Day 50 – July 8, 2025 – Portree to Oban, Scotland
We had another great breakfast from Lance and then headed out about 9:30 am to head to Fort William to catch the Jacobite Steam train. The drive was about 2 ½ hours from Portree and we stopped along the way at some scenic spots for pictures. We arrived in Fort William and easily found parking. John and Vance headed towards the train station while Michelle and I hit the Lidl to grab stuff for sandwiches as we didn’t know exactly what food, if any, we would get on the train.
The West Highland Railway Line goes 42 miles from Fort William west to the ferry port at Mallaig. One of the steam engines and some of the coaches were used in the Harry Potter films and has some beautiful scenery along the way. Because we booked first-class tickets, we had a bottle of champagne and some scotch at our table. Along the way, the train stopped for about 20 minutes at the Glenfinnan Station, just after the viaduct, which you see in the movies, and then to Mallaig where we had almost 2 hours before heading back to Fort William.
Mallaig is VERY small, so we walked into a couple of the shops and then went to The Tea Garden and John got some prawns and a beer. Of course, it started spitting, which seems to be the case in Scotland (lol!) after our morning and the drive to Fort William was bright and sunny. We then hit up the ice cream shop, walked around a little bit more and then headed to the train a little early to get out of the rain. The ride back was pleasant, and we enjoyed the whole trip.
Once back in Fort William, we headed back to the car and our ride to Oban was about an hour. We checked into the Ranald Hotel and then headed about two doors down to The Lorne for a bite to eat. It was 8:45 pm when we got there and they close the kitchen at 9 but were kind enough to seat us and we were able to eat, though they had sold out of much of their menu. John and I shared the steak pie along with a beer and Michelle and Vance had the haddock. We had another drink after the meal just to unwind and then did a little walking afterwards since we sat most of the day. It was still light at 10 pm, so it was nice to get a decent walk in.
We called it a night and will meet for breakfast in the morning. There is not much to see in Oban so looking forward to kind of a down day. I know the boys want to hit up the Oban Distillery and then there are few castle ruins we may go see just to get some walking around down. Another great day!
