October 12, 2012
We had a quiet morning, resting and enjoying watching the
rain from inside our very nice B&B. Here is a picture of the B&B. It was built in 1865.
Cold, rainy and windy.
We learned that is what makes Oban scotch whiskey so good.
We caught a ride into the center of Oban from Sandy, the man
that runs our B&B. It was raining
and windy, but we set off to find the quilt store. Somehow it moved but we came upon the Oban
Distillery which was founded in 1794. We
signed up for the tour. It’s a similar
process as making Irish whiskey, but each distillery has their own way of doing
things. Scotch Whiskey is only distilled
once, whereas Irish whiskey is distilled up to 3 times.
Oban scotch whiskey is aged 14 years in oak barrels from US
Bourbon makers. Evidently there is some
law in the US that requires bourbon makers to only use a barrel once. So the bourbon makers take the barrels apart
and sell them to whiskey makers to use.
As a treat we were given a taste of Oban that was only 9 years
aged. It was 58% alcohol. It nearly took my head off and grew hair on
my chest all at the same time! I quickly
gave the rest of my taste to bc. Then we
were given a taste of the 14 year old Oban.
It is about 46% proof. At least
this taste didn’t hurt me! But I gave
the rest of my taste to bc. We did enjoy
our tour there. Especially bc!
We needed to find a place that had wi-fi, so we stumbled
into a pub/bar and had some lunch and used their wi-fi. We ate mussels and baked brie, though not made
with each other. It was good and so was
the wi-fi.
I wanted to pass on this important information I saw in a
store window while walking around town. “The
flu jab does not cause the flu.” Just so
you know.
Then we set out, in the rain and wind to find the quilt shop
and the ferry. We finally found the quilt shop, but it was closed due to some
electricity problem. Oh well. We walked all over Oban, looking for the
ferry terminal so that we could buy a ticket for our ferry ride to the Isle of
Skye tomorrow. This is one of those
times when you wonder why you travel. Bc
was clutching the lap top in one hand and holding the open umbrella in the
other, which the wind was whipping inside and out. I was clinging to his umbrella arm and I
couldn’t see a thing. You see bc had to
tip the umbrella down in order to prevent the wind from turning it inside
out. So I kept walking and bending over
so I could see out from under the umbrella.
I’m pretty sure people were standing in doorways, where it was dry,
pointing and laughing. I was
laughing. We finally gave up, because we
were so cold and wet and I suspect bc was tired of losing the
fight with the umbrella. We walked into
a hotel, traipsing through the very proper dining room looking like drown rats,
and asked the girl at the desk to call us a cab. We got into the cab, asked the lady to take
us to the ferry terminal and I sat in the cab while bc bought the tickets, then
had her take us back to our B&B.
Ah…. Home at last. It was a
perfect afternoon to light the pretend fireplace, dry out and relax.
We are off to The Seafood Temple for dinner tonight. It’s just down the hill and hopefully it
won’t be raining because we will walk.
Oh! Our very nice cab driver told
us it used to be the public restrooms.
We’re still as crazy as ever, and having fun. That’s what it’s all about, huh? Take care, bc and gc
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