Arisaig 2026 11: Arisaig to Glenfinnan

Moving on to the Thursday of my Scottish holiday, with an account of a train journey from Arisaig to Glenfinnan.

My account of Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th) moves on to the Thursday. This is the first of a number of posts about was originally the only day for which we had nothing planned.

A LATE ADAPTATION

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the weather that we had been led to believe was going to blight the Thursday actually showed up a day early. The Thursday by contrast was comparatively benign, so we decided to go out after all. We opted to make the train journey from Arisaig to Glenfinnan and back and do some exploring at Glenfinnan. There was a train heading east from Arisaig at 10:27 (the same train that my return journey from holiday would begin on two days later). It is policy at Arisaig that although all doors could safely be opened they only have one set operational, but we were able to board without too much difficulty. There are two stations between Arisaig and Glenfinnan, but Beasdale and Loch Ailort are both request stops, so we might very well have had an unbroken run. We arrived into Glenfinnan just in time to overlap with the westbound Jacobite Express.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is the gallery:

My first picture from inside the train – the entire steam train planter.

Arisaig 2026 10: The Isle of Muck

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the Wednesday, when we visited the Isle of Muck.

I have completed my coverage of the events of the Tuesday of my Scottish holiday (May 30th – June 6th), so now turn my attention to the Wednesday. On that day we visited the Isle of Muck, which entailed catching a boat from Arisaig.

THE ISLE OF MUCK

The Isle of Muck is one four small isles very close to one another in the Inner Hebrides. It is the third of the four I have visited, having visited Eigg on a previous holiday, and Canna, as detailed in recent posts, earlier in this holiday. The odd one out is the mountainous Isle of Rum which I saw from Muck in the course of this day. The weather let us down on this day – the forecasts had indicated that the Thursday was due to be vile and we had planned accordingly, but it was actually the Wednesday that was the worst day of the week weather wise.

We did at least time our activities on the island well, going walking first and then sampling the pub later, which meant we were outside for the only dry spell of the day, and under cover for the very worst of the wet stuff.

It was worth making the journey, though unlike Canna, which I saw less of than I would have liked to, I would not particularly want to go again.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photos from this trip…

A slightly unfortunate spelling of this name – had they gone ‘Shearwater’ they would have shared their name with a sea bird.
A wildlife guide on the boat.

Arisaig 2026 9: Canna General

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the island of Canna and the return journey to Arisaig.

Yesterday in my series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th) I dealt with the grounds of Canna House. Today I conclude my coverage of the Tuesday.

THE ISLAND OF CANNA

Canna is a beautiful little island and we only saw some of it – the grounds of Canna House were as far as we got, meaning that much, including the main church and an important bridge escaped us. We found out not long after landing that the cafe was closed, but the shop, which operates an ‘honesty box’ principle was open, and there were tea and coffee making facilities there. We also saw a very curious little church – it was utterly devoid of any kind of embellishment, and had no altar, just a large pulpit from which the preaching would be done. There was some interesting bird life. The journey back did not feature any go-slows for wildlife, but there were still a few things to see.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is my gallery for this post…

The outside of the tiny church mentioned in the text.
The gateway to the churchyard
Standing alone in the churchyard, a Celtic cross grave.
Inside the church.
A view of the outside of the church.
The map on a t-shirt I bought from the shop.
Oystercatchers in numbers (several pictures)
A large corvid with a silver patch on its upper back.
The bridge
I could not work out what species these birds were.
I have included six pictures of the Jacobite Express.
These last few pictures feature Morar, the only place of significance between Mallaig and Arisaig.

Arisaig 2026 8: The Grounds of Canna House

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the grounds of Canna House.

My most recent post in this series about my Scottish holiday (May 30th to June 6th) covered the outbound voyage to Canna, which was run as a wildlife cruise. This post now deals with the only special activity we had time for on the island.

CANNA HOUSE

Canna House is now owned by the National Trust. One can only go into the house if one books a tour, which we did not have time for. The grounds however are freely accessible, and feature a lot of interesting stuff. The gardens feature a lot of food plants, and there is some interesting historical stuff to be seen as well.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the photographs for this post…

This was the first of a number of ‘information trays’ that found within….
…this structure, which challenged visitors to look inside in a way that I just had to respond to.
Ancient stonework preserved in the grounds of Canna House (three pictures)
An excellent view of the front of Canna House.

