reason, that plan did not work out, and they announced that the diesel engine would have to bring us back to Fort William, but we would have the time in Glenfinnan, instead.
Many passengers on the train went to the hotel and pub, one of about three or four things, besides natural beauty, that's actually in Glenfinnan. Others went to the monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie. (Glenfinnan was one of the sites associated with his attempts to take back the Scottish crown.) After talking at length with the Austrian and Canadian families, once they announced we could leave the train for an hour and a half, we went to the monument, but couldn't go inside. We also saw a very beautiful Catholic church on the way to it, an old stone church built on a hill covered in purple blooms, with more mountains rising behind it.
Andrew was disappointed, as were many other passengers, that we didn't get the full train trip or to see Mallaig, but I thought it was a very good day, and to top it off, we are supposed to get a full refund on our ticket, since we didn't actually get what we paid for.
Also, we took the opportunity while we were in Glenfinnan, to book ourselves into the Glenfinnan Sleeping Car Bunkhouse, which is a hostel in an old sleeping car.
All in all
