Mallaig - Isle of Skye

 After watching the Jacobite steam train, we were ready to take the journey ourselves. For a mere 30£ each, Wendy, Mom and I got tickets on Scotrail - the regular train - compared to around 100£ each on the Jacobite. Same four seats around a table, just not as iconic. Actually, the regular train also has better emissions than the steam train, which fills the air with those billows of smoky steam. 

It was a rainy day, so our views (and pictures) out the window were a bit murky. But we did get to see the famous viaduct. 

And passed Glenfinnan:

Mallaig

Mallaig is a cute little coastal town with a big port. 

We watched them loading huge bags onto boats - later finding out that the bags contained salmon pellet food, so they were destined for offshore salmon farms. 

Finally it was time to board our ferry for the short trip north to the Isle of Skye:

We landed at Armadale with only a few hours and no car, so we walked down the road to Armadale Castle (we just went to the visitor center) and then found a lovely nature trail. The island wasn't all that exciting - we kind of wondered what all the fuss was about. 

Visitor center, where we bought some quite nice gifts to bring home. 

Nature trail:

Our return ferry was smaller and we sat outside. 

This poodle was absolutely adorable - he entertained everyone around for much of the crossing. 

We stopped for a late lunch, wandered around the cute town with a Diagon Alley, and headed back on the train.

One of the best parts of the trip was meeting a lovely young woman on the train back. We chatted almost all the way back.