Days 36 - Fort William, Mallaig, and Isle of Skye, Scotland
Friday 19th September, 2025 - Jacobite Express Scotland
We had a very comfortable stay in Heatherfield House, breakfast was part pre-order and part continental and everything was fresh and delicious ! We booked an early breakfast for 7:30 as we had to be on the road by 8:15. Today we had booked tickets for the Jacobite Express Train which was leaving Fort William at 10:15 sharp.
We arrived at 9:30, found a close car park, had a toilet stop and was boarding the train at 9:55. The Jacobite Express is promoted as being the greatest railway journey in the world! The round trip to Mallaig and back, passes a list of impressive extremes.
The train passes over the 21 arch Glenfinnan viaduct, made famous in the Harry Potter movies. As we passed, there were hundreds of people lining the adjacent hillsides and roads to capture a picture of the train as it goes over the viaduct. The engine driver let off a series of steam bursts to give the onlookers a good photo op as we passed. One way is just under 2 hours and on arrival in Mallaig, we sought a restaurant to try the local Cullen Skink soup - a fish chowder with potatoes and spring onions - delicious.
We arrived back in Fort William just after 15:45, visited the nearby supermarket for some supplies for dinner, and set the GPS for our next stop on the Isle of Skye - a 3 hour drive on winding roads around lochs and steep hills ! After a relatively fine weather day, as we approached Skye the clouds started to roll in with rain ! Arrived around 19:00 and settled into our rural stay in a very comfortable and compact pod.
Greatest railway journey in the world – WTF! I did a very modern thing (I know, scary) – I Googled it. The Jacobite Express is not mentioned in the 24 listed by Lonely Planet. That list does include the Caledonian Sleeper, from London to Fort William, and, incidentally, the Ghan.