Day 6, August 1st, Strontian

Some of us had a pretty good nights sleep, others did not. At least the hotel wasn't too hot or too noisy. This is a pretty nice place. We got up a little late but made it down to breakfast before we left for our days adventures. Half of the group went hiking and the other half went to Ft. William to get on the Jacobite Steam Train for Mallaig.


Harry Potter is the craze these days, and many will recognize this from the films. The Glenfinnan Viaduct over Loch Shiel is seen in them.


We arrived in Mallaig suffering from mild smoke inhalation. Lots of people thought it would be a good idea to open their windows, but smoke just poured in when we went through tunnels. That didn't get them to close the windows, though.


We didn't stay in Mallaig long because it started to rain. We left to go back to Strontian via the back roads. They follow the ocean and are very scenic. In the picture below, the island with the clouds covering most of it is Eigg. We were able to see other islands including Skye occasionally, but the weather didn't clear for long at any one time.


We went south and then followed Loch Sunart back east to Strontian. The roads are very narrow; one lane with occasional pullouts for vehicles to sit for a moment to allow oncoming traffic to get through. There is a simple code for doing this - if you are going to come to a pullout first, no matter whether it is on your side or not, you stop there until the oncoming car goes by (you stay on your own side of the road and let the other car go by in the pullout if it's on the other side). Each driver gives the other a friendly wave. This is complicated by the fact the locals are driving fast and you may need to slam on the brakes to make the maneuver. One time our driver had to back up and into a driveway to get out of the way. The 30 mile trip on these roads took over an hour, but we weren't in any hurry.