A luxury private train and large array of vintage cars proved the ideal way to travel for a mystery group of wealthy visitors to the west Highlands yesterday afternoon.
The tourists – believed to be from Italy – disembarked at Fort William railway station from the Belmond Royal Scotsman train, which brought the party to the town from Edinburgh.
The cars, nine in total, included several vintage Rolls Royces, a Jaguar, a Daimler, an American Oldsmobile and a Volkswagen camper van.
They were all hired from a firm based near Glasgow and driven up to Fort William to await the train’s arrival.
The chauffeur-driven vehicles were given special parking spaces together outside the station and they soon drew the attention of both locals and visitors alike.
It wasn’t long before a large crowd gathered around the cars to discover the identity their passengers were going to be.
The cost of hiring the vehicles is around £400 for four hours – the cheapest, the Volkswagen camper van is £375, but the 1939 Rolls Royce would set you back £425.
The cars were waiting at the station for more than an hour before the train pulled in.
None of the car hire staff would reveal the identity of the party and station personnel at Fort William also remained tight-lipped.
The luxurious Belmond Royal Scotsman, which can accommodate 40 guests, has its own on-board spa as well as an observation car. The price for two nights on board – which includes all meals and drinks – is around £3,000 per person.
When the wealthy visitors disembarked, they settled themselves inside the waiting cars and drove off in a convoy towards the Inverlochy Castle Hotel outside Fort William.
They even brought their own cameraman – who was positioned in the first car – to film the journey.
Rooms at the 5-star hotel start from around £350 per night.