Off to Hogwarts!

September 25
Fort William to Mallaig

Sam:

The next morning we woke up really early to go on a 1 and a half hour car ride to a place called Fort William, where we then got to go on a very special train called the Jacobite train. You can see it in some movies, such as most of the Harry Potter series.

The train ride was very long, and it was standing room only, so we had to stand for about 2 hours, although we did have great windows to look out of.

About halfway through the train ride, there was a big bridge that we crossed and is also in most of the Harry Potter series called the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Going through tunnels was pretty hard because of the smoke and coal dust from the engine got in through the windows and made it pretty dusty.

Also on the way there (a town called Mallaig), we went past and stopped at a very cool looking shiny lake. It looks like it was made of ice!

We were standing right outside the Harry Potter experience section which is a section with the closed off rooms and the sliding doors like in the first Harry Potter movie.

There was even a gift shop on the train that had lots of the cool Harry Potter candy, such as Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Dad bought some of the beans for us to try.

Charlotte:

When we got off the train, we did the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean challenge. We had to close our eyes and pick one from the box and put it right in our mouths without looking. Most of them were gross (like earwax and vomit), but some of them were good.

We were walking around town a little bit and we saw a bakery. We got lunch there. Here are some photos of our healthy lunch L.O.L!

After that we went to a gift shop were my brother and I put on THE sorting hat from the Harry Potter movies. I am a Hufflepuff! Sam is a Ravenclaw! And mom got us pins, yay!

We put our pins on and then we were walking around town a little more and went for tea. My brother got chocolate cake and Sprite. I had carrot cake and rooibos tea.

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At 4 o’clock we had to catch the train back, but it was not on the Harry Potter train. We drove back to the AirBnB where I met a girl named Lydia. We became great friends! While we were playing together, Sam was playing with their dogs. Lydia and I asked if we could groom Bryony (her pony). Her mom said yes, so we groomed her. It was so fun!

We were talking when our parents called us – “I can’t see you! It is so dark! Come, Charlotte, it is time to go to the house.”

I said, “Okay, I hope I see you tomorrow! Bye bye.”

So we went back to the house and watched the second Harry Potter movie. It was great! Then we went to bed. When I woke up, I asked if I could go see the horses, so I went outside and guess who I saw? Lydia! I was so happy so we played a little more, but then she had to go to school. It was goodbye. I was sad. I still miss her but it was so much fun and I enjoyed meeting her. Then I had to go.