Blogs from Oban, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

Sorry for the delay. We couldn't get WiFi @ our B &B in Oban. We are back and had our daily haggis at breakfast. It was interesting and somewhat tasty, but don’t ask what is in it! (I, Kate, will not be eating any more haggis. One tiny taste was all I could manage….) We got back on our bus and headed to Loch Lomond, which is the largest land-locked loch (lake) in Scotland. We then stopped in Luss, a WEE town on its shores. No, the Loch Ness Monster is not there! We toured a small chapel, Luss Parish Church--Memorial Church of Sir James Colquhon, dating from the 1600’s who drowned in the Loch. Very old gravestones-even Vikings were buried there- interesting to read. There were Viking graves identified by the long carved stones called ... read more

Photos of Oban and Skipinnish Ceilidh House...... read more

Plans for this day were to be for a nice few hour drive through the Western middle Highlands of Scotland. A distillery tour, a walk along a working canal and then proceeding through the Scottish hills where the Glencoe Massacre of the Campbells took place. Throughout my months of planning this region was where I most worried about encountering snowy conditions. Even before we picked-up our rental car equipped with racing slicks I feared that going through these mountain passes and valleys could be very tricky at this time of the year. We would be passing below the looming Ben Nevis Mountain where there is snow almost all year long. Imagine the countryside where Braveheart Gibson lived with his wife before she met her untimely end, or where Duncan McLeod of Highlander chases his girlfriend through ... read more

Well, sadly we did not find Nessie! We sure looked though! Instead, we headed for the Isle of Skye, where we stopped to see a few castles, beautiful scenery, and a ridiculous number of sheep! The drivers spent most of their time avoiding taking one out, as well as evading bikers, busers, etc. while on a single-track road! Next, we toured the Talisker Distillery (yuck, whiskey is icky!) and it was pretty interesting. Then, we traveled by car ferry back to the mainland. We drove to Oban with a quick stop in Glencoe, where we walked around to look at the pretty mountains and such. In Oban, we spent a LONG day touring Staffa, Iona, and Mull. We awoke at 6:30 to catch the 7:30 ferry to Mull. On Mull, our tour guide, David, drove us ... read more

Arrived in Oban for some lunch, a look around and a bit of shopping. As we were walking along the harbour side I came across a boat called the Kylebhan. I sailed on this boat in 1989 back from St Kilda. Where at the time there was a small army outpost listening to submarine traffic and a communications outpost for the the North Atlantic. Getting out to the island was on an army landing craft with a flat bottom that basically drives up onto the beach to offload. Bought a 9ft sea rod today to do some spinning on Loch Leven, which is a sea loch with Mackerel and Sea Trout, along with some Salmon. I can report that so far I have caught a lot of seaweed, but nothing remotely edible! Will continue trying tomorrow. ... read more