Glenfinnan

As I headed North towards Skye I stopped in Fort William, primarily for fuel and Costa (a rarety in these parts and much amiss!). I took a minor detour along the Mallaig road to have a wee look see at the Glenfinnan viaduct of Harry Potter fame. Glenfinnan is about halfway between Fort William and Mallaig on the picturesque West Highland Railway. Sir Robert McAlpine constructed the Glenfinnan Viaduct between 1897 and 1898. The structure, which is built entirely out of concrete, has 21 arches with spans of 15 m (49 ft) and reaches a height of 30 m (100 ft) above the valley. To commemorate the viaduct's centenary in 1997, a plaque was unveiled at the base of one of its arches. The landscape in which the viaduct is located has made it popular with film producers. In 1969, it was used in Ring of Bright Water, starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna. It has since come to prominence in the cinematic releases of the Harry Potter series. The Hogwarts Express, is filmed crossing the viaduct in several of the films beginning with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. The train filmed is the Jacobite Steam-Locomotive Train, a tourist train.