Chasing the train (Saturday, Sept. 19)

Saturday was a busy day, and we have a lot to report, but because I was feeling rough, I went to bed last night rather than blogging! 

Briefly, here's what we did:

• Drove to Glenfinnan so we could position ourselves along with lots of other crazy people on an overlook with a view of the Glenfinnan viaduct so that we could see the Jacobite steam train go by. We queued up on the hilltop for about 30 minutes, and the train went by in less than 1 minute!
• From there we headed along the train's route for a while, catching glimpses of it on the track. We turned off toward Morar, a coastal area, where the beaches are amazing. Smoky got some great photos (see below). We had not expected white sand beaches in Scotland, so this was a pleasant surprise.
• After the beach, we drove a circular route around another part of the Highlands, very remote, with the goal being to find Castle Tioram on Loch Moidart. This was a very hard castle to find, requiring retracing our route, asking for help, and driving the narrowest, holiest one-lane road so far. The end result was very interesting. More later on this.

We also had our first ferry ride to get back to the Glencoe area. All in all, a nice day, even if I felt terrible.

And here are Smoky's pictures:

Jacobite Steam Train chugging over Glenfinnan viaduct.

Sand detail on beautiful Scottish beach.

Oyster catcher on beach.

Sea gull on post across
 from beach.

Castle Tioram.

Castle Tioram on Loch Moidart, low tide.

--Shann