The enchanting Highlands

BOAT OF GARTEN, Scotland - There’s no boat at Boat of Garten, a village on the west bank of the Spey River in the Highlands of Scotland, but there’s a Royal Scotsman.

The Royal Scotsman is a splendid, luxurious “cruise on wheels,” as one of my fellow passengers, a vivacious gemologist from South Carolina, describes it. But no endless ocean vistas here. The original 17th-century settlement, Gart, changed its name to Boat of Garten in honor of the ferry crossing the Spey when a road and a rail system arrived with the Industrial Revolution.

Passenger travel ceased in 1965, freight in 1968. Today, the station, an iconic relic of the days when trains ruled the countryside, is an overnight parking place for the Royal Scotsman on tracks maintained by a private group of railroad enthusiasts called the Strathspey Railway.

The Royal Scotsman speeds through the wild Scottish countryside on iron, not brine, through deep-green forests of pine, moors that turn purple in August and September when the heather is in bloom, golden fern-covered hills, bright green meadows dotted with black-faced sheep and shaggy Highland cattle, remote castles steeped in mystery and romance, whitewashed villages and calm wide lochs that reflect the changing colors of the sky.

It rains a lot in Scotland; as the saying goes, “If you can’t see the sky, it’s raining, and if you can see the sky, it’s going to rain.” When the sun shines, though, magic takes firm hold.

Two-, three-, four- and five-day journeys on the Scotsman begin in Waverly Station in Edinburgh. The train heads north along Scotland’s east coast, and soon we are crossing the magnificent 1880s cantilevered railroad bridge over the Firth of Forth.

It was on the middle of this bridge that Robert Donat stopped the train and climbed out onto the girders to escape his pursuers in Alfred Hitchcock’s great early thriller “The 39 Steps.” It’s easy to see why Mr. Hitchcock chose this bridge for the scene; it’s one of the greatest engineering achievements of the Victorian age.

The Royal Scotsman takes on 36 passengers in 16 twin and 4 single cabins, all with private bathrooms and good beds, furnished in cozy country style. Two dining cars — the Raven and Victory, named to commemorate the end of World War II — and an observation car with a small platform at the rear of the train bracket our coaches.

The observation car is awash in sofas, chairs and little tables just right for holding the champagne and whiskey that flow throughout our journey. From the narrow galley between the two dining cars, chef Dan Hall and his assistant, Craig Grozier, produce a delicious array of dishes morning, noon and night: fish from the sea and the rivers of Scotland; lamb, beef and game from Scottish meadows; salmon smoked and baked; wicked desserts; and wines from around the world. Even the breads and breakfast croissants are baked on board.

The passengers are a mixed group, about half American and the rest from Switzerland, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. As mixed as the nationalities are the occupations of the travelers, including a charming nurse from New York traveling with her mother, an engineer who worked with the Danish underground during World War II, a screenwriter traveling with her son on the way to see if she can persuade Sean Connery to star in her movie, an international financier, a psychologist and a honeymooning couple.

The train races through the old Kingdom of Fife as we enjoy a Scottish tea with sandwiches and Dundee cake, and up the east coast to Keith, a small agricultural town where witches once were roasted with abandon.

We disembark and head by bus for the Strathisla Distillery, the oldest working distillery in the Highlands, where goblets of 18- and 12-year-old Chivas Regal await us. Like most of the 40 distilleries in the area, Strathisla is distinguished by its pagodalike chimneys. We’re told that whiskey is the only industry we’ll find north of Perth.

Two men are warming up drums and accordion when we arrive, and they furnish the tunes for a spirited lesson in country dancing, a traditional Scottish ceilidh (pronounced “kaylee”), which is much like American square dancing.

The next morning, we continue north to Elgin (pronounced in Britain with a hard “g”), an ancient viking settlement with ruins of a once-magnificent cathedral. The cathedral was built in 1224, burned in 1279, restored in the 14th century and destroyed in the following centuries; all that remain are a structural skeleton and the graveyard.

Elgin is also home to one of the Highlands’ best-known shopping emporiums. At Johnston’s, visitors can buy Scottish goods galore, as varied as soft cashmere sweaters and dresses, crunchy shortbread, colorful local pottery, candles, socks, and leather goods.

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