Modes of Transport, or Day 26 in Portree, Armadale, Maillag, and Fort William

Alex and I needed to get from Portree, on the northern half of Skye, to Fort William, about 150 miles away. We started with a bus, to get to Armadale, the port on the southern side of Skye.

We were supposed to get into town center a bit early for some shopping, but we got there right before the bus was about to leave, so we just hopped on instead.

It was a good final tour to see Skye, and we were both lulled by the movement of the bus. Even with the gorgeous scenery and impressive mountains, there is something about a moving vehicle that puts me to sleep.

We got to Armadale ten minutes before the ferry, so bought our (pretty cheap, $8) tickets across to Maillag on the "mainland" (or Britain proper). Alex "made" me sit outside in the wind, but that was one of the few times I had to put my fleece jacket on today! Otherwise, it was a remarkably sunny day.

The point of getting to Maillag was to take the Jacobite Steamer to Fort William. It is an actual steam engine, which some folks might be excited about, as well as the train that is featured in the Harry Potter movies as the Hogwarts Express, which some other folks might be excited about.

We didn't get tickets ahead of time, but got some seats on the way back into Fort William. It is good we were going that direction, because apparently some people going from Fort William to Maillag that morning couldn't get seats or tickets!

After having our lunch at Maillag (though not the intense prawn dish we saw coming out of the kitchen), we sat on the train across from a couple from Minnesota. They had to stand on the way to Maillag, so were happy to be able to sit. They also alerted us of closing the windows during tunnels to prevent the cars from filling with smoke. When we left the tunnels, the windows were all fogged us with, you guessed it, steam! The ash flying in the window got a bit taxing on my throat, but the chugging made it feel like a real train.

We got to Fort William, and we were set to meet our Couchsurfing host at 6, so we wandered High Street (their pedestrian thoroughfare) for a bit. We asked at the tourist information center about hiking up Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, and got some good information about that and our other options.

We next went to the pub, had a drink with one of our hosts, and headed up the big hill to their flat. There were another two girls staying there as well, but a mix-up had them heading over to his friends' place instead. We had a chatty, interesting evening, watching some bad TV and talking about American/Scottish differences. Then, it was off to sleep on the couches with Sooty, the cat.