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Stephen McCarty

There is no monster in Loch Ness.
Having gazed at its immeasurable expanse through cold spring rain arrowing in on gusting winds from the battlements of Urquhart Castle and detected nothing, I declare the tales of an elusive leviathan in Scotland’s most famous stretch of water a chronic hoax.
Which is perhaps what the monster wants me to think.
Deep swells and whitecaps have kept the tourist boats in dock but, regardless of the weather, the vista is majestic: something first-time visitors to the Scottish Highlands may anticipate with confidence.

Urquhart Castle, which from the 13th century onwards played a significant part in the Scottish wars of independence against England, can be reached by bus from Inverness, the largest settlement in the Highlands and the region’s cultural capital.
Inverness is one of the destinations of the Caledonian Sleeper train from London, a service that continues a tradition of night trains connecting the British capital with Scotland that began in 1873.

The Caledonian Sleeper was launched in 1996, since when a number of train companies have operated the service; since June 2023 the service has been run by the Scottish government.
Two Caledonian Sleeper trains operate six days a week (there are none on Saturdays). The Lowland Sleeper serves Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the Highland Sleeper Aberdeen, Fort William and Inverness.
The coaches entered service only five years ago, and retain their sparkle.


On a recent Wednesday evening, travellers gathered in the Caledonian Sleeper lounge at London’s Euston Station for check-in, where dinner and drinks (not included in the ticket price) are served and a shower can be had if desired.
Departure for the 11-hour, 45-minute run north to Inverness is at 9.15pm – by which time passengers in the know have stowed their luggage in their compartments and claimed seats for dining in the Club Car.
The Club Car is open to all passengers except those occupying the one seated carriage – they may order food and drinks to consume in their seats – and is soon busy with those who have booked a bed for the night.

The Club Car offers generous table space, an extensive menu including vegetarian dishes, and bar service. Dinner and drinks need paying for – and, if preferred, can be taken in one’s compartment – but a full breakfast is included in the ticket price for sleeper passengers.
The bar remains open until the last guest leaves (or until 3am, whichever comes first), with staff cheerfully letting it be known that, with duties to perform throughout the night, they rarely bother sleeping.
For us, restful sleep arrives soon after dinner in an en suite Club Room, featuring twin bunk beds with bespoke mattresses, a wash basin and toilet-shower cubicle. At about 1.8 by 1.35 metres (6ft by 4½ feet) excluding the cubicle, the compartment might be described as cosy.

Inverness is hardly the prettiest place in the Scottish Highlands, something reinforced if you arrive on a monochromatic morning under a cloudburst. On the other hand, it has some outstanding pubs.
Notable among them is the Black Isle Bar, with its porters, lagers, ciders, stouts and pale ales on tap, some so strong the biggest pour is half a pint (285ml). There are tempting restaurants too, such as the snug, one-room McBain’s By the River and The Mustard Seed, both beside the River Ness, which are vegetarian friendly and require reservations.
One block from the river is the city’s one jewel: Leakey’s, Scotland’s biggest second-hand bookshop, occupying the former St. Mary’s Gaelic Church (and proving that places of worship can be put to worthwhile use).

It may sound like a backhanded compliment, but it could be said that Inverness looks its best when leaving it, at least if doing so by train. Before long the Beauly Firth – the outlet for the Beauly and Ness rivers – comes into view.
ScotRail passengers heading to Kyle of Lochalsh, two hours and 40 minutes away on Scotland’s west coast, roll west, then north, along the firth to Dingwall, where one of Britain’s national treasures, the line to the Kyle, branches off.
A contender for the title of Britain’s most panoramic railway line, the route offers a parade of valleys, mountains and lochs that give way to coastal inlets and beaches, and ends on the mainland shore opposite the Isle of Skye.
The most convenient way to reach that island from here is via the Skye Bridge, which rises 35 metres (115 feet) above the sea; cars can be hired near the train’s terminus.

