Great British Railway Journeys - The West Highland Line to Mallaig

Michael Portillo's BBC2 series "Great British Railway Journeys" came to an end this week. It was such a nice half hour programme to watch in the early evening before dinner. The latest trip was around the west of Scotland and the last episode of all was from Fort William to the port of Mallaig. This was part of the West Highland Line that was voted the world's greatest rail journey in an independent travel magazine. This final stretch of the line goes over the world's first concrete viaduct at Glenfinnan where Michael is filmed with his head stuck out of the window. It is also notable for the Harry Potter movies where the Hogwarts Express is on it's way north.

But it will be for ever in our memory as we watched it from the road on our way last summer from Fort William to Mallaig where we caught the ferry to The Isle of Skye. Michael Portillo was filmed at the end of the last programme on the same ferry after a short visit to Mallaig itself. We missed the first ferry and therefore had time to wander around the harbour on what was a lovely sunny day. We managed to have a leisurely lunch before a crossing that was so beautiful in the sunshine. We were very lucky.