Mallaig

Last weekend I rode the Harry Potter Express (the Scenic Route) over the bridge that is always featured in the movie! The train ride to Mallaig was quite long and half way through it went dark outside so reading a book was the only thing to keep me sane! Arriving in Mallaig around 5:30pm was disconcerting because no one was around and the shops were all closed not even the bars were open yet! Emily and I go off in search of our hostel and discover it on the second floor of the cute little cafe. We are shown to our room and because it is off season we get the room to ourselves which is a really nice change of pace for us.

Mallaig is a little fishing village on the northwest of Scotland. Its the cutest little port town I have seen. Once Emily and I settle into our surroundings we go see what the town has to offer us. Once we step outside the hostel we realize that nothing is open still. We walk up and down the one road town and wait for 6 to come around so that restaurants/bars open so we can eat some fish! Fish n Chips in a fishing port is the way to go. That was one of the best tea's (dinner) I have eaten in Scotland! After dinner we decide to see where everyone else in the town hang out. We quickly discover that there is only 20 people out all over little town. Ridiculous? I think so. We decided to stop in at a bar that looked like there were more then 3 people in it including the bar tender. When we step into the bar everyone stops talking and just gawk at us. then one of the fishermen shouts "Hey your not from around here!" (No poop Sherlock) But we stay and chat with the fishermen and watch a game of pool.

At one point the subject of why we are here comes up and we say we were hoping to go to the Islands of Skye but because of the Ferry and the weather we are not able to complete our goal. One of the fishermen say "Well why not just join us! We are heading to Skye to drop off some fish and then coming back tomorrow. You are more than welcome to join us." Unfortunately we had to turn them down because they couldn't be sure if they would get back the next day before the train would leave. Even so we were flabbergasted that this fishermen actually offered to take us over and let us stay in the spare cabin (with a lock on the door) and have a free meal or too prepared by the cook on the ship.

The next day after getting a lovely breakfast we decide to take a walk. Unbeknown to us, the walk consists of walking through wonderful scenery, mountains (which we climb), and wading through a swamp to get to a beautiful loch. The markers to help us find our way to the loch was "sparsely" placed. Once you found a marker you saw the next marker on the skyline in the far distance. Good eyesight was a must on this crazy walk. We saw sheep! The walk took us through people's personal property but because of the glorious laws of Scotland there is no such thing as trespassing. You can definitely go explore all over the place in Scotland, just leave the gate how you found it so the animals don't get out! The picture below is the end result of the walk!