To Mallaig by rail and Mull by sea

We decided to spend our only full day at Glen Nevis taking the train from Fort William to Mallaig. This is one of the prettiest train rides in the country, passing over the famous Glenfinnan viaduct. Unfortunately , the Jacobite steam train is not wheelchair accessible, but the regular, Great Western Railway service travels the same tracks at a fraction of the price. It made a change from driving and I enjoyed being able to look at the view rather than the road. Racheal always enjoys a train journey and we were able to describe the scenery to her. The lovely conductors also pointed a few things out on the route, and were very attentive to Racheal’s accessibility needs.

In Mallaig we visited the small museum then bumped into a German girl we had met at the youth hostel. She was travelling alone, hostelling for the first time, so we invited her to join us for coffee at a café. We all sat together for the return journey on the train and then gave her a lift back to the youth hostel. As we got back it started to rain again.

Racheal has enjoyed helping us cook in many of the places we’ve stayed, but Glen Nevis youth hostel kitchen was not really accessible so Racheal and I sat in the dining room while Summer prepared a meal. Because of the rain, we didn’t load anything into the car that evening. We usually put what we can in the car the night before we leave so that we can get away promptly in the morning. So the next day when we left to drive to Oban, we had everything to put in the car, and it was still raining. It did stop in time for us to stand on the bridge over the River Nevis and listen to the water rushing beneath. Racheal definitely enjoys the sound of fast moving water and, as Summer said - we got Racheal as far up Ben Nevis as we could!

With the rain stopped, we had a pleasant drive to Oban where we had lunch in Tesco, and stocked up on provisions. However, by the time we left it was pouring with rain again and we couldn’t wait for it to pass over as we had a ferry to catch to Mull. We got to the ferry terminal with only a couple of minutes to spare before check-in closed. There had been some misunderstanding about our access requirements, the staff on the ferry thinking we needed extra space at the side of the car rather than the rear. This meant we had to move the car and squash between two other vehicles in order to get the rear access and I couldn’t get out of the car! Eventually, after a bit of shuffling, I managed to get just enough space to open my door and squeeze out. Meanwhile, Summer had managed to take the trolley out of the back of the car, get Racheal out and put the trolley back secured for the crossing. It was all quite an adventure. There was lots to see on the ferry crossing as there is almost always land in sight as it weaves between mainland Scotland, Kererra, Lismore and Mull.

The hour’s drive from Craignure to our yurt in Ardtun took us through beautiful sunshine and heavy showers. The views were stunning despite the weather. This was an A road which comprised mostly of single track road with passing places, something we’ve seen a lot of in Scotland. We found our yurt along an uneven track, through a gate and across a field with three sheep in it. We managed to get everything unloaded in the dry just before another heavy downpour.