Oban

October 11, 2012

Today was wet and windy.  We left Balmaha and traveled back through Milton of Buchannan, Buchannan, Smithy, Drymen and around the bottom and up along the west side of Loch Lomond.  We drove through West Dunbartonshire, Gartocharn, Inverbeg, Firkin Point, (be careful there!) to Tarbet.  Wait a minute,  weren’t we in Tarbet in Ireland?  Sure enough.  But this is one of 2 Tarbets in Scotland.  Here are some morning pictures of the west side of Loch Lomond. 

And, we are going back to California, selling the teeny tiny house and moving to Aldochlay.  Here is a picture of our new home and the view from the front windows.  That’s one of the 30 islands in Loch Lomond.  This one is called Swan Island.  Very nice, don’t you think? You’ll come visit, right?

Back on the road through Arrochar, Rest and Be Thankful, Lochgair, Port Ann and into Inverary.  We stopped off at the Inverary Castle.  This was a marvelous old castle that has been kept up and provides an interesting slice of the lives of the Dukes of Argyll.  The castle was built in the 1600’s and the Dukes of Argyll and their families lived there until 1953, when Duke #8 turned it into a tourist attraction.  It was amazing to see the lavish rooms and gifts the Dukes had acquired over the years.  The  Dukes are Campbells and are the largest, most powerful clan in Scotland.  We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside.  Sorry.  Andy, Mike and Michael, you should have seen the weapon room.  I’ve never seen so many various types of weapons, swords, guns, and lances…. All with “Argyll” written on them.  Wow! 

It was also interesting that at this castle, in the 50's Lerner & Lowe were visiting and during the rain they decided to sit at the grand piano and write the music for My Fair Lady.  Seems reasonable since they couldn't go outside....what???? No, it is true. 

By the time we finished up at the castle it started raining.  We’ve been expecting a pretty big storm and so we headed on our way.  We were driving along Loch Fyne.  We drove through Auchindrain, Furnace, Minard, Tullchgorm, and Lochgilphead.  With a short side tour to see the Temple Largie Cairns.  I didn’t get out of the car as it was pouring.  But bc did go and take these amazing pics.  These graves are from the Bronze age. 

We stopped in Kilmartin at a pub and had lunch.  We had pots of crab, with a small salad and roll.  It wasn’t crab like our Dungeness, but still good.  Back on the road and another side track to Ardfern.  We saw this huge arm and finger and decided we must follow it.  Here are some pictures:

No, we had nothing to do with this boat fire.

Back on the road, enjoying the beautiful fall colors.  The trees are at their peak color-wise.  We drove through Cairbaan, Arduaine, Killmeford, Melfort, Kilninver, and Knipocch into Oban.  Bc did a great job driving around the city of Oban in the rain.  We found our B&B, Alt Na Craig House.  It’s a lovely castle.  Our room has a fabulous sea view, great shower and a really nice breakfast.  Mom, I’ve come over to the tea side.  Every morning I would order coffee and try to disguise the coffee taste with cream and sugar and it never was good.  I am a coffee sissy.  This morning I ordered tea and oh my, that was perfect. 

Last evening we took a cab to eat at EE-USK.  Wow!  It was very good.  Seafood is obviously big here and the food doesn’t fall short.  We cabbed back to the B&B, tired but happy. 

This morning it is still raining.  The internet is terrible, so we will have to go somewhere else to post this.  We decided to take it easy today.  It feels good to just stop.  We’ll be here another night.  Oh!   Good news!  No, we didn’t find the BBOY.  But there is a quilt shop in downtown Oban!  Right across the street from the Oban Distillery.  Just down the street from the chocolate shop.  What more can you ask for? 

Take care, bc and gc