Skye’s narrow roads have their share of potholes, which we must put up with to reach our accommodation – a sturdy former crofter’s cottage still owned by descendants of the people who built it more than a century ago – and to enjoy the many attractions of an island celebrated in poetry and song.
From the cottage in Peinchorran – a collection of irregularly spaced dwellings on a headland beside Loch Sligachan – none of sights of Skye is more than an hour away by car.
Converted from a dilapidated farmhouse and opened in 2017, the bayside Torabhaig Distillery, near the village of Teangue, was the first to be built on Skye in 190 years. It offers regular tours and tastings of its enticingly smoky and peaty whiskies.


Another Skye highlight is the drive north on the A855 road to Staffin, which skirts hillwalking and climbing country, notably the 30km-long Trotternish Ridge, along which can be seen the crags of The Storr (719 metres high) and its free-standing, 55-metre-high basalt spike The Old Man of Storr; and The Quiraing, reached on a 6.8km circular walk classed as “hard”.
Among the many short boat and ferry trips that link Skye with the mainland and other islands (weather and seasonal timetables permitting) is a 25-minute crossing by car ferry from Sconser to the Isle of Raasay, with Skye’s moody cliffs lowering over the route.
Visit the island’s whisky and gin distillery, go for walks in its hills and along its cliff and beaches, and stop off at the Raasay House hotel, where celebrated English writer Dr Samuel Johnson stayed in 1773.


We leave Skye by ferry from Armadale to Mallaig on the mainland, a half-hour trip that is the prelude to another railway journey on the West Highland Line to Fort William.
On this trip, as well as the coastal, loch and mountain views there is the Glenfinnan Viaduct, made famous by the Harry Potter films – the train taking the eponymous wizard to Hogwarts School trundles across it.
A steam-hauled train, The Jacobite, recreates Harry’s journey aboard the Hogwarts Express for visitors, but today all Jacobite services have been cancelled – so the Harry Potter devotees massed on an adjacent hillside cheer and photograph our train instead as it crossed the viaduct. I confess to offering a regal wave from a window.


A couple of hours in Fort William before the Caledonian Sleeper departs for London allows time to gaze along Loch Linnhe from the ruins of the fort built on King William III’s orders, from which the town takes its name.
The clouds having parted, those sights include Ben Nevis, which, at 1,345 metres, is Britain’s highest mountain – a satisfying cap on a week of highs.


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Tourism

By sleeper train to Scotland for a Highlands tour – lakes, mountains, whisky, Harry Potter

Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness. Photo: Stephen McCarty

Glen Sligachan, on the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Highlands, a region of breathtaking mountains and lakes, many of which can be seen by road, rail and ferry. Photo: Stephen McCarty

The Caledonian Sleeper at Inverness station. Photo: Stephen McCarty

Passengers relax and enjoy a meal in the Caledonian Sleeper’s Club Car. Photo: Lucy Knott Photography

A Club Room on the Caledonian Sleeper. Photo: Stephen McCarty

Leakey’s, in Inverness, is Scotland’s biggest second-hand bookshop. Photo: Stephen McCarty

The public library in a converted phone box at Peinchorran, on the Isle of Skye. Photo: Stephen McCarty

Torabhaig Distillery, opened in 2017, was converted from a dilapidated farmhouse. Photo: Stephen McCarty

Brogaig, a village in northeastern Skye along the scenic A855 road. Photo: Stephen McCarty

An Coîleach above Sconser, Loch Sligachan and the Sconser-Raasay car ferry. Photo: Stephen McCarty

The Isle of Skye from the Isle of Raasay. Photo: Stephen McCarty

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Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

The Caledonian Sleeper takes travellers from London to the Scottish Highlands, where the views are spectacular from Skye to Hogwarts country


We take the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Inverness, gateway to a region of stunning landscapes and spectacular journeys, including one Harry Potter takes on the Hogwarts Express.


Travel Destinations

Britain

Responsible travel