Sunday, October 21, 2012

October 18th- 19th... Hogwarts Express

Thursday afternoon after classes, Sophia (a girl from my floor) and myself caught a train heading to Fort William where we spent the night in  hostel and woke up early the next morning to ride the Hogwarts Express. That's not really what the train is called but it travels the same railway that the Hogwarts students do in the movies! I felt like just around every bend in the track I would be arriving at  the castle. Even though I never made it to Hogwarts, the train ride was absolutely beautiful. The mountains and the fall foliage we breath taking. Not to mention ever town that we went through the people we lined outside waving to all the passengers on board. The train started in Fort William and traveled all the way north to the costal city Malliag. This is the town that has the ferry to cross over to the Isle of Skye, supposedly the most beautiful place in Scotland (which I will be going to next weekend). We spent a few hours wandering the streets of Mallaig. Quickly before heading back to the train we ate some fish and chips. The train traveled the same route back to Fort William. Sophia and I parted ways once we were back in Fort William. She headed back to Glasgow and I waited for a bus to go to Loch Ness. Friday night I caught my bus and headed to Loch Ness. I was a pretty nervous about spending a night in a hostel by myself. It worked out, the only other girl in the room was from Canada and she had been traveling around Scotland for the last two weeks. We hit it off and thanks to a tip from the hostel manager ventured out in the rain to see the ruins of the local castle lit up and for free. The walk there took about 40 minutes and when I mentioned that it was free, it was only free because we hopped a couple of fences and made our way down to the castle. The manager said that we could and that people do it all the time, so we didn't think twice about it. After taking some poor pictures due to the rain and complete darkness we made out way out of the grounds and were just about to out when I light in a building came on. Panic attack!! Thoughts of being arrested in Scotland ran through my head. Stealth mood activated, we silently climbed the fences and went out the back way. Nothing happened and we made our way back to the hostel with soaking wet boots, pants, and everything else. A quick bowl of lentil soup and then off to bed. Who knew sitting on you bottom all day in a train and bus could make you so tired. Tomorrow, Loch Ness and maybe some hiking.

1 comment:

  1. Too cool. Chase will LOVE that you got to ride THE train on THE track. Your travels look amazing. Keep up the posting!

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