About a km in, you can see the Glenfinnan Monument (on the left) overlooking Loch Shiel


It costs £3.50 to visit the monument. With a zoom lens, you can see it for free!

A lot of hiking can be circumvented with a good zoom lens. "We don't have to go all the way there, Neda." *click* "Because this is what it looks like. We can go home now, right?"


Thankfully you can catch sight of the Viaduct once you're only a couple of kms into The Glen

There are lots of people waiting around for the train to show up. They're all sitting on rocks or standing around on the steep hillside, selfie-sticks and cameras in hand, waiting to get their Harry Potter memorabilia snapshot.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

One guy operates a drone, it hovers in the air between the spectators and the viaduct

Many of the people on the ground seem annoyed at the drone, it's tiny propellers buzzing in the air like hyperactive bees. I don't know what my opinion is on drone-cameras. On the one hand, I take lots of pictures and I can see why people get annoyed if they have to maneuver around to avoid getting a drone in their photo or video. But on the other hand, they are very neat tools to obtain those hard-to-get aerial shots, and we have used one in the past, so I can't be too hypocritical...

The tracks are part of the West Coast Railway and the trains that make the 65 km run between Fort William and Maillaig are special steam locomotives called The Jacobite. I'm discovering that the people here are not only Harry Potter geeks, but also train nerds too.


After a long wait (according to the timetable the train was late), The Jacobite makes its appearance

All around us, a flurry of camera shutters are clicking open and close. Manual ones and the digital ones that mimic that shutter noise. Thankfully, the drone operator has sent his bumblebee swarm far out of sight so we're all able to enjoy the view without the incessant buzzing about our heads.


Apart from Harry Potter fame, the Glenfinnan Viaduct is famous for its 21-arches. It's also on the back of the Bank of Scotland £10 note

I think I remember this train from the Harry Potter movie now. Harry and his wizard buddies were inside the train and it was being attacked by the Dementoids. They were a bunch of escaped prisoners from the mental institute, Azkaban, led by Harry's evil uncle Sirius Black, who was missing a nose. Or something like that.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The afternoon viewing of the Hogwart's Express is extra special, because if you wait just a few more minutes... another steam train goes by in the other direction! Two trains! For the price of... well, a hike.

After the second train passes by, the entire hillside audience gets up and heads towards the exit aisle all at once, like theatre-goers at the end of the show. Unfortunately, there is only one aisle heading either 2 kms back to Glenfinnan or 4 kms the other way to the next station, Lochailort. Everyone traipses single file back to Glenfinnan...


Back at Glenfinnan Station

The sky has been threatening rain the entire day, and it opens up just as we reach our bikes in the parking lot. This is a shame, because although we are officially departing the North Coast 500 Loop - it returns to Inverness on the east coast, there is more amazing scenery as we turn south towards Glasgow. On the way, there is a valley just past Glencoe, where Skyfall (another British movie) was filmed, and it's just breathtaking. But since it was raining, no pictures.

And then another scenic run in the rain through Trossachs National Park. Again, no pictures.


Hi. We are in Glasgow and it's stopped raining. This is our hotel.

Yes, we are splurging on a hotel. Cheaper here than up in the Highlands.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Although Gino and Fiona live in Edinburgh, they work here in Glasgow. While it took us over a week and half to ride the long way around the North Coast 500, it only takes them less than 90 minutes to drive directly between Scotland's largest cities. Or 50 minutes by train. It's much more fun going the long way. On their lunch break, they take us out for sandwiches in the park and quizzed us on our time up in the Scottish Highlands. They were actually in Applecross themselves for the weekend, but we were somewhere near John O'Groats at the time. Must be nice to have such an awesome playground in your backyard!

After lunch, we hop on the bikes and head downtown for a tour of Glasgow.


Sewing machines?


Roman arches in Glasgow? Gallery of Modern Art

Strange, what's an Ancient Roman building doing in downtown Glasgow? Like it's been displaced out of time and space...?


Ah-ha! A TARDIS!

We're continuing our scavenger hunt for TARDISes and Glasgow is the TARDIS capital of the world. There are so many of them scattered around the downtown area. TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It's Doctor Who's Time Machine, and another prop from a British TV show that we both watch avidly.

Yes, forget about the hundreds of years of Glaswegian history and architecture. We're more interested in blue boxes from a TV show!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Another ancient Roman building. We must be getting close...


This TARDIS has been turned into a tiny sandwich shop

Don't worry, it's bigger on the inside than it looks.

This is a prime example of why we love British TV. A visiting alien's time machine turns out to be a blue police box. Totally absurd! The way they explain it is that the TARDIS is able to change it's shape and form to blend in with whatever surroundings it materializes into. One of the first places Doctor Who visits is the UK (of course, it's a BBC production!) However, shortly after, the TARDIS's shape-shifting circuitry breaks down and ever since, it's been a blue police box - for the last 54 years. Or thousands of years, if you go by the show's timeline!


