A day in Oban

A couple of weeks ago I had organized my 5 days in Oban by booking 2 whole day excursions, the first being being a 14 hour trip to the island of Coll, and the second being an 8 hour trip to Staffa. But unfortunately when I was waiting for my train in Glasgow the ferry company informed me that due to a storm both trips had been cancelled. So- this morning I didn’t have any plan in place. I told Peter of my disappointment and he suggested a couple of alternatives. It was a gloomy, wet start to the day and it stayed that way the whole day.

First I took a walk up the North coast to the ruins of a castle begun 1000 years ago. It mainly consists of overgrown ruins today but the family still live on site in a manor house. I explored a deserted beach and walked back into town through an impressive avenue of trees, past an ancient sea stack that is now in the middle of the woods and past some Mesolithic cave dwellings.

After lunch chez moi I headed out for a sail to Kerrera, only 10 minutes on a tiny boat. It’s this island across the mouth of

Oban Bay that protects the bay and make it the Centre if Scotland’s fishing industry.

We even passed Heather Island! The only other 2 passengers were people who either work or live in the island. It has a

population of 30. I hiked up the hill to the monument which commemorates the man who began the CalMac ferry services which are a lifeline to these scattered Inner Hebrides. By now the rain was coming down seriously and I stopped to don my waterproof pants!  Next I tried to hike the length of the island ( it’s only 5 miles long) but when I got to a path through a field full of Highland cattle I

chickened out and retraced my steps, past a Jacob sheep with 4 large horns, some brown spotted pigs, one enormous pig in its own pen, and lots and lots of rabbits everywhere. A glass of wine on the patio of the bar and grill(which operates the ferry) was just the ticket before returning to Oban in the ferry. The rain stopped and I wandered around some of the streets, exploring the modern catholic cathedral and did some window shopping.

I needed to find some food to take back home and Peter had told me of a ‘goat’ track leading from the house to Tesco. I found it, amazingly enough and purchased some supplies.

Back home after dinner and a nice bath it was time to get started on my travel journal- courtesy of Anna.