Friday, August 20, 2010

A Cloudy Skye


A two-car Class 158
Kyle of Lochalsh Station
The Skye Bridge
En route to Broadford
We took our first ride along the railway line between Inverness and the Kyle of Lochalsh during our Scottish holiday and, although the day was probably the worst of the holiday, in terms of the weather, it was still a fantastic journey - albeit on a cramped Class 158.
Now maybe it was the less than clement weather but, I have to say, I thought the station at Kyle, together with its immediate environs, was mildly depressing and a bit of a disappointment after such a spectacular train ride to get there. It all looked somewhat untidy and rather run down which, for the destination at the end of what is, reputedly, one of the best railway journeys in the world, was a bit of a let down. 
Maybe if the sun had been shining and we weren't being chilled by a cold wind directly off the Sea of the Hebrides we might have felt a little different.
Anyway, with no car and only a few hours to kill before the return journey, we took a bus ride across the new bridge as far as Broadford where we had our lunch and paid a visit to the Skye Serpentarium, a small but excellent place to visit. 
The star attraction for us being Chico the iguana, a real cool guy who looked totally chilled otu and relaxed. Yes I think he and I would have gotten along very well indeed! I wanted to take his picture but, sadly, photography was not permitted.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! I used to work for BR and one of its successors and have happy memories of a journey from Fort William south. It was, and I guess still is, the earliest in this country one could occupy a sleeper berth and the other delight was High Tea served as we cruised the banks of Loch Lomond and then the Clyde.

    I wondered if there was any chance you'd consider linking back to my railway blog, please?

    http://derwentmidland.blogspot.com/

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  2. Hi Micky, Thank you for your comment and I have yet to travel on the line between Fort William and Glasgow but I know that it is a quite spectacular route. I would very much like to travel along it by sleeper train one day.

    Yes, I will definitely link to your blog, no problem.

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