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Loch Garry (Scotland Map)
Loch Garry (Scotland Map)
We bid farewell to the Isle of Skye and headed towards our next night's stop, Oban. Our first sight was a brief stop to see Loch Garry, a lake that has the shape of the country of Scotland. It is a bit hard to see in the photo due to a number of trees blocking the view. We again stopped briefly to see the Commando Memorial near the village of Spean Bridge. Around noon we reached Lochy Bridge near Fort William where we were scheduled to take a tour of the famous Ben Nevis Distillery. Since the tour would last an hour or so, we stopped nearby to pick up some lunch in a decent little convenience store or supermarket. We bought a couple of pie pastries and bags of chips to eat after we left the distillery. The tour cost 5 Pounds each, but I have to admit it really wasn't worth it. It was interesting and informative, but I'm not into Whiskey, so the sample afterwards wasn't all that tasty.
Next, we drove to the Glenfinnan Viaduct for another extended stop. For those that don't know, the Glenfinnan Viaduct is the railway bridge that was shown in
Commando Memorial (village of Spean Bridge)
Commando Memorial (village of Spean Bridge) the Harry Potter movies. Unfortunately, the steam locomotive that makes that run several times a day didn't come while we were there or it would have been even neater. After parking the bus, we hiked a ways up a road, then up a narrow trail so we could get above the viaduct for some movie-like photos. I think we were the only ones from our tour that made it that far. After hiking back down, we grabbed a coffee, snapped a photo of the Unknown Highlander Memorial nearby and were back on the road.
Our final stop before Oban was to view Bidean Nam Bian, a very cool mountainside in Glencoe. Unfortunately, not that long ago 4 young folks died there in a freak avalanche. Even in the end of May, there was plenty of snow near the top and the trail down to see it from the bottom was a bit treacherous. Manoli slipped going down and muddied up one pants leg and part of her rear end. She was a good sport about it and we continued on down the 300-year old road to the prime viewing point. After hiking back up to the bus, we
Ben Nevis Distillery Entrance Plaque
Ben Nevis Distillery Entrance Plaque made the last leg of our trip to Oban. Tonight we are staying in the Oban Backpackers Hostel. The hostal is quite decent, with a great lounge area, 5 decent hot shower stalls and free coffee of course. For dinner, we walked a ways down the street to a Fish and Chips place that was recommended. Since the food was so inexpensive, Manoli ordered a Scottish pie and fries, and I asked for the King Rib and a small haggis with fries. Unfortunately, either my pronunciation wasn't all that great or the guy taking the order didn't hear me well, because he handed me a piece of haddock with fries. Haddock ... haggis... I didn't think they sounded that similar, but... I was a good sport about it and we took the haddock, which unfortunately wasn't all that tasty. The King Rib on the other hand was delicious! I don't know how it was prepared, but it reminded me of a McRib with better spices, battered, and deep-fried. Like I said, delicious.
After that, we spent some time talking to a coupe of Spanish folks and two young French guys, but doing my blog and hitting the hay.
Ben Nevis Distillery
Ben Nevis Distillery Tomorrow, we return to Edinburgh, the end of our tour here, but since we won't get there until 5pm or so, it should still be an interesting day.
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Rich Hardin
non-member comment
Love the pictures!
It sounds like you both are having fun! Enjoy yourselves and keep posting pictures.