All aboard the Hogwarts Express.

Hi, reader

All's well here in bonnie Scotland and my next port of call is Glenfinnan. 

It's a beautiful part of the country with lots of walks to choose from, but perhaps these days it's most famous as a filming location for the Harry Potter film franchise. As I arrived, there was a sign in the car park reminding all visiting wizards and witches to follow Covid safety guidelines.

So here's the main attraction: the Glenfinnan viaduct, which is now also known as 'The Harry Potter Bridge'. This curved bridge is 416 metres long, making it the longest concrete bridge in Scotland. The bridge has featured in four of the Harry Potter films, most prominently in Chamber of Secrets when Harry and Ron miss the train and travel to Hogwarts in the Weasley family's flying car.

Every day, Harry Potter fans from all over the world come here to watch the Jacobite steam train cross the viaduct. The train crosses the bridge twice a day as part of its 84 mile round trip from Fort William to Mallaig. When I got to top of the trail, there were already over 100 people waiting with cameras ready. Very exciting!

I wore my Slytherin scarf for the occasion, but I noticed that I was the only person sporting Hogwarts colours that morning. Rob the car park attendant told me that people often turn up in Hogwarts house scarves and one morning a coachload of octogenarians arrived in full wizard robes. I'd love to have seen that.

10:50 am, running slightly late, the train arrived with the new crop of Hogwarts first years. I haven't had much luck embedding videos into this blog so far, and it's telling me my video is too big. But here's a link to a YouTube video of the train crossing the viaduct.

And here's the link in case that doesn't work: https://youtu.be/ceJ5D6wluX0

Loch Sheil near the Glenfinnan visitors' centre also features in the Potter films. The spot where I took this picture is where Harry and Hagrid were skipping stones in Prisoner of Azkaban and it's also where Harry rode Buckbeak the Hippogriff. This loch is also used in the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire.

Here's Rob, the car park attendant. He's a fan of science fiction and anime and he's worked for the National Trust for 25 years. He's incredibly knowledgeable about cinema and Scottish history. Rob told me that lots of films besides Harry Potter have been filmed in this area, including Highlander, Skyfall and one of my favourite films, Restless Natives. Not many people have heard of Restless Natives, which I think is a shame. It's a 1985 adventure comedy about two unemployed friends who become modern day highwaymen, dressed as a clown and a wolfman. It's a lot of fun, it showcases the Scottish countryside, has a brilliant soundtrack and I urge you to check it out. I've got it on my laptop and I'll definitely be watching it at some point on this trip.

Rob was working here at Glenfinnan while they filmed the Harry Potter films and he had a chance to chat with a lot of the cast. He told me met Daniel Radcliffe (Harry, of course), Robbie Coltraine (Hagrid) and 'the ginger one' (I'm guessing that's Rupert Grint who plays Ron). He's also met Joanna Lumley, Charlie Sheen, Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and many others.  Rob then surprised me by telling me he's never read any of the Harry Potter books or watched any of the films.

If you're passing through this part of the world, Glenfinnan is definitely worth a visit. At lunchtime, it was time to get back in the van and press on north for more enjoyable driving through spectacular scenery and not far ahead I was to encounter another instantly recognizable film location.

See you next time and thanks for reading,

Brian