West Highland Line

[aquaplane]

Soz about this not being strictly boaty but I recon the folks here are best qualified to point me in the right direction.

I fancy having a ride up the West Highland line and wondered what to look out for.

It looks like a long trip to do the return in the same day so an overnight in Mallaig is probably on the cards. I was there as a teenager and but can't remember much about it. I'm thinking that a day will be enough to look round Mallaig?

It's the scenery that I'm wanting to look at, and there is lots of that, what else is there?

Do we have to get on in Glasgow or is somewhere like Tarbert/Arrochar just as good if we want to do the trip at the beginning or end of a sailing trip?

It would be icing on the cake to do it behind a steam engine, but the scenery won't improve so any train will do.

An initial look indicates that a return ticket is about £100 (in September), do we know any deamon wheezes to get cheaper tickets?

[Fingal]

The train ride is great, Mallaig, well a whole day in Mallaig might be a bit long really. Unless you wanted to cross on the ferry to Skye I would suggest getting off ar Arisaig or Morar and going for a walk along the beach while humming this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyoXb4DtHA tune. There was a very good restaurant in Arisaig for a while too.

[ubergeekian]

It looks like a long trip to do the return in the same day so an overnight in Mallaig is probably on the cards. I was there as a teenager and but can't remember much about it. I'm thinking that a day will be enough to look round Mallaig?

It's a while since I've been there, but as I remember it an hour is about enough time to do Mallaig. Twice. And the crossword.

An initial look indicates that a return ticket is about £100 (in September), do we know any deamon wheezes to get cheaper tickets?

An off-peak return from Glasgow is £34.80, so it may be cheaper to look for a cheap advance ticket from wherever you are to there and rebook.

If you want to do it in a bit more style you could take the Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig. It would mean spending the night before or after in Fort William, which is a dump but more interesting than Mallaig.

http://www.westcoastrailways.co.uk/Pages/jacobite.cfm

[Telo]

There's not really that much to do in Mallaig apart from taking a walk around the harbour. As above, Morar or Arisaig, or perhaps a MacBrayne's excursion to Rum and the Small Isles.

There's also the post boat to Inverie in Knoydart, probably still run by Bruce Watt (Mr Google will provide....). You might be able to book accommodation there.

Re catching the train, Tarbet, Ardlui, Crianlairich, Tyndrum (Upper IIRC) all possible.

[Drumbeat]

I did this trip twice at the start of August. The first one was Glasgow to Mallaig and back in a day and the second time I went to Morar and back in a day. Later that week I also did Glasgow/Inverness/Kyle of Lochalsh and back in a day. That is definitely worth doing too.

You get two hours in Mallaig just at the quiet time when the steam engine leaves taking all the Harry Potter fans and steam fans with it. I found that ten minutes was enough to see Mallaig. I bought lunch at the chippy next to the station and walked out of town a bit and took in the scenery. I wouldn't recommend staying in Mallaig for more than 10 minutes! Lots of tourists walking around discovering that there is nothing there. A couple of days later I went back up but got off at Morar. If you hang around the station for about 20 minutes you will see the steam train on its way back to Fort William. It stops at Morar so that the driver could get out and press the button for the level crossing lights. It's a great photo opportunity. I then walked down the road to the beach. There must have been about six people on the beach! I had a good walk, a nice sit down and had my lunch there. The Morar Hotel is next to the station if you prefer a more formal meal. If you are staying the night, then there is a Thai takeaway restaurant nearby.

If you leave your boat in the Gareloch near Rhu, you could go from Helensburgh Upper or further up there's Garelochhead Station although it is a bit of an uphill walk from the town to the station but it is less of a hike than the walk from the town of Arrochar on Loch Long up to Arrocher and Tarbet station. (It used to be fun in the Seventies when the station was manned. You could drink in the pub down in the town and the station master would phone down to let you know when the train was going to arrive. It saved a lot of waiting around as the train was invariably late.)

Hope this helps.


Simon

[cpedw]

Don't overlook the branch from Crianlarich to Oban. The run by Loch Awe and Loch Etive can be spectacular if the train stays on the track http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_of_C ... derailment .

Or you could go to Mallaig, return to Crianlarich, out to Oban and back to Crianlarich again but the seats on those trains are not so comfortable as the journey duration might lead you to hope for. Or out to Oban, boat to Mallaig then train back. Unfortunately it's not a Calmac route so the boat trip needs research.

The best value ticket is Club 55 for over 55 year olds but Scotrail only operate it at slack times. I expect it will resume late September or October.

Derek

[aquaplane]

Lots of good info, thanks for that.

It's 5 hours from home so getting an early train and doing the return trip in one day would mean BnB for two nights at the South end. A train about lunch time, a nice meal and an evening out (if that's available)+ BnB in Mallaig/Morar and back to the car the following morning is possible.

Taking our boat to Oban and going to Mallaig and back via Crianlairch (4 trains) is a long day with a 2.5Hr wait in Mallaig, not sounding attractive.

Neither of us qualify for the <55 ticket , I'll see about savings to be made by pre-booking.

Still thinking.

[cpedw]

There's also the Royal Scotsman but you might need to save up for a bit.

Derek

[ubergeekian]

There's also the Royal Scotsman but you might need to save up for a bit.

My sister and brother-in-law acted as hosts for a group of American alumni of A Certain Scottish University on a seven-day Royal Scotsman tour. They report that it's absolutely fantastic ... but it cost the paying travellers ten grand a head. Pounds, not dollars.

Incidentally, do you all know that a ticket from Glasgow or Edinburgh to Kyle of Lochalsh is valid to come back via Mallaig? Doesn't work the other way round, though.

[Pinstripe Shepherd]

Twice now we have been able to flag down the Jacobite train at Arisaig and hop on for just the section up to Mallaig and back. The staff on the train were delightful, the fare was duly adjusted and the hour or so that you get at Mallaig was about the right length of time. This train runs until October. The only down side is that now my small children think they can flag down any train whenever they like.