Corran Inn is located in the small village of Onich about 8 miles south of Fort William. The Inn is located in front of the ferry terminal that carries cars across Loch Levern.
After a breakfast of freshly-squeezed juice, an array of fresh fruits and crispies or cereals followed by a plate of kippers ( salted sardine-likefish fried in melted butter) and fresh toasts, we drove to Fort William for the day's main agenda....the Harry Potter tran ride!
Raena had prebooked our seats on-line a few months earlier as this is a popular ride for tourists to this region. Our VIP coach is immediately after the steam engine and we were served English tea and scones during the journey.
The Jacobite Steam train travels from Fort William to Mallaig. It is a one and a half hour ride leaving Fort William at 10.20 am to reach Mallaig at about noon. For those not in the know..in the Harry Potter movie, this is the train the children took yearly to the school of witchcrafts and wizardry at Hogwarts.
The train chugged its way along several lochs, through tunnels and between valleys in its slow climb up the mountainous terrain of western Scotland. We first skirted Loch Eil, then stopped at the town of Glenfinnan which sits at a corner of Loch Scheil.
From Glenfinnan the train steamed its way past Loch Lochailfort and then up a steep slope before reaching Arisaig and finally Mallaig. At one point, the train did not have enough steam to power its way up the mountain and it slipped backwards another mile or so to give time to the engineers to put in more coal and get enough steam to cover the steep climb!
Mallaig is a small fishing village on the Atlantic coast of Scotland. From here one can take the ferry that will take you across to the Isles of Skye. We had a 2 hour break here before we boarded the train for the return journey to Fort William. It was time for lunch..so you guessed it right, we headed to the sea-food restaurant of course!
Our lunch of steamed mussels, grilled calamari with mango and avocado salad and pan-fried haddock...yummy!
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