Day 220 - Taking one of the world's best train Journeys

I've said it before: I could live on a train. The idea of waking up every morning and being somewhere different while still surrounded by the comforts of a home base appeals to me immensely. Of course, I would need my own train car.

So, you could imagine my excitement when today we were taking what is considered one of the top 10 train journeys in the world: the West Highland Line between urban Glasgow, crossing Rannock Moor and up through to Mallaig in the remote and wild western Highlands of Scotland. In fact in some polls it has been named the number one train route in the world. You know it from Harry Potter -- where the Hogwart's Express goes over the large train trestle.

We were not long out of Glasgow, travelling along the edge of the River Clyde, when the urban landscape changed to rolling foothills and lochs. At Helensburgh we met the mouth of our first loch, Gare Loch, which faces out onto the Firth of Clyde. The city is also on the western end of what is known as the Highland Boundary Fault. Hills north are in the Highlands, while the land south is the Lowlands. The fault isn't considered active, but minor earthquakes are still felt from time to time. 

The next stop on the line is the aptly named Garelochhead, which is, as I'm sure you've guessed, located at the other end of Gare Loch. It is here that the West Highland Line is said to officially start. A bend in the track and we were traversing the edge of Loch Long, stopping at Arrochar & Tarbet station, which looks like a station one would expect in a mountain region, with passing loops for the single track line, and sidings used by the forestry industry up to about 10 years ago. For centuries, this area was the home of the Clan MacFarlane.

To enable safe passage along the single track line, a token system was devised. In some cases, a physical token had to be acquired by the train driver to know that the line was free to use. The West Highland Line now uses a Radio Electronic Token Box (RETB), basically a dedicated radio network transmits  verbal communications and electronic messages between a control centre and the trains. In RETB, the token is an electronic message displayed inside the driving cab as opposed to the physical object used with traditional single-line token systems.

Another bend in the tracks, and we were skirting the largely forested edge of Loch Lomond, our first freshwater loch on this trip, and which gained fame from the song, "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond."  Located near here is Ben Lomond, the most southerly of the the Scottish "Munros" -- the name given to a Scottish mountain that is over 3,000 feet. Next stop: Ardlui at the head of Loch Lomond.

From here the train line clings to the edge of the hills, passing through the valley of the River Falloch, and winding around the top of Falloch Falls, until it reaches the town of Crainlarach. If you're travelling either north/south or east/west you will probably pass through Crainlarach -- and that's been the case since Medieval times. Sitting amid several Munros, it is a favourite stop for hill walkers.

Our 6-car train divided here, with two cars heading westward to Oban while we continued the journey northwest toward Mallaig. A few kilometres along we made a stop at the small station of Upper Tyndrum. This spot actually has two station: the one we stopped at to serve Mallaig and another -- Lower Tyndrum -- to serve the train heading to Oban. This makes it hold the title of being the smallest settlement in the UK with two stations. Interestingly, if you walk, the stations are only a few hundred yards apart, yet you would have to travel 10 miles by rail to get from one to the other! That all has to do with the geography of the glens through which the lines pass that allows for the gentle change in elevation needed by the trains for their onward journey. It's also interesting to note that Tynburn is where a great battle occurred in 1306 in which the Clan MacDougall defeated Robert the Bruce.

The train ascended slowly, winding through the glen before arriving at the beautifully named Bridge of Orchy which is at the edge of the Rannoch Moor. While there are a few houses around, the only people getting on and off the train were hikers. The village dates from the 1700s when the Jacobite uprising caused the government to attempt to build roads and bridges across the Highlands to make them more accessible for troops. Before this, most people lived near the coasts or along rivers, and the only routes through the Highlands were for moving cattle to markets. 

Rannoch Moor is a boggy grassland area in the midst of mountains. I watched a television show a few weeks ago about how difficult it was to build the West Highland Line and in particular the challenge the moors posed. But the Victorians were nothing if not resourceful, and the add the Scottish devotion to all things engineering, and this was a problem to be surmounted. They came upon the solution of laying down a bed of branches, ash, earth and stone atop the bog, and the result was a solid foundation that could hold the weight of the train. But despite this, the train does slow in this area, coming down to a speed of about 25mph -- and even lower if the weather is bad.

It is Rannoch Moor that is used in a scene in Harry Potter where a Death Eater stands between the rails to bring the Hogwarts Express to a stop for the train to be inspected. Eerie.

The moor ended as we reach Rannoch station. I don't think there was anyone living here, but I could be wrong. It seemed a place designed just for walking. But ever civilized, there is a tea room on the platform.

A few miles along is Corrour, one of the most remote stations in the UK and is its highest mainline station at 1,340 feet. There are no public roads here; just the station. The nearest road is 10 miles away and a mile hike will get you to a hostel. It was originally built to be a signal station and passing point along the single line track, with a signalman living on site. I am sure it can be a lonely, desolate place and more than a few people may have found themselves lost trying to get to the hostel on a dark and foggy night.

The next station, Tulloch, appeared equally desolate, but we began to see more signs of life at Roy Bridge. Here the Roy River meets the Spean River. It's claim to fame, other than being in the beautiful Highlands, is that the parents of Australia's only patron saint, Mary MacKillop, was from here. Somewhat obviously, the next station stop is Spean Bridge. It is here that the first engagement of the Jacobite Rising occurred in 1745.

We next pulled into Fort William and then reversed out along another line. Fort William lies near the top of Loch Linnhe and is the largest "town" in the Highlands with a population just over 10,000 people. The city of Inverness is to the north east about 100 km, with a population of about 60,000. Tourists flock to Fort William to visit the nearby Glen Coe (the film location for Monty Python and the Holy Grail's "Bridge of Death" and "Gorge of Eternal Peril" and for the James Bond movie Skyfall). It is also near Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 1,345 metres (4,411 ft) and with a summit that is an ancient collapsed volcano. About 125,000 people try to "bag" this Munro every year, with most climbing via a pony track up one side.

From this point on the route becomes a bit of a local "commuter" run, with stops every few minutes at Banavie (possibly the birthplace of St. Patrick), Corpach (the name based on the Gaelic for "field of corpses as it is thought that clan chieftains were "rested" here on their way to being buried on the island of Iona), Loch Eli (where there is an Outward Bound site), and Locheilside (a request stop).

But the most exciting part of the trip was now about to happen: crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct. This beautiful bridge curves for 792 feet over 21 spans 100 feet above the River Finnan. It is made entirely of concrete without any metal reinforcements. Needless to say, you travel slowly over the viaduct, but the resulting views down Loch Shiel are breathtaking. If you've seen the Harry Potter movies you will recognize the viaduct in the scenes of the Hogwart's Express on its way through Scotland.

Continuing to wind through the glens and around mountains we made stops at Lochailort (a location for one of Phil's favourite films, Local Hero), Beasdale (many serving local children who go to high school in Fort William) and Arisaig (from where much of the local population emigrated to Canada,  and founded Arisaig, Nova Scotia in 1785).

About five hours after leaving Glasgow, we arrived in Mallaig, and from here bought a few groceries at the local Co-op store before taking a car ferry across to Armadale on the Isle of Skye. It was then about a mile to our cottage in the village of Ardvasar -- uphill, of course, with the last third of a mile feeling like it was at a 45 degree angle! But well worth the views from the top.

The wonderful thing: we get to do the whole trip again on our return. We can only hope that the day will be as gloriously sunny. But even if it's not, passing through these places in snow or rain would be equally magical.