After we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at Viewfield House we packed up the car and headed towards Armadale to catch the ferry to Mallaig. Catching the ferry vs. driving ends up saving you about 3 hours in the car, plus taking the ferry is quite the adventure! We were pretty nervous to take the rental car on the ferry but it ended up being very easy and straightforward! Here is a link to the ferry timetable-Book Ferry.
Once we arrived in Mallaig we had a little less than an hours drive to Glenfinnan. We had considered taking a ride on the Jacobite Steam Train but unfortunately for us it wasn’t running at all the day we were there. Be sure to check out the schedule well in advance if you want to incorporate this into your trip! Next time we’re in Scotland I’d love to experience this ride or at least see the train at the station in Fort Sheridan.
Because we couldn’t see the train we decided to get a little creative with lunch and check out the Glenfinnan Dining Car! This café is located inside a vintage railway dining car perched up on an old train track. It provides a really pretty view along the left side of the car (right side faces the parking lot) so grab yourself a table on the left and snap a few pics! No one would ever know you weren’t in a moving train! As for the food, it’s small café style bites and snacks but everything we had was delicious! I had the mushroom soup with a cheese toasty! Of course we had to end the meal with tea and scones.
Even though the train wasn’t running we knew we couldn’t leave the area without checking out the massively impressive viaduct. The Harry Potter nerd in me just squealed with excitement the second I saw the viaduct (remember the scene where Ron & Harry are driving the flying car to catch the train to Hogwarts?! Yea that’s shot on the viaduct with the Jacobite Steam Train!!!) Even if you aren’t a Harry Potter fan this incredible structure is a must see in Scotland.
After our brief stop at the Viaduct it was back to the car to drive through the Great Glen on our way to Helensburgh! I won’t lie, this was probably the saddest part of the trip. It was rainy and so incredibly foggy during this drive. From what we could see beyond the fog, the rolling hills, mountains and greenery of the highlands were absolutely stunning. There were multiple places where you could pull over for a photo op but between the rain and fog we couldn’t see much. I imagine this drive to be just jaw dropping on a clear day & I look forward to seeing it again one day.
Once in Helensburgh we checked into No. 20 Boutique Bed & Breakfast. Yet another stunning bed and breakfast in Scotland! It has a perfect 5 star rating on TripAdvisor and it’s so clear why. The rooms are adorably decorated, incredibly clean with a big comfy bed! They provided us with a very vintage bassinet for Davis (which could have been a disaster considering he was almost 2 but he slept in it just fine!) The breakfast room is adorable and the breakfast is out of this world delicious! It really was a great stop to break up the journey between the Highlands and Lowlands on our way to Edinburgh!
Britt Heller 