Scotland Day 8

The Jacobite Steam Train, along with being featured in Harry Potter, is considered one of the top ten most scenic routes in the world. It is also one of the top recommended activties in Scotland according to the offcial tourism board of the country. Needless to say, this is something that Abigail wanted to do from the get go, and it is why we jumped off in Fort William in the first place. However, we discovered that the line between Fort William and Malig that the steam train runs on is also a regular service line. As the ticket guy said "Same track, same speed, same scenery, half the price." So we did that and saved money (we also took the regular train because it fit our time table better). So was the train ride scenic? I'll let you be the judge:






We arrived in Malig and bought our tickets for the ferry, because we were going back over to Isle of Skye. We had an hour and half before the Ferry left so we explored Malig for all it had to offer . .which wasn't much. As you can see it is a bit of a small town.

Now the reason for going back to Skye was to go to Armdale. The tour books described it as a ruined Castle with gardens in and around it. I had always imagined something like Dunnottar only with gardens growing in the ruined buildings. However the extent of the garden castle combination was this

The rest of the ruined castle (which again was more of a mansion than a castle) was completely closed off. There was a nice garden around the castle though, if gardens are your thing, and it was a bit picturesque.

They also had a musuem about life on the Scotish Islands, but overall Abigail and I were just a bit disappointed with the Armdale experience (still glad we came out here though, if anything just for train and ferry rides). After we got our fill of Armdale we went back to Malig and after taking the train back (sitting on the opposite side of course) we got back to Fort William. The train station was right next to a Morrison's (grocery store) so we got some of the British food we knew we wanted to take back (like Lemon Fanta!) . After dropping the food of at the hostel we went out to eat. We ate at a restraunt, that unbeknowest to use was a tourist haven, but the food was good so we didn't mind. After that we went to McTavish Kitchens for desert. McTavish kitchens is one of those places that all travel guides say "This is a tourist trap, but you should go anyway". The trap part is that they have overpriced food and every night they have traditional Scotish music and dancing. Abigial and I both thought that sounded cool so we went for it. We were both expecting a lot of bagpipes. However, the majority of the music featured an accordian. I am fairly confident that is not a traditional Scotish instrament. When the bagpiper was playing (a third of the time) or the guy was singing ( a third of the time) it was alright, but the other third was nothing but solo accordian music. Neither Abigail or I could take it so we left a little early, and that ends day eight.