Well, we had a nice run, but the rain is here at last.
We woke up in Oban to an overcast sky with a light mist. Although Dad and I both tried to sleep in, we were both wide awake well before 7. The Scot offers breakfast so we went down and had our first Full Scottish breakfast of the trip.
Outcome
Toast and jam - excellent
Bacon - good
Fried egg (over easy actually?) - okay
Grilled tomato - meh
Tattie scones - excellent but mine are better
Black pudding - tastes like haggis…meh
Tea - lovely
After breakfast it was still only a little past 9 and nothing was open. We walked to the ATM and then walked around Oban until we had seen pretty much the entire town.
Please appreciate this excellent yarn bombing of a postbox in Oban.
We headed back to the hotel, packed the car, checked out, and decided to visit McCaig’s Tower at the very top of Oban.
Me and my car celebrating not hitting anyone or losing a wing mirror on the crazy narrow and car-filled streets of Oban on the way up to McCaig’s Tower.
It’s a beautiful little folly that was built in the late 1800s by a wealthy banker who wanted to provide winter income to the fishermen in the area. The construction only took place in the winter so as to not disrupt the fishing industry. It overlooks Oban and it has a pretty garden inside.
After we got a good view of the town from the tower we drove a short way to Dunstaffnage Castle and walked through the woods and the castle and got some great views of the islands from the castle walk.
It was starting to rain in earnest (and it was cold) so we headed back to the car and started the drive to Glencoe.
It rained the entire way there and didn’t let up.
We got to Glencoe a little after noon and after going through the (very) small town, we headed to the visitor center which was really nice, and we had a bite to eat for lunch and walked through the museum. When we were done we still had some time to kill before check-in at Onich so we decided to go look for the road where they filmed James Bond: Skyfall in Glencoe.
Let the driving adventure commence.
We drove along the highway for about 10 minutes and then took a right onto a paved one-lane road. When I say one-lane, I mean there was literally enough space for one car with about 6” on either side. To let oncoming traffic pass you had to use the pull offs on either side. We drove down the road for about 15-20 minutes and got to see the Glencoe Valley from the very bottom. It was beautiful. We got to the destination and got some pictures of the area and the waterfall they used in the shots and then set Google maps for the Onich Hotel, where we were going to be spending the night.
Google had us keep going on the same road so we assumed it turned into an actual road (and not just…Bob’s Road we had been driving on up until then…). We passed an estate that had roe deer and HAIRY COOS along the way.
About 10 minutes after that I got very suspicious.
I checked and Google was just sending us to someplace to make a U-Turn so that we could just drive back the entire way we had just come.
So…more driving on Bob’s Road… I turned us around and, as it had been a fairly uneventful drive down, Dad asked to take a turn so that he could see what it was like driving on the wrong side of the car. So he drove the entire way back. I got some pictures from the passenger’s seat this time!
We switched back right before we got to the highway and a short while later we were over the bridge from Glencoe to Onich and arriving at the hotel. The hotel is probably very pretty in nice weather, it’s right up against the loch and has access to the beach down below. However today is overcast, wet, and generally unpleasant.
After getting checked in and taking our bags up, we took a quick walk on the beach and then drove back to the only shop nearby (a gas station) to get some coke and snacks to get us through until dinner at 7. When we got back it was raining and the wind was blowing too hard to make any other outdoor activities feasible, so we settled in to take a look at activities to do for the rest of the trip.
Plans are made for tomorrow! We had dinner downstairs (steak and ale pie for us both!) and watched a little TV before going to bed. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow!
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