Day 228 - Mallaig

Phil keeps watch on the ferry to Mallaig

Sunday, and with the local shop closed it was as good an excuse as any to take a trip over to Mallaig on the ferry to check out the town, do some grocery shopping and see if we could find a Sunday roast.

We eased into the day, waiting until the 12:45 ferry. That particular one happened to have two tour buses waiting to take it, so added a crowd of about 80 additional passengers to the upper deck. But Phil and I managed to find a spot at the front of the ship from which to admire the view. With the cool wind full in our faces, we were fairly unencumbered by our fellow passengers for most of the trip. Here we admired the sea, and had a quite in-depth discussion on plastics and their impact on the seas.

Once ashore and using the recommendations of TripAdvisor, we headed for the #1-ranked restaurant: The Cornerstone. It was closed, it being a Sunday. Next up, The Bakehouse. Also closed.

Third on the list was The Steam Inn. Now a pub had to be open, right? It was, and it was also serving a Sunday Roast, something we haven't had for a few Sundays...or so it seems. Nice pub, named after The Jacobite, a steam train that does a trip from Fort William through the spectacular landscape to Mallaig. That would be a trip!

The Steam Inn. Source: steaminnmallaig.co.uk

After lunch, we had a wander about the town before doing a bit of shopping. The village isn't very old, having been established in 1840 when local Lord Lovat split up the land into parcels. Although, interestingly, it wasn't for full-scale farming, but for crofts to be used for fishermen. The fish to be had were herring, but if the shoals didn't come close enough in a year, the fishermen and their families suffered as they did not have boats big enough to follow the fish.

About 40 years later, a gale destroyed some homes and carried away many fishing boats. Lovat paid to replaced the boats and nets, and the resulting catches were so successful that discussion of a rail line began to emerge.

The railway opened in 1901 and the town changed rapidly as a result. Shops were set up. People arrived to work on the train. Tourists from Glasgow came and took steamers to Skye. As the rail line was closer to the fishing grounds, other fisherman began to use the services of the town. As the power of boats moved from sail to steam, Mallaig also had the advantage that coal could now be transported to it by rail. The harbour quickly began to expand, with kippering sheds add and wooden huts for migrant workers.

In 1932, a local boatbuilder and a marine engineer built a flat-bottomed vessel able to carry two cars, and thus the first car ferry was born in Mallaig. However, cars were few, and with WWII tourism ceased. During the war, the area west of Fort William, which includes Mallaig, became a Special Protected Area, and supplies were shipped through Mallaig to Special Operations training sites.

Kippers, which are whole smoked herring.
Source: www.jaffys.co.uk

After the war, herring fishing thrived, and for a time, so did Mallaig, becoming the busiest herring port in Europe. However, by the 1970s, competition on other fronts began to take their toll. New ferries opened at other locations; a road way through the Kyle of Lochalsh became the preferred route of motorist. Fish stocks were low and a 4-year ban on herring fishing was imposed.

Today, the Jacobite Steam Train provides tourist and has proven successful. Fishermen catch quite a bit of prawns and other shellfish. Unfortunately, a lot of the catch is purchased for consumption by other countries, so there is not an abundance of local fish mongers about. However, one shop was selling local smoked herring from the last producer in the era, J. Lawrie & Sons. So we will have to give those a try!

Moon over Mallaig from our cottage.