I have three days in Scotland to 1) explore Glasgow for the first time and 2) do the Fort William to Mallaig scenic train ride. Is it worth spending 2 full days exploring Glasgow, leaving only one day to do 4 legs of train rides from FW to Mallaig? My concern is that it will be simply too much time sitting on a train, and that boredom will overshadow the beautiful scenery. (3.75 hrs to FW, then 1.5 scenic route to Mallaig, plus the same in reverse = 10.5 hours total). If I were to stay in Fort William one night, I would still end up spending 6.75 hours on three trains in one day. Has anyone else done this, and is it too much?
In other words, should I instead spend only 1 day exploring Glasgow, in order to have some time to slowly do the scenic train and then perhaps wind my way down through Glencoe somehow? (I will not be renting a car.)
For reference, here is my rather strange schedule -- I could use some advice! I spend a week in English cities, i.e. York, then I visit some castles (Alnwick, Bamburgh) and end up in Edinburgh on the evening of June 14. I have already been to Edinburgh, but I know it's so beautiful that it would be hard to immediately skip it and head to Glasgow. (So tentatively, that's June 15 in Edinburgh...) Then June 16, 17, and 18 must be divided up between Glasgow and FW/Mallaig, with the stipulation that I MUST end up in Glasgow on the 18th because I have a very early flight the next morning. The awkward thing is the likelihood of doing Glasgow, FW, back to Glasgow -- because it can be annoying to change hotels every night! :)
Please help! Thank you!