Oban, Scotland, United Kingdom
Today we were up early for breakfast as we are heading out to tour other areas of Scotland. For breakfast Mike had waffles which were sort of like mashed potatoes inside with bacon on the side. I had the vegetarian Scottish breakfast which was huge. It included an egg sunny side up, mushrooms, a slice of baked tomato, beans, a potato scone and some type of onion/polenta sticks. It was quite yummy and even though it was a lot I ate it all. And of course I had a pot of tea to drink.
Then Sandy and I went online to find rooms for tonight in Oban and also for our last weekend. We found out that our last weekend is the Queen's Jubilee weekend and everything is filling up fast so we had difficulty finding a room. Thus we ended up in Stirling for our last stay before Edinburgh. We didn't know about the Jubilee before we came--now we know to check the calendar for holidays before we set out on any trips. This is the schedule that Sandy and I will do for the rest of the trip--each morning decide where we shall end up that day and then find a place to stay and reserve two rooms.
We were to pick our car up at noon, so Mike, Dennis and I walked to Picardy Place where we had reserved our rental car. Sandy stayed with our luggage as we had checked out of our rooms. We had reserved the car while in the U.S. as everything we had read said that's the best way to do it. We had some difficulties at first as they didn't have the size car we had ordered and wanted us to take a standard shift vehicle--no no! We didn't want to be driving on the opposite side of the road using a stick shift with our other hand. That could be a disaster. So after some discussion we ended up with a very nice!! brand new Audi with a GPS. We hadn't thought we would need a GPS until we started trying to find our way around the city and the countryside. The car only had 9 miles on it so we were scared that we might scratch it during our drive. Mike was the first driver (and turns out only driver). It took some maneuvering for him to get the car out of the parking space as it was parked so close to other cars. He then drove us back to Craigmoss where we loaded the luggage.
Once we packed the car, we said it was a good thing we ended up with a little larger vehicle as it is still crowded with the 4 of us, 4 backpacks and 4 small suitcases. Driving is really scary in the city--teensy streets with cars on the wrong side of the road. And every block or so there is a roundabout and the name of the street changes. Whew were we ever so glad to get outside and on the road to Oban.
Oban, our first planned stop, is on the sea on the westside of Scotland. Along the way there, we stopped at the Hamish Coffee Shop and the Trossachs Woolen Mill just west of Callander. We took a photo of Hamish, the "hairy coo", Scottish for hairy cows, that is, shaggy Highland cattle. At the woolen mill we watched them weaving woollens to make scarves and kilts. Since it is way past lunch time, we decided to have lunch here. Mike had cream of lentil soup and a cheese and coleslaw half sandwich. I had a cheese and pickle sandwich which was not what I thought it would be--the pickle is a pickle relish that is red--is it beets? we couldn't tell.
Of course there were chips and a pot of tea. For dessert we all shared what they called a "tablet"-- a square of brown sugar caramelised. Quite nice but it was a rather odd meal.
Once we finished lunch we drove on west through the Trossach National Forest. The Trossachs are a gently scenic terrain of hills and lochs. This is a very well-trod route as most people drive it from Glasgow to Stirling. As we made our way across the middle of Scotland, we had a gorgeous drive over mountains and by lochs. The gorse was in bloom (this is a yellow very prickly bush that can be seen everywhere). The sun was shining and the lochs looked like mirrors. We were just so astounded at the beauty of the countryside.
About 5 p.m. we made it to Oban. Oban is a small town of about 10,000 people. It is considered to be a low-key resort with a winding promenade lined by gravel beaches, fish and chip joints, a distillery (never open when we were there), and a number of restaurants. The town is right on the side of a hill and there are few if any street signs. When we arrived we had a terrible time finding our guest house, Lorne View. We drove round and round going through the Aldi parking lot several times, turning around in people's driveways, and going down dead end roads. Finally we stopped to ask someone for directions. He answered but in heavy Scottish accented English so I thanked him and we drove on. Everyone asked me if I understood what he said. I said well I think so and was actually amazed that I did get the directions correct (it had to be luck because I really couldn't tell what he said!)
When we arrived at the guesthouse, Carolyn the owner was waiting for us and took us right up to our rooms.
We are in rooms #1 and 2. We are on the front overlooking the bay and Sandy and Dennis are in the back with a cliffside of ferns out their window. Lorne View is on the cliffside overlooking the bay--and the view is absolutely gorgeous. From our window we can see across the bay to the Hebrides Islands. Above our guesthouse is an odd mini-Colosseum known as McCaig's Tower. It was begun in 1900 by a local tycoon who wanted to employ people and build a memorial but since he died before it was completed no one knows what his vision for it actually was. We didn't have time to climb the hill up to it and we were told there is nothing there. It is just a place where there is a great view of the bay (Well we can get that from our room and no climbing).
Once we had put our luggage in our rooms, we walked down the hill to the main part of Oban. We decided to have dinner at Cuán Mor Restaurant which means something like big bay (difficult to understand Gaelic being translated into English by someone with a heavy Scots accent). The restaurant is a popular, casual restaurant with its furniture and decorations made from wood, stone, and metal scavenged from the beaches. They served wonderful salmon and other seafood which we sampled of course.
After dinner we walked back up the hill (we sure have walked a lot up and down in the past couple of days). Once we got back to our room, we uploaded our photos and about 11 p.m. when it was finally getting dark we went to bed. Tomorrow we're going to try to get tickets for the ferry to Mull and Iona (wish me luck that the sea is calm as it won't be a pretty sight if it isn't).
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