SCOTLAND - In search of the Hogwarts Express

I should be starting this post by telling you all about my journey to Scotland on the Caledonian Sleeper. Starting from Euston, dining on Haggis, Neeps and Tatties in the restaurant car before retiring to my cabin with ensuite facilities for a good nights sleep. I would then tell you how I woke up as the train travelled though the Scottish mountains and had a lovely cooked breakfast before arriving in Fort William.  In reality it was anything but ........

Scotland has recently experienced some horrendous weather and with two main railway lines already closed due to weather related incidents noone was taking any chances when two days of very heavy rain were forecasted. On Sunday night the Fort William sleeper was cancelled. I was given the opportunity of travelling to Edinburgh and then forward by coach but with better weather expected on Monday, I asked if I could change my booking to the following evening.

By Monday morning a landslide had blocked the West Highland Line and nothing was going to Fort William from the south. So on Monday night I travelled by sleeper to Motherwell from where the final 4.5 hours of the 13 hour journey were to be done by coach.  I really could have done with the Hogwarts Express to magically bring me up here!

I arrived, tired and fed up, but I'm here and it's stopped raining so lets get on with the trip.

With two trains stranded on the Fort William side of the landslide, a normal service was running on the West Highland Extension Line to Mallaig so I dropped my rucksack at the hotel and caught the midday train as far as Glenfinnan.

Class 156 "Sprinter" at Glenfinnan

Glenfinnan sits at one end of Loch Shiel and is where  Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard and started the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion which aimed to overthrow the Hanovarian King George II and return the Stuart dynasty to the throne.

Monument to those who fought in the Jacobite Uprisings

Glenfinnan really is such a lovely spot

Of course for anyone who is not a Scot, Glenfinnan has a much more important claim to fame. It is the site of the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Built by Sir Robert McAlpine (Concrete Bob) and his team it, is the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland. 

So why is a concrete viaduct over a valley in Scotland world famous? Well it has featured in the Harry Potter films with the Howarts Express crossing it and in the second film Ron and Harry chase after the train, over the viaduct, in Mr Weasley's flying car. In the Muggle world Scotrail run four return trains a day using the Class 156 Sprinters in the picture above. But those of us with special magic powers can also see the Hogwarts Express make two daily return trips in summer