Our nearest train station is Arrochar/Tarbert about 40 minutes away. From there you can either go north to Oban (2 hours) or all the way to Mallaig, taking in the Harry Potter viaduct from Fort William. That's a long way - 4 hours each way!
For the moment the sky was blue and we were up early Saturday am, so made the most of it and headed to get the 9:38am train to get to Oban before lunch.
The journey starts by hugging Loch Lomond all the way to its top, then cuts across a pass through to Loch Awe. The pass is beautiful like the Rocky's with salmon rivers meandering along the glen before a steady run down to the shores of Loch Awe where the train hugs the loch shore passing castles, churches and the expanse of the loch itself. It's a trip we have obviously done before by road, but the train gave a different and more relaxed perspective.
Even at this time of year the train was full, with hikers taking a one way ride and quite a few folks like ourselves just having a day out.
Late morning coffee at a cafe called Roxy's just round the corner from the station before fish and chips at the same place we went when on ETTC. Excellent haddock and cod with perfectly crisp batter and chips - it's all in the fat and temperature we reckon.
A brisk walk up to MacCraig's tower and a bonus abandoned asylum then back to the station for a slightly delayed train home and rain - so we'd had the best of the day!
Look at you two early birds !
Followed your route on the map it looks a great day out, with amazing scenery and the best fish and chips.
Great smiley faces too 😃