Advertisement
Happy Birthday, Amber! The day began beautifully with the sun trying to shine through the clouds covering the sky around the bay. Cindy prepared an excellent breakfast of scrambled brown eggs, which have a slightly stronger 'egg' taste to them (fortunately mine was covered up by the cheese) than regular white eggs, with toast and jam. Today we're taking the car on the ferry across to the Isle of Mull and driving around the inhabited portions of the island to visit some restored castles (what else?!) and the coastal town of Tobermory. The ferry ride will take 45 minutes across the bay and through the ocean strait that runs between the mainland of western Scotland and the Isle of Mull.
We arrived at the ferry at 9:30am as instructed so that we could load our car on and be ready to depart Oban at 10am. The ferries are huge and ours actually backs in and up to the ramp so that we will drive in the stern and drive out the bow, which hinges up as you can see in the picture, when we arrive at Mull. After parking our car in the hold which is filled to capacity
with other vehicles, we make our way upstairs to the passenger deck where we get some seats and wait for departure. I was going to go up to the observation deck and take some photos and video of our ferry leaving Oban, but it began to rain very hard which made trying to do either one impossible. The sea was rough, by my standards, and I got slightly queasy in spite of the Dramamine that my mother-in-law shared with me. Nothing serious, just a little queasy.
We arrived at Craignure, the ferry port town (a bar, a general store and the ferry terminal) on the Isle of Mull, and drove off to our first destination. The sun had long been defeated by rain-filled clouds and a wind that would chill you to the bone, but we had places to go and...dead people to see.
About a mile down the road from Craignure is the Torosay Castle and Gardens. Torosay is a Victorian home built in 1856 that is surrounded by 12 acres of gardens. We started by trying to tour the gardens, which were beautiful and well-kept, but the freezing rain and gusty wind drove us inside before
we could complete the garden tour. Once inside, we did get to see some of the parts we missed by looking out the upper floor windows.
Unlike earlier castles we've visited, Torosay has large, bright rooms that are airy and welcoming with warm, cozy furnishings. This castle was a little more personable than some as it traced the family history through the centuries to present day with portraits on the walls and beautiful, descriptive calligraphic notecards spread throughout detailing interesting facts and history. The family still lives in the upper floors of the castle, leaving the bottom 3 floors as a historical legacy for all to enjoy. All of the rooms were beautiful and inviting but I, of course, fell in love with the lord of the manor's library, as you can see in the accompanying picture. I could have stayed in that one room all day, but we had another castle to go visit.
As we made ready to leave Torosay, we looked across the small bay and spied our next destination, Duart castle. In the acompanying photograph it is the structure rising up from the far horizon to the left of center and to the right
of the yellow flowers called gorse.
Duart is a 13th century fortress that was rebuilt into Duart Castle 100 years ago by Sir Fitzroy Maclean, chief of the clan Maclean. Today, his great-grandson Sir Lachlan Maclean makes it his home and it is visited by Macleans from all over the world, often serving as the focal point for reunions. It is also the oldest inhabited castle in all of Scotland.
The lower floors are restored as they were some 600 years ago, with recreations of the servant's working areas and the dungeons that were used to hold and torture prisoners. Further up are the areas where cannons faced out to the ocean to defend the fortress from attack. Even the narrow, curving, stone staircases were designed to allow a swordsman to defend the upper floors from attack below without interfering with his sword hand. The upper floors are the former living quarters where you can see the great room, dining room and bedrooms and baths. Above that you can step out onto the battlement/observation area. The entire western side of the castle is currently inhabited by Sir Maclean and his family, including grandchildren. Like the Torosay, Duart is
Torosay Gardens
Cindy, her mom and dad. made available for the public to enjoy and learn the history of this great Scottish clan.
It was getting past lunchtime, so we went to the cafe across from the castle and had some delicious, hot, homemade soup and freshly baked scones that really warmed us up nicely.
Next it was on to the Aros Main castle ruins. It was raining and windy still, so Cindy's mom and dad remained in the car while we began making our way up the slight hill to view the ruins. We had a funny episode with this little exploration. The hill was only perhaps 300 feet high, but the trail we were following was rough and treacherous. About halfway up, I looked down and saw 2 older women coming up the trail and then I was distracted helping Cindy up the trail and lost sight of them. About 10 minutes later, as I stepped onto the highest spot of the ruins I looked and there were the 2 ladies already inside and at the top; they had come up a much easier path that we had completely missed! We laughed about that as we took the easy way down the rain-soaked
Torosay Gardens Statue
Cindy and her mom walk past the central statue. path.
From there it was northward to Mulls's only town, Tobermory, which sits right on the ocean. We walked the small town center, checking out the various shops. One reason we came here is because Cindy read that there was a place with Internet access and we thought I could upload a post or two. Well, there WAS a place with Internet access, but it was dial-up, so I passed. The other reason we came was to visit the Tobermory Distillery, home of the famous Tobermory Single Malt Scotch that's aged 10 years. We took the tour, which lasted about 30 minutes, and then got to sample some of the Scotch. I'm not a big Scotch drinker, but this was a good single malt. The town sits under a loch which Tobermory owns, so they use their own fresh local water for the distilling process. We bought two liters, one for us and one for Jason.
Cindy was really beginning to come down with a bad cold that she either picked on the airplane or because of all the rain and wind she had walked in. The Scotch would make a very expensive hot toddy, but we hoped
Torosay Castle Entrance
Cindy, her mom and dad enter the castle. it would help her feel better. We drove back to Craignure, caught the last ferry back to Oban at 7pm and arrived back home around 8:30. We gave Cindy a healthy shot of Tobermory Scotch and sent her off to bed. Well, actually, I had to carry her up the stairs because she is a cheap date when it comes to liquor.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0644s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
AnnMarie
non-member comment
I hope Cindy is feeling better. Jason can't wait to try the scotch! That library looked awesome :)