Rannoch Moor, Scotland

Scotland - Part 1 - Glasgow to Fort William
The Mid-West of Scotland
Having read the Travelling blog from last time, I'm sure readers will understand my delay in getting this blog up. My wife Norma and I spent two plus weeks in Scotland as a 40th wedding year extravaganza, flying to Glasgow, Scotland from Halifax, NS and then driving from Glasgow to Fort William for the first couple of days of our journey. We had been planning for this trip for a year or more, and part of the planning included downloading a Scotland map on my GPS - a Nuvi 3597 we call Samantha, as that's the voice we chose. This little instrument is a life-saver (or marriage-saver as my wife often says) as the unit can tell you what lane to be in and how to proceed along the roadways with the least amount of traffic and hassle. Norma likes to follow along on a big map, and so off we went - on the left, which I was a bit used to having driven in the Turks and Caicos.
Leaving Glasgow, the drive was along first a pretty section of the Trossachs National Park, and then along Loch Lomond. We then drove through the Rannoch Moor area, which will be familiar to James Bond fans as the home location of Skyfall - a beautiful moor with huge hills in the background. We drove past the haunting Glencoe area and stopped at the Park Interpretive center there and learned of the massacre, had lunch and then went on to Fort William. While in Fort William the next day, we took the Jacobite Express train out to Mallaig. A friend had tipped us off to this, and it was wonderful. We rode the old coal fired steam train (and Harry Potter fans will recognize the scene immediately), rumbling over the Glenfinnan Viaduct and past Dumbeldore's burial site in Loch Eilt. We had lunch at Mallaig and took in the sights of the beautiful harbour and then rode back to Fort William, complete with a serving of tea and biscuits. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone in the area. We stayed another night in Fort William and then headed for Loch Ness and Inverness, which will be the blog next week.
Crofter's Hut

Fort William

Glencoe
Glenfinnan Viaduct
Loch Eilt - Dumbeldore's Burial Site
Loch Lomond
Mallaig