Welcome to Poetry Friday! If you want to know more about what Poetry Friday is, please see the website of children’s author Rene M. LaTulippe. All are welcome to participate in this wonderfully creative and supportive community!
I’ve had such a busy month and have so many ideas swirling in my head about what to write, I am hesitant to write about more than one topic at a time. Therefore, I won’t. This morning, I’ll share some more photos of our trip to Scotland. But later today, I’ll write a second post reviewing Laura Purdie Salas’s new, soon-to-be-released book, Flurry, Float, and Fly. The book is wonderful and deserves an article solely devoted to it. As a person who grew up with a lot of snow in Western New York (feet of it each winter), I loved it. So, stay tuned.
The Jacobite Steam Train and the Glenfinnan Viaduct
On our second full day in Inverness, the city we visited after staying on the Isle of Skye for three nights, we took another all-day bus tour. It was a great way to see the sights without a car or driving on the left in Scotland. Our first stop was to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
The tour bus guide took us there early due to the popularity of this area. The train, while existing for many years, gained stardom after appearing in the Harry Potter movie franchise, taking the students to Hogwarts.
I was unable to get tickets to ride the train, even six months out from our visit. Therefore, I made sure we had a way to see the train pass over the viaduct, which it does twice a day. All three of my sons were Harry Potter fans – we’ve lovingly stored all the hardcover books, and own all the movies to watch on demand, if they don’t happen to be streaming.
Upon arriving at the Viaduct, which is not easily seen from the parking lot as it is tucked in the back of a valley, our tour guide (driver) told us where to go to get the best view and whether the train would be seen coming at us or from the rear. We wanted to see the train coming at us, so we trekked toward the stone viaduct and up a hill to get a “viewing spot.”
We did this along with many other people, only to find the hillside nearly covered already with hordes of spectators. My husband and I elected to stop 2/3’s of the way up the hill, which gave us an unobstructed view of the viaduct. There we stood and waited for about twenty minutes for the train to pass.
Soon, we heard the whistle and started to see the steam far in the distance. Everyone cheered. Cameras and phones poised, the train got closer and closer. If camera and phone shutters made more noise, it would have seemed that the hillside was chirping! I took many stills, and my husband took a video of the train’s approach.
It sped by quickly! In less than five minutes after spotting the steam, the train had come and gone. Everyone, including me, cheered when it passed. This was such a touristy thing to do, but I enjoyed it very much, and I appreciated that my husband went with it, although he was not as charmed as I. Our trip was balanced by moments like this and non-touristy things like hiking parts of the Great Glen Way.
In hindsight, and maybe I’m rationalizing, I’m glad we didn’t purchase tickets to ride the train. Since we’ve returned home, I’ve seen many social media posts of people who rode the train that are asking for photos of it going over the viaduct. Obviously, if you are on it, you don’t see it going over.
The viaduct itself is a beautiful but lonely structure built in the Victorian age of the late 1800s, sitting in the picturesque Scottish wilderness. I took many photos of it without the train as well. Thinking of this post last night, I awoke to write a haiku about the viaduct in the wee hours of the morning. (This often happens when I’m filled with creativity.)
A Photo Journal:
This was an example of literature coming to life for adults and chldren, alike!
All photos are by Carol Labuzzetta, 2025. No permission to copy or distribute in any fashion.
Our visit inspired this modern haiku (not 5-7-5).
centuries old, crossing
Glenfinnan Viaduct stands
guarding our stories
© Carol Labuzzetta, 2025
And lastly, I wish you a very Happy Halloween!
Halloween 2005- Our youngest as Harry Potter. (He’s 24 now.) © Carol Labuzzetta, 2005. Used with permission.
Our host this week is the incredibly creative, Jone Rush MacCulloch. Please check out her blog for more spooky poetry goodness!
The Apples in My Orchard 
Oh, what a good memory and what good pictures! I, too, hiked up that viaduct with friends when we were visiting Scotland after having lived in Glasgow and Stirling for five years. In all our time of residency, though, we’d never gone and done many touristy things so seeing that glorious train was delightful. And getting tickets – even in 2018 – was just well nigh impossible. Ah, well. We got a good hike, before the rain. (There’s almost always rain.)
Your son’s picture is adorable.
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Oh, my goodness! Your photos are absolutely cinematic. What an incredible experience. Thank you for sharing your centuries old time…that young little wizard at the end steals the show for sure.
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That sounds like the ideal way to experience the train, Carol, and I like the way the haiku speaks of stories, which, after all, connect us. My grown son was a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, too.
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Thanks for letting me visit Scotland by proxy. Everything looks amazing.
I love your haiku — “guarding our stories.”
I have plenty of pictures from past Halloweens with my kiddos in HP costumes too. Those were fun days.
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Your post makes me want to return. I didn’t get to see this in 22.
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After seeing only the Outer Hebrides, I’m anxious to go back. Bring on all the “touristy” things to see!
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What a gorgeous view, Carol! So smart to capture this beauty puff-puff-puffing its way over the gorge. The clouds of steam make me swoon!
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