What one sees when exiting the ferry.

The crossing from Armadale to Mallaig was a short one.  It was a long haul out of the ferry then plenty of time before the train down to Fort William. Trouble was the really cute train station was not open so my already limited ability to explore was hampered further by needing to lug the stupid squeaky suitcase as well as my knapsack with incredibly heavy laptop and my Moop bag which carries more than I should be. Well it wouldn’t if I didn’t cram it full of every possible outerwear contingency plan.

Now this is a rock garden. I ate across the street from this.

Well, there looks to be many places to eat in Maillaig but I went with the closest one with fewest stairs and was quite glad.  I mostly remember that I had a window view of the town and fish caught right there that day. A real treat for a Pittsburgher.

Then to wait for the train with the others. Of course I don’t have photos of the main point of this – the landscape the train travels through – but fortunately a man called Doc Brown Does. Actually he went from below Glasgow up to Mallaig but if you were to scroll all the way down to the bottom of his page then start from the bottom up ’til you get to Ft. William and then stop, you would see what I saw. http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/scotland/sspage25.htm. Now I will include this link on my next post as the rest of it is what I saw the next day. Plus he seems to know the place names that I didn’t. I traveled with my map but still wasn’t always sure. I especially like that he includes the little train stations.

The closed train station. Fortunately the weather was dry as there wasn’t much cover where we waited on the tracks.

Then a taxi to the Hostel.  And as my legs were done for the day I stayed in for the night. I must have carried something with me to eat Because I remember using the kitchen, and I remember trying to use the wifi which seemed to be available in one place and to one person at  time.  But I mostly remember the great pair of young women who were my room mates. Firstly because the one offered me her bed. I don’t know if it was the look on my face when I saw the long ladder to the top bunk that was available or my age or my I had the cane very visible. In any case I got the single bed by the window and enjoyed a bit of talk with these travelers from Australia and new Zealand who were living here for a couple of years, before they went to dinner and I went to bed even though it was quite light out still. It had been quite  day.

Entrance to the Hostel in Fort William

My arty picture of the wall next to the hostel