HAGGiS Adventures Compass Buster Tour: Day 9 – Heading to Hogwarts!

This was the day that we had been waiting for…

Day 9 of our Compass Buster Tour would be the day we head to Hogwarts!

Didn’t think it would happen, did you?

But we got our Hogwarts letters and were about to take the Hogwarts Express!

After traveling from Skye to Mallaig on the ferry, our tour bus stopped near the Mallaig train station. Once there, our guide explained what would be happening. Those of us who had pre-purchased tickets were guaranteed a spot on the train. For those who did not pre-purchase tickets, they would try to source some tickets to accommodate everyone. And for those who did not wish to take the Hogwarts Express, they would stay on the tour bus, see the Glenfinnan Viaduct and meet up with the train in Fort William.

We were eager to get off the bus! We had an important mission – secure the perfect seats for this scenic journey! So as soon as we could, we all walked excitedly to the train station.

A tad different than Platform 9 3/4…

We were told which seats were reserved for our group and after snapping a couple of pre-journey photographs, we hopped aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Crossed off another bucket list item! Yessssss! As we settled into our seats, chatting with our group mates and some new traveler friends, we finally heard the engine rumble and the train come alive! Not to mention we had secured ourselves some wands for the journey and whipped them out as soon as we were seated!

We even tried to perform some spells…like Wingardium Leviosa. Whether it worked or not is another matter all together :P.

Even without the magic of Harry Potter, this train journey was still pretty special! This train would be taking us from Mallaig on the west coast through the Scottish Highlands and finally to Fort William.

Now, in reality, the train is called the Jacobite Express. It boasts to be the greatest train journey in the world! A one-way journey from Mallaig to Fort William is about 42miles and travels through some of the best landscapes of Scotland – from lochs and rivers to mountains and viaducts. The train is a steam train and makes for that iconic photo of steam billowing out from the chimney of the train.

The Jacobite Express does provide seasonal service only – so make sure to check the schedule to plan your trip accordingly! Information on train schedule, times and fares can be found here. This train journey was not included in our basic HAGGiS Adventures Compass Buster tour fees. This was one of the Add-Ons offered on top of our tour fees. We knew we wanted to take this journey, so we had pre-purchased this ahead of time to guarantee our seats on this epic train journey!

The scenery was just spectacular!

Initially we stayed in our seats, admiring the passing scenery and snapping some photographs through the glass window. When we got up to stretch our legs a little, we saw that some people had stationed themselves in the connecting space between train cars. This space had open windows, which provided the perfect, glass-free spot to take photographs! Now, we are not sure what train rules or etiquette is around this, but we ended up spending some time by the window here. Especially since the Glenfinnan stop was coming up!

Here we are – approaching the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct! This was made world-famous by the Harry Potter films and is now a huge tourist attraction. This concrete viaduct is said to be the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland and towers over River Finnan at a height of 100m. Set against the mountains, it makes for a gorgeous picture!

Our little group huddled by our little window and hurriedly and politely took turns taking photographs of this iconic viaduct. This way, we all got a chance to see the viaduct and to snap a couple of pictures.

I’m just imagining Ron and Harry driving the flying car over our train!

And just like that, we had traveled over the viaduct and continued on our way to our final destination.

I think we lucked out on our seats. Our train car was towards the middle/end of the train. When the train travels along a bend, we get this beautiful view of the steam engine and the cars in front of us.

We couldn’t help taking some train portraits!

It was interesting to see the change in scenery as we traveled in from the coast. It seemed like after every bend, there was a different vista to admire. We can definitely see why this is described as one of the greatest train journeys in the world!

I’m always on the lookout for a Canadian connection, when we are travelling. Can you spot our flag there? It was pretty cool that we were able to spot our Maple Leaf all the way in Scotland!

Alas, the train journey had to end… Here we are arriving at our final destination – Fort William. (Unfortunately, not Hogwarts…)

It seemed like no one wanted to leave the platform! People of all ages enjoyed the train ride and everyone spent a couple of minutes taking photographs of this steam train. Regardless of whether you are a Harry Potter fan or not, this train journey through the highlands was pretty cool!

And although we didn’t actually arrive at Hogwarts, the train journey on the Jacobite and the amazing scenery was enough to make this one of the most memorable highlights of this trip!

We thought this train journey was worth it – being Harry Potter fans and also fans of the beautiful Scottish landscape. If we were to return, we probably would not take the train again. Instead we would probably find the perfect spot by the Glenfinnan Viaduct to capture the Jacobite Express crossing this iconic viaduct and perhaps make a visit to the Glenfinnan Monument.

We were a bit reluctant to return to our tourbus and back to reality.

When we got back on the tourbus, we swapped stories with our friends who didn’t take the train journey. Although they didn’t get to board the Jacobite Express, they told us of how the bus raced the train to make sure the group was in the optimal place to watch the Jacobite cross Glenfinnan Viaduct. They did take some spectacular photographs of this iconic steam train gliding over that iconic viaduct – made world-famous by the Harry Potter films.

After such an exciting adventure, we chatted excitedly and looked through our photographs as our tourbus took us to our next destination. Stay tuned for more of Day 9!

From Vancouver with Love,

Ioana and Natalie

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