free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Mid-August, and time to head off on an exciting adventure - a week on Skye! My partner's first time, and the first time I'd been since I was too young to remember much of it, except rain and low clouds. The weather forecast looked encouraging for the first half of the week at least, and it was sunny as we parked in Glenfinnan, on the way to the ferry from Mallaig. Time to visit one of Scotland's most famous sights, which we'd never got to before.
Pinching one of the very last spots at the small viaduct car park, we were initially underwhelmed on approaching the viaduct from below. Big, yes, but so are lots of viaducts...
Most people were turning round here - probably with a sense of anticlimax, if they were feeling the same as me. Fortunately we were looking forward to some views of Loch Shiel further up. The path on the left climbed steeply uphill - no bog anymore, unlike some of the earlier reports on this site. It was a hot afternoon, but the views of the viaduct and Glen Finnan improved with every extra step of height gained.
The further up we went, the more the curve on the viaduct became apparent:
The slopes of Beinn a Tuim behind:
A train crossing the viaduct seemed a little too much to hope for, so we turned our backs on the viaduct and continued to the high point of the path, which had good, although slightly restricted, views of Loch Shiel (better ones later...). From near the high point:
The path narrowed but was still excellent as it descended towards the tracks again, and Glenfinnan Station. There was an unexpected fork lower down, but both seemed to come out near the station (in fact, our path come out right on the platform!), where we crossed the tracks and had quite a pricey sandwich inside the dining car in the station car park - worth every penny though, as it was an excellent sandwich! Lunch also included a "free" ticket to the tiny station museum, which was interesting for a few minutes.
The track back towards the start passed through the hidden heart of Glenfinnan, scattered along a quiet road which runs close to Loch Shiel but, unfortunately, didn't have many views of it. Large church on the hillside above:
Back to the car, followed by a quick detour round the corner to Glenfinnan Monument, owned by the National Trust. The car park outside the visitor centre was heaving, but unfortunately the monument was closed - apparently it's leaning and slowly falling into the loch
The exhibition was open, but not exactly riveting - free for us as members, but otherwise definitely not worth the ticket price if the monument's still closed. With or without a ticket, you can go up to the base of the monument on the loch shore - a lovely spot.
As we were looking around the water's edge, the sound of a steam train became audible, rumbling across the viaduct. After initially being a little frustrated at missing the chance to see it, I remembered overhearing someone in the museum saying that the two daily steam trains crossed over at Glenfinnan station. This meant that another train was due in... about two minutes - arghh! A quick walk/run back to the visitor centre followed, behind which there's a steep, narrow path up to a viewpoint for the viaduct. Dozens of tourists were slowly descending the path, fresh from seeing the first train cross the viaduct, and making it nigh on impossible to get past in the opposite direction. Even worse, we heard the whistle of the second train approaching...
Trying not to knock people over who were standing in the middle of the path taking pictures of each other in random, unscenic locations, we arrived at the viewpoint not a moment too soon...
Feeling pleased with ourselves, we took a few minutes to enjoy the outlook over Loch Shiel - better here than from the earlier path - before heading back to the car to finish the journey to Mallaig.
Lounging in the sun at the ferry queue, we watched a seagull devour a large starfish whole, and reflected that we'd definitely been luckier than the starfish today.
On to Skye...
Skye 2015Following day: Sgurr na Banachdich, Cuillin Ridge: report to follow
(Getting to our B&B in Portree took slightly longer than anticipated, thanks to a few pesky views...)