My trip to the Highlands

My stay at the Victorian House in Glasgow was nice, but I was glad to be done of all the stairs and the steep hill. After breakfast, I made my long trip to the train station for the last time. On Sunday night, when I went to the ticket counter, the woman I talked to turns out to be from Fort William, so she was able to give me insight into a few things. The buses (stagecoaches) come to the train station, so that would make it easy. As far as getting around, she advised that buses don't run nearly as often and depending on where I'm going, I would probably have to walk some.

So, on Monday morning I went to the train station and bought a return (round-trip) ticket to Fort William. I had five days to depart, and about thirty days to return. It was a bit expensive, £47.30, but I guess not bad considering it's almost a four hour journey. The train only goes to Fort William three times a day, next one at 12:21 pm, so I sat around for over an hour. It worked out very well that I stopped by a Sainsbury's and bought a cheap cold sandwich and bottle of water, that was my lunch (Sunday evening on the way to church, I bought the same and ate on the seats outside the store). I boarded when it came my time. I wish I had sat facing forwards, but I thought maybe it wouldn't matter too much. Some seats are around a permanent table, and I sat at one of these. Some seats were marked as reserved, some were open. A couple from Canada sat down across from me in their reserved seats. The wife was originally from London, but they had both moved to Victoria, Ontario. She commented that English people think she's American, and Americans (Canadians?) think she's English because of her accent. We chatted for a while, then as the ticket taker came by, he told me I was in the wrong car. Apparently this four car train would be splitting in half at one point, with one half continuing on towards Oban and the other half going to Fort William. So, I had the joy of trying to move all my bags around heavily occupied train cars, while it was moving. Again, I sat backwards (watching where we'd been) but across from some chatty people, including an American couple and an older man from Manchester, England. The Manchester man got off with me at Fort William, but the American couple was continuing on to Maillaig (MAL-ig or MAL-ik). I tried to take some photos of scenery, but either I kept getting trees in the way or my camera would auto-focus on the raindrops on the window and blur the outside, so I gave up for the most part. But oh wow, the scenery was impressive. Tall mountains, lochs, sheep and shetland ponies.

I got to Fort William and tried to get my bearings. Last night I reserved a room at the Spean Bridge Hotel in Spean Bridge, about a fifteen minute bus ride away. I had to wait about an hour and a half for the bus, and...wow. That bus driver was fearless on these double track (two lane) roads. But he let me off right at the hotel, sure enough. Actually a few hundred feet away, so that I didn't see it. But in a happy coincidence (funny how those keep happening), I asked a lady at the bus stop on the other side of the road where the hotel was, and she commented she's the receptionist there and pointed it out a few hundred feet down, and told me to go inside to the bar and find Callum. I did, and he got me my room.

This is a nice room. It's not cramped, and it's a full size bed. And the bathroom is huge. I have a shower AND a tub! I have elbow room, no more showering inside a vertical coffin. So after a nice shower, I went down to the bar and got a haddock and chips, with a small side salad of letttuce, diced red and yellow bell peppers, and cucumbers.

Again with the happy coincidences, I asked Callum the barman about Achnacarry, which is my goal. It's up the road a bit, too far to walk. The Cameron Castle is located there, along with the Cameron Museum, which he said is a little cottage just next to it. The happy coincidence is that he gave me the business card for Al's Taxi. Al lives in town, and will drive me up there, leave, and come back at a time of my choosing. Convenient because Al lives in this little village of Spean Bridge, and because he won't sit idling while I'm playing the tourist. I'll be sure to give him a call. Even if it's £10-12 each way, that's a bargain for paying someone to drive me around while I take photos.

I need to comment about Gaelic (pronounced Gal-ick). It's a very difficult language to pronounce at sight, I don't know all the rules. In Glasgow, the sign out front of the Queen Street station says

Welcome to Glasgow Queen Street station
Failte gu Sraid na Baughrinnin

My Edinburgh friend taught me how to pronounce it. "Falchuh goo stretch na bow-ree": welcome to the street of the queen. Now, I've learned that "ea" is pronounced "ay", so "bean" ("woman") is pronounced "bane". But now...Spean Bridge defies me. It's pronounced "speen". I heard several people  pronounce it "speen". I don't get it.

There seems to be a concerted effort to preserve and promote Gaelic, as a number of signs are printed in English and Gaelic, especially train stops. So for example, on the train trip from Glasgow to Fort William:
Helensburgh Upper - Baile Eilidh Ard
Ardlui - Àird Laoigh
Crianlarich - A' Chrìon Làraich
Upper Tyndrum - Taigh an Droma Uarach
Bridge of Orchy - Drochaid Urchaidh
Rannoch - Raineach
Corrour - Coire Odhar
Tulloch - An Tulach
Roy Bridge - Drochaid Ruaidh
Spean Bridge - Drochaid an Aonachain
Fort William - An Gearasdan

I think it's interesting that the woman from Fort William can't pronounce Gaelic, but my friend in Edinburgh (from the Hebridean islands) can. I'm also happy that I can now tell, for the most part, the difference in an Edinburgher, Glaswegian, and Hebridean accent by hearing it. :)

So, for tomorrow, one of the things I absolutely did not want to miss on this trip: a visit to the ancestral home of Clan Cameron.