Day 9....Waiting for Harry Potter

After the toils of the previous day into a constant head wind, we enjoyed a meal in the cafe downstairs from our hostel for the night, followed by a pint or two in the pub right next door, to discuss today's ride.

The planned route was a 54 mile ride from Mallaig back to the bunkhouse at Corran, which we had passed by on our way up. However, we felt that we had worked hard enough on the previous couple of days to reward ourselves with an easier day. So we decided to let the train take the strain, and after our meeting with camera-lady Catherine yesterday, thought we would sample a small section of one of "The Worlds Most Scenic Rail Journeys" (© ScotRail and Channel 5).

So we set off to Mallaig station (all of 50 metres from the hostel) and bought 2 tickets to Glenfinnan. The train departed on time at 10.10am and we sat back and enjoyed the view.....and whilst some of the views were indeed stunning, they proved rather difficult to photograph from a moving train!!!....so not too many pictures to stun you with!!

We got off at  Glenfinnan just as the Fort William to Mallaig steam train charter (also known as the Hogwarts Express or the Harry Potter Express....the same one we had seen several days earlier just outside Fort William) was pulling out.

We rode a short way down from the station and along the path that leads up to the viaduct viewpoint, where got our sightseeing heads on and joined the other tourists making the short 10 minute hike up the path to sample the famous view.

The view is famous for shots of  the steam train coming across the viaduct, especially since it was heavily featured in many of the Harry Potter films. The next steam train across was in 4 hours....we decided not to wait for Harry. 

The only other significant event of our ride was the fact that it didn't rain. A few miles back along the main road and then onto the smaller road along Loch Ail and  the western bank of Loch Linnhe down to the Corran ferry. It was just a mile or so along this road that Eagle Eye Lambourn spotted an otter in the shallows of the loch and we stopped and did our best David Attenborough's for 10 minutes but apart from popping its head up a few times it didn't want to come out to play.

Playing tourist had chopped our planned ride exactly in half, but more importantly had missed out several big climbs, giving our legs a bit of a rest. The half that we were left with had few points of interest but sometimes it is still surprising what you stumble across on the way.

27 miles, 700 feet of climbing.