More walking. But no more TARDISes in the area.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

We must continue by bike. The woman in the car next to us is contemplating photobombing Neda...


An English church in Scotland? Surely that must be out of time and place!


"Excuse me, my husband would like a picture in front of your TARDIS, is that okay?"
"Of course, why do you have to ask?"


*BRROOM* *ba-rump* Not sure this is what she was expecting

Oh Em Gee. We are such kids.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Are you guys planning on doing the Isle Of Man TT beginning of June? Bikers heaven! If you are , be good to catch up as I've enjoyed reading your blog,

Will you visit Ireland ?
See The Wild Atlantic Way
Good Luck
Maurice

I hope you and Neda managed to make it to the Harry Potter studio tour before you left the UK, it's a must see for any Potter fan.

We had plans to go see the TT in 2015, even got the tickets for the Steam Packet ferry and everything (which takes months to book ahead), but we had our plans change last minute and had to forfeit the tickets.

Unfortunately, we will not be making the TT this year.



Unfortunately, we missed it this time. Also found out there was a Doctor Who museum in Cardiff!

Next time!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Hey Gene, Neda,
Have you gone back to work?

No posts for a while.
Been following your travels from the start, hope you're ok.

Hi gene & neda , we haven't heard from ye in a long while
Hope all is well , did ye make it over to Ireland ?

Updated from Sep 01 2016: The Lake District



With Scotland under our belts - literally... I'm carrying an extra 15lbs worth of haggis and ale around my waistline - we are passing through the Lake District on our way back south through England. This is supposed to be one of the most scenic places in the country.

We've been listening to a lot of Ed Sheeran lately. "Castle On The Hill" is being played non-stop everywhere. Since we are in the UK, I did some Googling - the castle in the song is Framlingham Castle. We passed by that area a few weeks ago when we dropped in on the Lavender farm in Norfolk. Haha, so topical!


Green all around us at the Lake District

The sky is sprinkling water on our helmets, which is not unusual for the UK. I think about the last couple of weeks we have spent in Scotland and how unusual it was not to have rain every day! Especially for us. We really lucked out! But now it seems that it's back to business as usual with the wet weather.

After a couple of hours of slabbing it on the main M6 roadway, we exit at Penrith. There are quite a few cars accompanying us as we dive wheel-first into the Lake District. First order of business is to find a place to sleep. Neda's scoped out a couple of campsites on the map and we're routing straight there to set up our tent.


Traffic jam on Kirkstone Pass

Kirkstone Pass is the highest pass in the Lake District. Low stone walls line the roadway as we slowly crawl up and down the pass, hampered by heavy traffic. And then we hit our first major town in the Lake District.


Crowds galore at Bowness-on-Windermere!

We crept through traffic in the light drizzle. The holiday crowd around us seemed oblivious to the damp weather and seemed to be enjoying themselves, ducking in and out of the thick mass of shops and restaurants that line the town's streets. They must be locals.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The campsites that Neda found are on the other side of Lake Windermere. We take a short ferry ride across instead of riding around in the rain

Oh dog, you look so warm and dry in front of us! So jelly!


We're on our way. Riding at 30 down these country lanes.

We arrive at the campsite and Neda gets off the bike to grab us a site. She returns shortly with a forlorn look on her face. "No space. All booked up."

Oh no! At least the rain has temporarily let up as we hop back on the bikes to head to the next campsite on Neda's list. I'm so thankful she's done all this research!

Fifteen minutes later we're knocking on the door of another campsite. But once again, no vacancy! Neda informs me, "Apparently we're here on the busiest weekend of high season. The last summer weekend before kids go back to school..."

What a change from Scotland. Up in the Highlands, campsites are all empty and about to close because the season is winding down. But just a few hours south, we're unable to find a place to sleep.

Just to add insult to injury, it starts to drizzle once again...


We asked around for vacant campsites and this lead us to a farm just outside of a tiny town called Coniston


Once again, I wait outside while Neda goes in to secure accommodations. Not sure if the peacock is a good omen...

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Neda comes out of the office with a big smile and a thumbs up. Yay, we have somewhere to sleep tonight!


The farm where we are staying. Sheep are our neighbours


Lots of holidayers too

The campground is crowded! Our tires squish the wet grass as we ride around looking for a clear spot to set up camp. The sun is peeking out from behind rain clouds, which gives us a window of dry weather to pitch our tent. Kids everywhere emerge from campers and tents to savour every last bit of dry weather before they have to go back to school next week. This is the way vacationing is done in the UK!

I know this small window of dry weather will be short, so as soon as we get the tent up, we walk into the tiny hamlet of Coniston to find a warm and dry place to sit down, grab a cold pint of some local Cumbrian ale and some Internet. At least the weather looks good tomorrow.


And it is! We head out into the sunshine of the Lake District the next morning.

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com