Sail and rail to Glasgow and Mallaig

[Peter]

I had an interesting sail and rail experience to Scotland last weekend with my girlfriend and dog. We were meant to take the ferry on Friday morning but because of storm Eunice there was a good chance the ferry would be cancelled and we'd miss our train to Mallaig on Saturday. We decided to change our ferry booking to Thursday evening.

Transport for Wales and Avanti West Coast cancelled all trains on Friday so we ended up hiring a car in Holyhead to get to Glasgow. I think we got the last rental car out of Holyhead. It was a wet and windy drive to Glasgow on Friday. We stayed in the Voco hotel in Glasgow Central station. Beautiful hotel if anyone is in Glasgow. The bar overlooks the train station concourse. 

On Saturday we took the 12:20 train to Mallaig. It was an absolutely stunning journey, taking in views of Ben Nevis and the Glenfinnan viaduct.

On Sunday we took the 10:00 train back to Glasgow. This is when things got even more interesting. On our way from Fort William to Glasgow the driver got word of a tree down on the single line. The train would drop us off at the station before this and we would take a replacement bus back to the city. On our way there we came across a landslide. The driver made the decision to go back to the Bridge of Orchy station where a minibus and coach would bring us back to Glasgow. I had a chance to take some photos at the Bridge of Orchy station while we waited for the busses. After many announcements and lost contact with the busses they arrived and brought us back to Glasgow. We arrived in Glasgow four hours later than expected, by which time we were tired and hungry. We stayed at the Grand Central hotel again on Sunday night.

On Monday we took an afternoon Avanti West Coast pendolino to Chester and stayed for the night in the Queen at Chester Hotel by the train station. The hotel has plenty of character. On Tuesday we took the train to Holyhead and boat home. It was a fun trip with more modes of transport than we expected.

I've attached a few pictures here. The Caledonian Sleeper was parked up in Fort William. The chandelier is in the hotel in Glasgow Central Station. 

[jhb171achill]

Quite a journey!

 

[Mayner]

I spent a year in Scotland about 30 years ago and spent most of my spare time exploring the country and railway system including the West Highland, including travelling from Glasgow to Forth William and Mallaig by rail and driving from Stirling.

Its quite an experience making the journey at this time of year, I once took a day trip from Stirling to Crianlarich out by Callander and home via Lough Tay and Perth to "see the snow" people were out skiing in the valley below Lough Tay, I managed to home safely just before a sudden thaw that disrupted road and rail communication in the Central Lowlands knocking out the Stirling-Perth Main Line for the best part of 

When I lived in London some work colleagues would take the "Sleeper" on a Friday evening to Rannoch Station for a weekend in the great outdoors before returning to work refreshed on a Monday morning

Its nice to see that the Bridge of Orchy station and the trains appear to be relatively unchanged from 1993!