Arisaig 7: Wildlife Cruise to Canna

Continuing my series about my Scottish holiday with a look at the journey to the Isle of Canna.

We have reached the Tuesday of my holiday in Scotland (May 30th to June 6th), which featured a trip to the Isle of Canna. This post is the first of three about the day, with the grounds of Canna House getting a post to themselves and also a general post about Canna and the return journey.

THE WAY THE TRIP WORKED

The boat for Canna runs from Mallaig, eight miles north of where we were staying, and the outbound trip from Mallaig to Canna was the ‘wildlife cruise’ element, with a professional wildlife spotter on board, and several go slows for good sightings. We then had a short time on the island and a swift return journey to Mallaig.

FROM THE COTTAGE TO CANNA

We had a straightforward journey to Mallaig, and boarded our boat in good time. The voyage out was magnificent. I have touched briefly on it in two previous posts, one covering a minke whale sighting and one about some of the best wildlife I saw during this holiday. The sea was calm that day, and there was much to savour.

PHOTOGRAPHS

With a reminder that individual photographs can be viewed at larger size by clicking on them here is the full gallery for the outbound voyage.

The wildlife spotter card (two pictures as it is double sided)
The best of the puffin pictures.
The minke whale
arriving at Canna.

Arisaig 2026 6: The Monday

A look at the cottage we stayed in and its surrounding area, featuring pictures from among others three walks that I took on the Monday.

I am now back from my Scottish sojourn, though I have a large amount of photo editing still to do. I put out a few small posts while in Scotland, though have not put anything up since Thursday. I now resume chronological coverage of the week, going back to my second full day in the area, the Monday. My parents had to go to Fort William and back, and had to do so by car, because the most important thing they had to do was set for a specific time that was enough to rule out the train journey. I opted to stay at our cottage, and was left with the key so that I could go walking if the weather allowed.

THREE WALKS

My first walk started at 11:30AM after a couple of false starts, when opening the front door revealed that the rain had not in fact abated. I was out for an hour and a half on this walk, and did not get wet. I walked in an unfamiliar direction and got as far as Traigh Golf Course before I decided to return. For my second walk I took the second unfamiliar road and followed it for a while before turning back. The third walk followed the route of the first as far as the river crossing before I returned. Two of the pictures that featured in the ‘wildlife feature‘ post were taken during these walks, and in the gallery that follows you will see another of these pictures, taken through my kitchen window.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The walk pictures start with this one.
The last walk picture.

Arisaig 2026 5: Overlapping with the Jacobite Express

Some pictures of the Jacobite Express as it leaves Mallaig on the return run to Fort William.

On the way back from Mallaig after our return crossing from Canna yesterday we overlapped with the departure from that station of the Jacobite Express making its return run to Fort William. I capture a very short video which is below and a few photographs. For an account of what the actual journey is like start with this post from 2017 and read the next few as well.

Remember that to view photos at larger size you need to click on them.

Arisaig 2026 4: Wildlife Feature

A look at some of the creatures I have been privileged to see here in the wild west of Scotland.

There is some amazing wildlife to be seen in the wild west of Scotland, and this post shows of some of my favourites so far. Most are from today’s Canna Puffin Cruise including the Minke whale that has already had its own post.

WILDLIFE PHOTOS

I will again display one by one:

I displayed this one as part of my gallery for the Mingary Castle post – it shows four alpacas and two sheep.

I saw this splendid wading bird while out walking in the vicinity of our cottage yesterday.

I also saw these two splendid equines while on a local walk.

These two pictures, one cropped but not edited, and the other edited show a large deer that was near our kitchen window.

Four sea birds flying nearly in parallel

Close focus on the three birds flying closest together.

Four puffins in the sea – the leftmost bird shows the characteristic bright coloured bill.

Two puffins in the sea. The colouring of the birds is very obvious in this picture.

Four guillemots make their presence felt.

Four guillemots, one with wings outspread.

Closer focus on the guillemot with spread wings.

