0900 Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, arr 1128
Headcode: 2H81, operated by First Scotrail using Sprinter 158717
Distance: 82.25 miles; walk-up price: £12.75
To get to Kyle of Lochalsh, trains run along the Far North Line to Wick as far as Dingwall, where the line to Kyle of Lochalsh curves off. The line, while remote, is more verdant than the Far North Line, climbing Strath Bran to Achnasheen, before descending down Glen Carron to the coast at Stromeferry, and then hugs the coast via Plockton into Kyle. The scenery is less barren than the line to Wick, with many lochs and forests lining the route through the glens, with many mountains lining their sides.
Once the line hits the coast at Stromeferry, however, the scenery becomes even more incredible, with the line literally cut into the cliff-face; at one point the line has been covered over and effectively put in a tunnel in order to protect it from rockfalls. The line was one of the most difficult to build in the whole country, and was the second line ever to receive government subsidy to build it (not just to operate it).
It's difficult to describe in words how picturesque the line is; the whole line is simply beautiful, and not so long as to leave you weary at the end of it, the journey taking two and a half hours from Inverness, and we arrived in Kyle of Lochalsh just before lunchtime. The area beside the harbour is a wonderful area to sit and relax, and we duly did so while eating fish and chips for lunch.
Kyle of Lochalsh was, until fairly recently, an important ferry terminal: all the ferries to the outer Hebrides used to go from Kyle, but in 1973 the main service to Stornoway was diverted to Ullapool (which has no rail connection), and the line was threatened with closure. Fortunately, however, the line's incredible scenic qualities has saved it on more than one occasion, and closure is no longer a serious suggestion.
Until recently, Kyle had a very profitable ferry service across the very short distance to the Isle of Skye, but in 1995 the Skye Bridge opened, about a mile west of Kyle, removing the need for any ferry services. We were thus able to get a bus across the bridge, and onto the Isle of Skye:
1335 Kyle bus terminal to Armadale, arr 1418
Bus number: 51, operated by Stagecoach Inverness using bus 20946
Distance: approx 9.25 miles
Our bus route took us down the eastern side of the Isle of Skye, in glorious sunshine. The Isle of Skye is the biggest of the islands in the Hebrides on the western coast of Scotland, though whether it is still an "island" - after the building of the bridge - is now a matter of some debate. In the centre of the island is the fierce Cuillin mountain ridge, jagged and pointy mountains unlike the rolling hills of the mainland, dominating the skyline for miles around.
I have twice spent wonderful family holidays on the Isle of Skye; this time, however, we were only passing through, but a few fleeting glimpses of the Cuillin and of the Isle of Raasay were more than enough to remind me of the great unspoilt beauty of the Hebrides.
We arrived in Armadale, the other main ferry port on the east side of the Isle of Skye, where a frequent car ferry service operates to Mallaig on the mainland. Until the opening of the Skye bridge, this was nearly as popular a route to the Isle of Skye as the route via Kyle; while the bridge now takes the bulk of the traffic, this route via Mallaig is still my all-time favourite ferry ride, this being my third time on the route:
1430 Armadale to Mallaig, arr 1500
Ferry operated by Caledonian MacBrayne using MV Coruisk
Distance: approx 5 miles
Our ferry was pretty full; although there was space for a few more vehicles, there were two coach parties on board the ferry, which took up a sizable chunk of the passenger capacity. We stood on deck and admired the wonderful views of the surrounding area.
Caledonian Macbrayne, abbreviated to CalMac, operate pretty much all the lifeline ferry routes between the mainland and the various islands of the Hebrides. Some of these are short five-minute hops between islands, but some are three-hour long sailings between Oban and the Outer Hebrides. They are utterly vital to life on the islands, though CalMac do have something of a monopoly: there is a local poem, based loosely on Psalm 24, which goes
The Earth belongs unto the Lord, and all that it contains;
Except the Western Isles, which do belong unto Macbrayne's.
From the ferry, we could see across to the remote peninsula of Kintail: while part of the mainland, there is no road access whatsoever, and the only ways to get to the tiny village of Inverie are by 17-mile hike from Kinloch Hourn, or by a tiny little boat from Mallaig.
We could also see south to the peninsula of Ardnamurchan, the westernmost point on mainland Britain (even west of Land's End!), and south-west to the so-called "Small Isles" of Eigg and Rum. Slowly, Mallaig, on the mainland, came into view to the south-east, and we docked and disembarked after half an hour on the ferry. We had an hour before our final journey of the day, the train from Mallaig to Fort William, the "Iron Road to the Isles":
1605 Mallaig to Fort William, arr 1727
Headcode: 1Y48, operated by First Scotrail using Sprinter 156493 + 156453
Distance: 41.5 miles; walk-up price: £6.85
The line between Mallaig and Fort William, the final part of the West Highland Line and the westernmost railway in the country, is widely regarded as (one of) the most scenic line(s) in the world, featuring some of the most incredible railway engineering with viaducts over deep valleys and tunnels and cuttings through impossibly steep hills.
The line opened in 1901, built by Sir Robert McAlpine, as the first line built with government subsidy in the UK (and possibly in the whole world). The government invested £45,000 - a huge sum for the 1890s - in the line from Fort William to Mallaig and the line from Stromeferry to Kyle, as well as building better port facilities at Kyle and Mallaig to provide better connections to the Western Isles. Their expense is our reward: both lines offer probably the best scenery of any line in the UK, if not the world.
The most famous structure on the line is the Glenfinnan viaduct, featured in (among other things) the Harry Potter films. The line curves round the head of a valley, crossing the river below on the viaduct, which is itself curved; even with our four-car train we could easily see the back of the train from the front carriage.
Nearby is the memorial to Bonnie Prince Charlie, the grandson of the deposed King James II who returned from hiding in Italy to the Western Isles to gather an army in Glenfinnan. The song "Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing / O'er the sea to Skye" refers not to heading west from the mainland to Skye, but to Bonnie Prince Charlie's journey east from the outer Hebrides to Skye, and onward to the mainland.
Having gathered an army in Glenfinnan, Bonnie Prince Charlie marched all the way south as far as Derby, before hearing rumours of a large force being mustered by King George II and turning back; while the rumours were false, the retreat gave the English time to muster an actual army, which caught up with the Jacobites at Culloden, just south of Inverness, and defeated them there in the last battle on British soil, in 1746, thus ending the Jacobite challenge to the throne.
The whole stretch of line is breathtakingly beautiful, and we had the privilege of seeing it in dappled sunshine; by now the clouds were starting to roll in, but it was still bright and sunny for the most part, and it made the experience just magical.
We arrived in Fort William at 17:27, an early finish to a wonderful day involving two trains, a bus and a ferry, and headed to the Bank Street Lodge, our hostel for the night. We headed to the Nevis pub by the coast for dinner, before retiring ready for a very early start on Thursday.
Note: Edited on Friday 22nd July to correct the statement that Bonnie Prince Charlie was the illegitimate son of King James II; he was, in fact, his legitimate grandson.
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