Jacobite 2026

To be honest (and I include myself in this) the first 11 words of the above could sum up this thread and also the other on running in parallel regarding 10A, both have just turned into a constant repetition of the same entrenched positions and points by the same people which flares up whenever anything emerges in the public domain either via the media, press release or platform end wibble (which tends to say next to nothing) and is just repeated over and over again. I can't be the only one who sees that there have been a load of posts on this thread, thinks 'oh finally something has happened', opens it and just finds the same old same old, and then like the procrastinating idiot I am I foolishly add to it!

 

Is it any different in the railway periodicals though? Each month something is reported but doesn't add much of substance. People read it, bring "the news" here and it gets debated ad infinitum until the next month. Discussion forums do tend to go that way .....
Largely agreeing though, it is however obvious that a few people don't like certain topics being the subject of debate. Those people resort to the cry of "axe grinding", as if certain expressed opinions could only be formed on the basis of grudge or grievance and motivated by a wish to somehow get even.
I don't possess, or claim to have, any inside knowledge, the only things I've expressed views on are personal judgements on what has been in the public domain either recently or historically. I'm sorry if my views cause any offence but as Kirk Oswald said, I don't think I've been unfair to anyone even if perhaps guilty of being tedious

 

Even worse when you have set up email prompts to watch the thread and you inbox fills with stuff that might have been interesting once but gets boring when repeated over and over.

 

That's one feature I have always had switched off. Nothing that happens on the forum is important so why would one need a notification? Check in when you have time.

 

Sometimes someone does want information fairly urgently, but in that case they can check it frequently.

 

Lucky you, however many times I try to switch them off I still get them filling up my mailbox.

 

Not an update to the train I am afraid but veterans of the Jacobite up here brace yourselves for a shock, work has brought me back up here this week and a walk through the town unveiled this...



The Grog is gone...

 

The Grog was dead a year or so ago when they stopped doing curly fries.

 

Boar and haggis burger with curly fries, mmmm!

Tripadvisor for the new regime doesn't read too positive.
edit :- or sour grapes maybe

 

Same ownership or new? The old owners who had the Clachaig too were a little mercurial from what I was told by a colleague.

 

But at least there's still a functioning bank! My nearest town (admittedly with a population only half the size of Fort William) doesn't have any.

 

You are right there Matt, last year they were shutting when the last customer left, usually about 9 pm. A far cry from my first visit it 2001 when it was crammed full of photo charter participants and they had to send the van down to the Clachaig to get some more beer! According to CAMRA the cask ale has gone with the new ownership so a place to be avoided.

 

Best food around Fort William needs about a 20 mins drive unfortunately.

The Glen Spean Lodge hotel outside Roybridge is absolutely mega, it's run by a couple from Teeside.

Used to be my regular when I lived up there.

 

The Black Isle is still around though, if you're into craft beers.

 

Also, the Ben Nevis Inn used to be pretty good, not been there for a long time though.

 

Looks like cask ale fans will have to make do with ‘Spoons, Black Isle Bar and Ben Nevis Bar unless they head out of town.

 

From what I could tell the cask ales are gone and the food....well... I wouldn't bother. Sadly everywhere else was packed out!

 

Ha ha, true story. Not been the same for a few years. Was great in its day.

 

Was disappointed to see the Grog had changed hands when I visited a couple of weeks ago - was last in FW in 2015. Ben Nevis probably the best nowadays. They had quite a tasty 80/- on. Black Isle is a little over-hyped, and I'm not keen on it in Inverness, either.