The Minke whale showing itself – the people who run these cruises recognize this as a great photograph (I have emailed them).

Four guillemots

A huge corvid, tentatively identified courtesy of Mastodon as a hooded crow perches on a fence post on Canna.

A pair of ducks of some species or other that like the far north – the one on te left with the elaborate colours and markings is clearly the male.

Two black and white (with a hint of gold) beauties, taken just before leaving Canna.

Arisaig 2026 3: Minke Whale Lights up Canna Cruise

A post dedicated to a Minke Whale sighting during today’s ‘Canna Puffin Cruise’, where I was doubly lucky: 1) to be on it at all and 2) to manage to get photographs of the whale.

Earlier today I had the good fortune to go on today’s “Canna Puffin Cruise” during the course of which a Minke whale appeared above the waves on a few occasions, and I captured the evidence on camera. What follows is a short series of pictures…

The first, less good picture:

In the front of this shot part of the rump of Minke whale can be seen just above the surface of the water. Nearby two tiny puffins look on. This was somewhere between Mallaig and Canna.
Close up extracted from the first picture showing the whale rump and the two puffins looking on.
The mid-portion of a Minke whale including the dorsal fin appears above the sea somewhere between Mallaig and the Isle of Canna. Unedited original.
A closer crop showing the whale and a cliff in the distance.
Edited version of the above picture
A different edit of the same picture
Another crop
An edited version of the second crop
A different edit of the same crop

Another crop

An edited version of the final crop.

An edited version of the final crop.

I will be producing more posts about this day, including a ‘wildlife highlights package’, but just to get things started I have opted to give the Minke whale a post all to itself.

Arisaig 2026 2: The Big Day

My second post in the series about my holiday in Arisaig, dealing with my birthday itself.

Welcome to post two in my series about this year’s holiday. My birthday this year (the same number birthday that Bilbo Baggins missed due to other events on the day of his arrival by barrel at the shore of the Long Lake) fell on a Sunday. The birthday meal was booked for Mingary Castle (there is also a Mingarry that has a good restaurant, but we were going to Mingary, we where we had eaten last year) at 1PM. Therefore we set off at 11AM.

THE OUTWARD JOURNEY

To get from Arisaig to Mingary Castle we had to go east, south and then west rather further than we had started, since this castle is quite near the western end of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. Along the way we crossed the river Shiel by a stone bridge that I remembered with crystal clarity from an earlier Scottish sojourn. We then had a long run west along the northern shore of Loch Sunart, passing Salen (a place I first saw way back in 1993), Glenborrodale, site of a nature reserve, the Ardnamurchan distillery, and sundry viewpoints. The turn off for Mingary Castle is just east of (i.e before) Kilchoan, and we arrived there in good time, but not ridiculously early.

THE MEAL

It did not take long to identify two courses I wished to eat (a pork terrine starter and slow cooked beef with Yorkshire pudding, carrot, broccoli and triple cooked potatoes) and a suitable beverage to accompany them (Dark Mile, brewed by the local Glenspean brewery). The food was excellent, and the surroundings pleasant (I was one of at least three people that day who had come for a birthday meal). After I had finished I did some walking around outside the castle and got some photographs.

THE JOURNEY HOME

We went home by the same route we had come, which enabled me to get pictures of places I had missed on the way out (I sat in the same seat, the non-driver’s side rear seat, for both journeys, so was facing opposite sides of the road each way). Thus as you will see from the gallery the outbound journey was light on pictures from Loch Moidart, which was on the wrong side of me that way, and heavy on pictures from Loch Sunart, while the homeward journey was the reverse.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The crossing of the river Shiel on the outbound journey – only the third picture I took because I was on the wrong side for most of the good early scenery.
Mingary Castle
These woolly creatures are not the local sheep – I reckon they are alpacas, and as such a long way from their native Andes.
Here as well as the possible alpacas there are two ordinary sheep for comparison purposes.
The images from the drive back start here.
The Bridge of the River Shiel – compare how many pictures there are still to come with how few there were before the first picture of this crossing.
A couple of pictures of parts of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
Beasdale is such a minor station that is actually a ‘request stop’ – if you intend to alight there you must notify the conductor.