A few years worth of Skymiles got us to London on the night flight from LAX. Kicking in a little extra for Comfort+ legroom kept our “mature” frames able to walk when we landed at Heathrow! Cary (1.25 bags) and I (1 bag, see onebag.com) had packed light, so as soon as we got off the plane…
and unnecessarily changed some money we bought London underground (tube) tickets with a change from Piccadilly to Victoria lines for Euston Station (trains 1&2, rail station 1).
After getting a shower in the Virgin Trains lounge we boarded the ScotRail “Caledonian Sleeper” (train 3) for Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. However, the train wasn’t going anywhere.
It seems they had some trouble that delayed the morning arrival from Scotland til 2pm (or 14:00 as they say here). The crew has to have 9 hours off, so the scheduled departure of 9pm was “not on” til 23:15. Putting the schedule behind two hours was bad for those with onward connections for the 10:30 AM excursion steam train to Mallaig! Providentially we were booked on the afternoon steam train ride, but I felt bad for those folks. More on that later.
So we settled our 2.25 bags in our berth and headed to the lounge car – famished since we skipped lunch. I was looking forward to Haggis, Tatties and Neeps! But alas, they were out. Our meals were just wonderful anyway, tho we were still parked in the station. Just before retiring to our berth – last car in a 20 car train – we began to move.
Despite being super cozy, super comfy and lulled by motion of the train, we both woke up in the middle of the night, I assumed probably due to body clock, but soon got back to sleep. When I awoke early I decided to go for coffee and headed on my long walk to the front where the lounge was. Two cars into my journey I encountered the engine! Where was the rest of the train? Retracing my steps I passed our berth and found the lounge car, now on the end the train (train 4, I guess)! It turns out ScotRail splits the train up for 3 different destinations in the middle of the night. Maybe that’s why we woke up… but I don’t remember any such noise.
We had breakfast (eggs & salmon) in the now adjacent lounge car and took in the amazing views until we were given our last cup of coffee in a to-go cup, as a hint from the steward.
In the highlands at fort William (station 2) we dropped our bags at our b&b, Took in the interesting West Highlands museum and then returned to the station to board our train for Mallaig (train 5).
This train, the Jacobite, is very special in that it’s a steam train, with old-time coaches, and you may know it from the Harry Potter movies. (For more on the Jacobite and Caledonian sleeper ask the mysterious man in seat 61 at seat61.com). Cary and I had a table for two and tea on the outbound journey! After tons and tons of amazing scenery including the Glenfinnian viaduct (station 4 stopover). We had dinner before our return journey at a little pub at the end of the line (station 5) in Mallaig opposite the Isle of Skye. Cary had wonderful stew and I got my birthday sandwich called “Deer on the Hop” – venison burger topped with bacon and haggis!
Added our video of the steam train on the viaduct