Last weekend, well Friday through Sunday, I went on an epic voyage with my good friend Ben Dodson. It’s my first real holiday in quite a while, as short as it may have been it was very much appreciated.
Our story begins in Derby train station at 6:40am, where we boarded the “West Highland Statesman” weekend excursion train. We were sitting in a very posh premier dining carriage, made by Pullman in the 1970′s and named Apollo. This train would be our home for the next 13 hours until our arrival in Fort William.
Settling into such a nice, comfortable train was a very easy thing to do and reminded me of being a child, when the seats were big enough to fit my legs properly.
After an hour or so we were greeted by one of the train stewards who asked if we wanted breakfast now, or later when more people had joined the train. I should mention at this point, that we were practically alone in the carriage with only one other couple behind us. We opted for breakfast now.
Some time afterwards, breakfast was delivered to our table with a glass of bucks fizz. Sausage, eggs, bacon, potato, mushroom etc, it all made for a very happy eating occasion. We were offered some toast later on too, but I think the fry-up was probably enough to start with!
With breakfast gone and the light beginning to appear I began to turn my camera towards the great outdoors and photograph the landscape, rather than food and Ben! Sometime later it was announced to us that one of the carriages had developed a severe wheel flat (a flat tyre if you wheel), and so we’d be travelling a little slower than we were scheduled for and would have to swap the affected carriage out. A flat wheel isn’t as odd as it may seem – one side of the metal wheel becomes worn to a point where it stops rolling properly, and either drags along the rail or makes a bit of a thumping noise.
In Manchester we were joined by Ben’s parents and a couple of his old teachers. It was 11am by this point, and we were glad we’d opted for breakfast just after 8am! Breakfast was eventually served to the newcomers, followed by the dumping of the Buttermere carriage at Carnforth. With the wheel flat out of our way, we were free to chug on to Scotland.
As civilisation disappeared out of the window, food entered our bellies via canapés, several courses of food and Petit Fours. Not to mention the wine and champagne!
Because of the wheel flat earlier in the day, our train was delayed several times successively for sprinter trains to pass as we’d missed our station slots and charter trains are considered a lower priority on the rail network, regardless of delays. At one point, we would only have caused a delay of a few minutes to one train but because of the current system we were delayed by over half an hour instead. Thanks network rail! An extended leg stretch in Rannoch because of the delays meant that we eventually got our coaches from Spean Bridge to the hotel, rather than from Fort William.
On arrival at our hotel, The Ballachulish, we went straight in for dinner and some sleep!
Early next morning we came for breakfast and then were straight back on the coaches, heading for Fort William station. This days epic voyage was from Fort William to Malliag with a steam powered train. Not quite as posh as the previous days, but a nice train none the less. The route between Fort William and Mallaig is filled with scenic views and mountains, and there’s barely a piece of civilisation in sight.
One of the highlights of this trip is Glenfinnan, where we made a stop. The station has a little museum and shop, and we were treated to some bagpipe music on the platform by one of the train’s stewards! Glenfinnan is also home to the Glenfinnan Viaduct, a massive stonework bridge spanning a wide valley. If you’ve ever seen a Harry Potter film you’ll have seen this viaduct – it’s the impressive one the Hogwart’s Express travels over. I didn’t manage to get any photos of it, but I did get an HD video whilst we were going slowly over it on our return.
Now, as it turns out, riding on a train is quite tiring and poor Ben kept falling asleep. Luckily, I was there to capture the moments with my trusty camera.
Arriving in Mallaig, we headed for a fish restaurant where I had some very tasty scampi (and everyone else had haddock)! The harbour town of Malliag seems to be a fairly small and quiet place, at least until a train load of people turned up! We pottered about for the hour or so we were there, looking in various gift shops and occasionally getting wet in the random showers. The town itself isn’t a great highlight of the trip, more a place where we stop for lunch and wait to go back – the views from the train are what the people wanted to see.
My purchases from Mallaig consisted of a fridge magnet and a furry haggis. Now, a haggis is just a type of food – not an animal, but earlier that morning Ben’s parents had told me a funny story about Ben! Needless to say, the furry haggis purchase was apt and amusing.
Returning to Fort William, we had a little wander up the high street. Fort William is like any small town high street, albeit slightly cleaner and nicer although Ben didn’t seem too impressed with the place. Back at the hotel, it was time for dinner, preceded by a ceremony for the haggis and followed by some bagpipes and jokes, and a game of chess between Ben and his old Music Teacher. Ben of course, lost for my amusement.
The next day was another early start, with breakfast, coach trip to Fort William and then catching our nice Pullman train home. It was a much better day on the way back, and parts that were dark on the way up were now clear, providing some spectacular views.
We made a stop for an hour at Spean Bridge, for a ‘leg stretch’ and to check out the “Highland Soap Company” which we’d all been semi brain washed into visiting by the train manager. I ended up leaving with £9.50 worth of hand made soap, Ben faired much worse. The amusing thing about the soap shop trip, is that someone pinched the liquid soap from the loo on the train probably because they thought the soap was too expensive in the shop!
Continuing our journey home, brought more food, wine and gluttony. Not to mention games. 70′s peg based mastermind and Othello come to mind. I’m quite good at Othello, having played Reversi (the American version) many a lunch time at school, on Windows 3.1 (It’s up in Nebraska!) Needless to say, I won the game against Ben’s music teacher although I did a sloppy job – leaving two of her pieces on the board!
Seeing an easy win, Ben decided to play Othello against his music teacher too, only to be followed once again by defeat. Bad luck old chap!
It should be noted, that throughout our whole trip Ben and I played the iPhone GPS game gowalla – which really tested out my MiLi (iPhone external battery thing).
After Manchester on the way home, we were pretty much alone again and witnessed what some of the catering staff do when they’re bored – amusing if a little out of place.
For more photos of my adventure to Scotland see the flickr photoset of the occasion.
There’s something a bit odd here. The photograph of the exterior of the coach (Apollo) identifies it as a Mark 2, with no opening windows. Lower down, the interior shot looks like a Mk 1 coach WITH opening windows.