GRAND TOUR OF THE SCOTTISH COAST NC500. PART 4

By Anthony Osborne.

Monday 19th To the Hotel Eileen Iarmain on the Isle of Skye

A full Scottish breakfast, as we were beginning to learn, was bigger than a full English and was delicious, although sometimes difficult to devour it all! However, after our morning venture into the dinning room and checking out we were off again, heading northwards in our rain soaked cars up the West side of Loch Linnhe, the opposite side to Fort William. There were very low, thin clouds with the mountains peeking through the top of them. The air was still very damp from the overnight rain. Our first destination was to be the Glenfinnan Viaduct, scene of filming some shots for one of the Harry Potter films. We could waste no time to get there in order to see The Jacobite steam train crossing the viaduct.

Parts of Fort William the other side of Lock Linnhe

We were now driving on single track roads with passing places. Being as courteous as possible we were pulling into the passing places whenever traffic came in the opposite direction and found other drivers were responding accordingly. In fact during the whole of the trip I can only remember one comment about an aggressive motor caravan driver who, in reality, was probably driving a vehicle totally unsuitable for the road conditions.
Up past Fort William and then Westward towards Glenfinnan which is at the head of Lock Shiel. As we approached Glenfinnan it became apparent that there was more traffic around because of others wishing to see the steam train and we were fortunate in that we all found spaces in the car park together, even Betty with Henry’s trailer in tow. Having parked and paid the machine for the privilege we had a short walk (hobble in the case of Brian and me) to get a good view of the structure built by Concrete Bob McAlpine and completed in 1898, although the line did not open through to Mallaig until 1901. The viaduct consists of a total of 21 arches each 50ft (15m) wide with a total length of 416yds (380m). Carrying a single track, it is 18ft (5.5m) wide between parapets and carries the railway 100ft (30m) above the River Finnan. It is curved inland with a radius of 729ft (241m). Quite an engineering feat for its time.

Black Five 45407 pulls the Jacobite across the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

​Black Five number 45407, built for the LMS by Armstrong Whitworth in 1937 pulled the Jacobean, consisting of a rake of seven maroon BR Mk1 Coaches, across the viaduct creating an impressive scene with the driver opening the throttle creating a cloud of exhaust (steam) as the train accelerated away from Glenfinnan to continue its onward journey to Mallaig.
Our little convoy left the Glenfinnan car park and, like the Jacobean, also headed up towards Mallaig where, as we approached, we could see the Jacobean simmering at the station. We drove round the harbour of this small fishing village to the other side of the bay, dodging tourists who seemed to be hell bent on being run over irrespective of how slowly we drove, where we found parking space for us all and an excellent view of vessels entering or leaving their moorings. Someone found that there were public loos adjacent to a car park opposite the railway station and those in need investigated the service provided. It was a bit disconcerting to discover that you could only enter by swiping your contactless card from which 40p was extracted! I dread to think what happened to anyone without a credit or bank card in their wallet! With our check-in time approaching we retraced our steps to the harbour and joined the queue for embarkation on the ferry, ‘Loch Fyne’ to Armadale on the Isle of Skye.

Loch Fyne arrives at Mallaig to load and carry us to Armadale

We boarded the ferry which was as tightly packed as the smaller Corran Ferry. The passage was smooth and, whilst a little longer than the Corran Ferry, it was still quite quick. We disembarked at Armadale and headed off northwards across the Isle of Skye along the narrow roads to the Hotel Eilean Iarmain on the Isle Ornsay, Sleat on the Isle of Skye.

Again, tightly packed as sardines on the ferry!

We were not allowed to check in until 4:30 pm so we enjoyed a natter on the small jetty whilst we waited for Reception to open.  ​

​This was a lovely hotel with excellent food and beer. It was also our most expensive hotel of the tour. One aging waitress was most entertaining with her negative attitude to the diners, she was lovely!
However, wherever we were young Brian always seemed to have a problem. At the Hotel Eileen Iarmain he was unable to stand by the four poster bed without walking sideways there was that little room between the bed and the wall. At least it was on the ground floor this time!

To be continued ...

You Tube video of day 4.