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Published: October 11th 2007
Hostel
MacBackpackers hostel in Ft. William.The following is copied and pasted from my journal, written as soon as I got back from Glenfinnan last week:
Wednesday October 3, 2007 10:48pm
I’m jotting this down quickly before I forget. Left Tuesday 4:50pm for Glasgow. Switched trains (had an hour and a half layover) and got up to Ft. William about 10:00 Tuesday night. Checked into MacBackpackers hostel (bought t-shirt!), went to Grog and Gruel pub, came back to sleep. Got up early, caught 8:30 train to Glenfinnan. Middle of nowhere, but walked down to monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie and Viaduct to take pics. (train on the way there went by Hogwarts Castle sign-bearing red steam train!!! Alas, no pic of this) Saw small camera crew and small security crew on banks of Loch Schiell, assumed documentary was being filmed. Asked. Found out they were actually shooting for Harry Potter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Took loads of pics. Then climbed up hill, waited an hour, took pics of Jacobite steam train crossing viaduct. Hope they come out! Then waited another hour and a half (ate carrot cake, delicious, at gift shop), caught bus back to Ft. William, then shopped (bought backpack on sale) for two hours, ate lunch at
Grog and Gruel again (Scottish salsa weird, pizza strange but yummy), caught train back to Glasgow, then another back to Stirling. Walked home in heavy rain.
I just thought it might be interesting to see what my first recorded thoughts were on that day before elaborating. Fear not, though, elaborate I will. Because we saw a HARRY POTTER site. HARRY POTTER!!!!!
*ahem* But I shall start at the beginning...or rather, close to the beginning, because the train to Ft. William was fairly dull. Ft. William, though, I quite liked (though we didn't see much of it until the next day). It's a smallish town, and not much good according to one of my flatmates, who lives there. But I enjoyed myself walking along their rather short High Street and shopping, although I could see where the shopping would seem limited if you had to travel an hour and a half for more variety.
Glenfinnen was beautiful. Really remote, too...the train station wasn't even manned! I mean it was just a platform in the middle of nowhere, with a sign that said "Glenfinnen this way" or something, but there were only three or four houses there! It was
nice though, just walking down the highway towards the monument, if you like that feeling of independent "aloneness" that is so hard to come by when you live with other people. The monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie was nice, although we didn't climb up to the top (you had to pay, and we decided that the hill we'd climbed up to take pictures of the train had offered a better view for free). The tourist info center was a tourist info center. Watching the train go across was pretty cool...the sound its whistle made echoing through the mountains was one of the creepiest things I've ever heard!
What we saw of the filming was actually quite boring...it was a small crew of about six or eight people trying to get a good shot of a long wooden row-boat pulled up on the shore of the loch. That was it! But it was still very cool 😊
We just missed the train back to Ft.William, but luckily there was a bus coming by soon, so we only had to wait about an hour and a half to catch it instead of six hours for the next train out. At
that point we actually began to appreciate the Tourist Info Center, because nothing makes you realize you ARE a tourist faster than feeling stranded in an unfamiliar area in a foreign country, and the lady working the cash register at the gift shop was very helpful!
But we made it back to Ft. William with no incidents, shopped, and caught the train for Glasgow. Then we (luckily) only had to wait about five minutes before leaving for Stirling, and the trip back would have been perfect if I hadn't had to then walk four blocks back to the flat in the rain. Not the usual light misty drizzle I've seen here...actual rain.
Totally worth it, though. HARRY POTTER!! :O
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