Jacobite Steam Train Tour Glenfinnan to Mallaig

The train everyone photographs, from the places the photographs are taken. A private day from Inverness to Glenfinnan, Arisaig and Mallaig, built around the Jacobite timetable so you are on the hillside before the good ground goes. One sighting at the viaduct is promised and two or three are likely, because the train stops and we do not. This is a photography day rather than a train ride - no ticket needed, and no queue for one. Loch Shiel from the monument, the silver sands at Camusdarach, and the harbour at Mallaig where the road west runs out. One group per day, in a fully electric car.

1. 1

   Glenfinnan Viaduct

   1.5 hours

   On the hillside a long time before it comes, because the spot fills and the shot is only worth having from there. Twenty-one arches on a curve, and a steam train crossing them. We walk up early and wait, because the good ground goes to whoever got there first and there is no talking your way onto it afterwards. The train is timetabled, so we know when it is due; what we cannot promise is that it is running to time, and on a bad day it is twenty minutes late and nobody minds.

2. 2

   Glenfinnan Monument

   45 min

   Everyone comes for the viaduct and leaves without walking the two hundred yards to the monument, which stands at the head of Loch Shiel where the standard was raised in 1745. The loch runs seventeen miles south-west from it between the hills. It is the better view and it is almost always emptier.

3. 3

   Jacobite Steam Train

   45 min

   The train stops at Glenfinnan and we do not, which is the whole trick: while it is sitting at the platform we are on the road west, and there is time to be standing at Loch nan Uamh before it comes past. Whether we make it depends on how fast you are back to the car and whether the train is on time. We will tell you at Glenfinnan which it is going to be rather than promising it in advance.

4. 4

   Arisaig

   45 min

   White shell sand, and Eigg and Rum sitting on the horizon.

5. 5

   Camusdarach Beach

   1 hour

   A path over the dunes and no sign telling you what it is. The silver sands, and the reason this coast is worth an afternoon rather than a photograph. Shell sand, machair behind it, and the Small Isles across the water. There is no car park worth the name and no sign, which is why it is usually empty at four in the afternoon in August.

6. 6

   Mallaig

   1.5 hours

   Where the road ends. Langoustines on the harbour if the boats have been out. A working fishing port that happens to be where the road west finally stops. The train terminates here too, so if the timing has gone well you can watch it come in. Lunch is on the harbour, and the langoustines depend entirely on whether the boats went out that morning.

7. 7

   Loch Eilt

   Pass by

   On the way home, and the light is usually better on it by then.

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.