Jacobite Piper

	'Twas a braw bricht nicht - or something, as the piper welcomed us on board the Jacobite Express

Our reason for visiting Fort William was to take a trip on the Jacobite Express, a steam train that runs daily to Malaig and back again. We also travelled on an ordinary train across Rannoch Moor to the Bridge of Orchy to experience the wave-like motion as the train runs over rails laid on bundles of sticks to hold them up in the deep peat bogs. It was there, but only just and the conductor advised us to try again after a fortnight of rain!

As we waited on the station there was an awful droning sound and one of the train staff struck up on the bagpipes, partly as a suitable welcome to the evocative train journey and partly as a bit of private enterprise, as his hat was on the ground and collected a respectable number of coins by the time he had to leap back on board the train as we departed.

I fear, however, that I belong to the school of thought which holds that the best place from which to hear the bagpipes being played romantically on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle is London, with Australia or New Zealand probably even better. Nevertheless, in the interests of bringing you a taste of Bonnie Scotland, I gritted my teeth and filmed away.