Corpach – Mallaig – Morar – Banavie – Corpach – Fort William

I’ve travelled the Fort William to Mallaig line more times than I can count but went at it a different way today, walking sections at both ends and exploring places that I normally only ever see from a train window. The day started with a visit to Fort William station to buy my ticket and check that I was allowed to hop on and off as I wished.

Back at the hotel, I picked up my rucksack and set off along the impressively named Great Glen Way. This starts nearby, picking a route through the estate behind my hotel, past a shinty club then through a housing estate. Not the most exciting start, but once it leaves the town behind the views become interesting and helpfully I stay with the well-signposted route taking me almost all the way to Corpach.

The first sight of the railway came after a mile or so, across fields towards Ben Nevis. A little further on the path met the line at a small river bridge then I walked beside it until the larger and more impressive Soldiers Bridge, where I turned away and returned to the coast.

There are substantial flood defences along all of this section, and the path goes along the top of several of them. At Caol I stepped down from the path onto the beach, from where there were great views back to Fort William. I found a couple of beached boats, presumably lost in storms in the area. It was hard to imagine such weather when today was so calm and mild.

The path ends up on the towpath of the Caledonian Canal, where I turned left to the terminus at Corpach and the Great Glen Way continues in the opposite direction.

They certainly like their staircase locks on this canal. Here there was another staircase of two, followed by the single sea lock. The tide was out so nothing was on the move, indeed there was no-one around.

The station is just a minute or two from the canal so I walked up the the single platform and joined my train. The views are immediately wonderful as the line finds its way along the banks of Lock Eil.

In no time at all we reached the iconic Glenfinnan Viaduct. I had contemplated getting off here but it is still early in the year and the cafe and museum are both closed. The usual crowds of sightseers on the hillside looking for the perfect photo of a train crossing the viaduct were nowhere to be seen.

The summit is soon reached and the line begins the long descent to the west coast. The scenery is never dull on either side of the line. We passed the famous Our Lady of the Braes church, which has featured in several films over the years.

The first glimpse of the coast comes near to Arisaig, and by Morar it is very close. For last couple of miles into Mallaig the road and railway run parallel to the coast, with great views to Skye and the small islands.

As I’ve mentioned before, the starting point of this trip was a railtour that got cancelled, but my friend Tim had already produced the window labels, and he let me have a set the last time I saw him. I grabbed the opportunity to put one up as we arrived in Mallaig, to the amusement of a member of the Scotrail team.

I had a cup of tea and a sandwich at the bakery overlooking the harbour. Mallaig is primarily interesting as a ferry port for those going to Skye or onward to the Outer Hebrides from Uig, so out of season there is not a lot to do here. I wasn’t even able to buy an ice cream!

I set off on foot for Morar. The road follows the railway closely on a walk of about 3 miles. I enjoyed the views out to sea both and there was almost no traffic on a warm and pleasant afternoon.

Morar is a tiny community. I first went to the station, just to be sure of the location, then with an hour until the train back walked down a footpath to the beach. This is an estuary rather than the open sea, but is a lovely spot, and with the tide out there was lots of exposed sand. I could see lots of people playing on the far bank, but I had this side almost to myself.

I walked upriver as far as the first bridge, where I climbed up to the road and walked back back into Morar in the opposite direction to earlier. This is a lovely area and I wished I’d had more time to explore. I looked up on the viaduct that I’d looked down on a few hours earlier, before returning to the station just in time to catch my train.

By now it was late afternoon. The services on this line are very infrequent but I’d spotted that there was another service back to Fort William about two hours behind this one. With that in mind I got off a stop before my destination at Banavie, right next to Neptune’s Staircase, the flight of 7 locks on the Caledonian Canal.

Half way up the locks I discovered that the cafe attached to the hotel was open so I got myself a hot chocolate and sat for a while. I then walked to the top of the locks where a number of boats were moored. It was good to discover that my BWB key still open the facilities blocks on Scottish Canals, so I took advantage of this. As a boater one of the things I’m very aware of is that even if I’m not travelling by water at the time there are such places all over the country that I can (and do) use from time to time.

I walked back down the flight and enjoyed the views in the evening light, and decided that I’d follow the line of the canal back to Corpach, where I’d caught the train this morning. The tide was much higher now and the abandoned boat was surrounded by water. The area around the locks felt quite different in the dark. I had some time to kill before my train to dropped into a tiny local bar next to the Co-op, for a drink and a warm. It was lovely friendly place, where the locals were just warming themselves up to watch the rugby international later that evening.

Back at the station, I could see the lights of Fort William very clearly. My train arrived on time, a few minutes later and after doing the short section to Banavie for the second time today, returned to Fort William.

I went first back to my hotel, to drop my bags and also to put on an extra layer as it was quite cold by now. I then headed for the Black Isle Bar. I’ve been to their bar in Inverness many times, but had not visited this one before. They were typically welcoming. I ordered my usual Black Isle drink, Red Kite, and a pizza and it was all, as ever, delicious.

By now it was barely 9pm but I was ready to head back to my room. According to my phone I’d walked 13.7 miles and a few hundred steps short of 30,000 so it was perhaps not surprising that I was tired out. I had a soak in the bath (a hotel treat!) and turned in very early by my standards.