I finally found my hotel which was on top of a little pub a bit out of the way but Oban is so small it was literally a block from the harbor. Oban was built around the Oban Distillery where they make the good stuff. It has now become a ¨gateway to the islands¨and has a pretty large ferry terminal with boats leaving for all of the western islands. They are also quite famous for their fish and chips.
My hotel was cheap, so I shouldn´t complain, but it was the weirdest set up. I had the ¨family room¨with three beds and a tiny little bathroom and an electric kettle. No Wifi, but everyone told me that wifi was all around (not really the case) but for 20 pounds a night, I´ll take it.
I set out first to the distillery which was my primary activity for this location. I got the last ticket on the last tour and went up to the tasting room to wait until my tour started. The French girl pouring the whiskey explained a lot about the different spectrums of whiskey and how western Scotland had more peaty whiskies and eastern Scotland used dry fire, no peat. The tour was fun, got to see how whiskey was made and go through all the rooms of the distillery. I met a great group of Canadians who were lots of fun to talk to, Dana in particular! We agreed that one of the rooms (with the yeast) smelled like mac n´cheese. Had two tastings at the end, of their normal 14 year old single malt (single malt means it isn´t blended whiskey) and also what it tastes like at 11 years (like moonshine, that was so strong!).
Next I went to dinner, fish and chips, delish! Every Wednesday evening the high schoolers play bag pipes and drums out in the square which was so fun to hear. They do a really nice job, all dressed up in kilts and in their highland fineries. I went to a local pub and met a fun ginger ferryman Highlander named Jason who regaled me with stories of the area, his life, and also what I should check out in the lowlands.
The next day I took another day off. I was going to go up to Glencoe but instead I puttered around Oban a bit, getting my tickets for the boat the following day and going to the library to finish a blog post about Ireland. I also did laundry and had more fish and chips. Took some beautiful pictures of the water, the night before the water was so calm it was a complete reflection of what sat on top of it. That night it was stormy with white frothing peaks. I wandered around the harbour enjoying the smells and the different languages all around me.
Last day in Oban, checked out of the hotel and made my way to the ferry terminal. I hopped a ferry over to the Isle of Mull and then got on a bus to the end of Mull. Lovely bogs and green furry hills. Then we boarded a boat to head to the Isle of Staffa where Fingal´s Cave is. Fingal´s Cave is this fantastic grouping of basalt columns from volcanic activity thousands of years ago. The composer Mendelssohn wrote a piece about it, he was so inspired. The island was bought for a wealthy Englishman´s wife and then handed over to Scotland about a hundred years ago. No one lives on the island but they did tell us they had dropped off a guy from Google Maps who was camping and mapping the island (we even saw him and his tripod pearched on top of the cave). On our way to the island we were lucky enough to see a dozen dolphins playing around the boat. They were dipping right underneath us so we could see them quite clearly.
It was too choppy to land the boat, so we sailed around it and observed the plethora of birds and sealife surrounding the island. It was incredible to be there, that was one of those ah ha moments when you realize after all the planning that you are really there, seriously seeing it with your own eyes. I met a few people on board, a man from Arkansas and his Scottish wife who knew so much about birds it made my head spin. A nice girl named Ana who was taking a trip with her parents before starting a new teaching job in South Carolina.
Then we made our way back to the Isle of Iona where we had half an afternoon to explore. The most prominent location to go is the abbey that originated in the 6th century, founded by St. Columba. The abbey has been rebuilt and is just tremendous. I had a lovely personal tour with one of their guides, since no one else showed up for it. She took me all through the abbey and the cloisters, pointing out hidden statues in the walls and gave me a great history of the Iona Community who maintains it to this day. Once she left me, I attended a ten minute service of peace. The woman leading the ceremony sang a little bit and the acoustics in the nave were insane, it was like a choir of angels, not just one woman. I lit candles for GM, Dad, and also GF Red because it felt right to do so. I wanted them to hear the ceremony too.
I trotted down to the docks to make sure I didn´t miss my ferry and spent some time on the beach, collecting sand, playing with a stray dog who was desperate for someone to throw him a stick. We backtracked our way to Oban and I got back to my car, ready for the next drive!
At this point the car was manageable, I was really getting the hang of it. Plus the more north you go, the less people there are. I would still stop here and there to stretch and take pictures. The windy driving can sometimes get to me and make me a little nauseous so it was a multi-purpose stop.
I arrived in Ft. William at my hostel, first hostel of the trip! I found that I was sharing the room with 6 men from Birmingham, there to climb Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland. It was five boys and one of their dads. And then another guy who had just climbed the mountain and fell asleep very early, obviously well spent. So just me and 7 mountain climbers, that seemed fitting.
Next morning I drove to the Isle of Skye. I had no idea what the drive would be like, so I glanced through the GPS instructions and realized I had to cross over in a ferry boat. Oh..kay. I got to the ferry and they asked if I had a reservation which I did not. So I was in the ¨waiting line¨and just hoped that I would get on the first one. I had two lattes and walked around the Malaig marina, watching the cars pile up behind me and also in the reserved lanes. It was no bother, all us ¨waiting¨ people got on the ferry and were taken over to Skye.
Once I got to Skye I realized I had no idea what to do first. I didn't know what was the best order to do everything. So I just picked the Eilean Donan Castle to put in the GPS first... which led me right out of Skye (across the bridge). At that point I pulled over curious of where in the hell I was and realized the castle wasn't too far from the island. At the same time a group of German bikers had descended upon Skye and were zipping around cars left and right. I don´t mind passing, but they were quite terrifying and it was questionable as to what they considered ¨reasonable passing.¨
The castle is stupendous, There is a stone bridge that leads you to a tiny island where the caste sits perched in its infinite glory. I was there during low tide and saw all the orange and brown kelp covering the rocks. I tried to see some of their famous otters, but no such luck. I walked myself through the castle, learning about the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie. I thought they did a really nice job of showing you what castle life might have been like.
Next I went back to Skye and to Portree, the largest town on the island where I asked the information people the best way to drive the Trotternish Peninsula and how to get to the Fairy Pools (not to be confused with the Fairy Glen which is actually in the Peninsula, the pools are farther southwest from Portree). They gave me some suggestions and I also checked in with my Airbnb. I realized I would easily do the peninsula and do the fairy pools in the morning if the weather held steady.
My mistake was thinking the coast, the water of the peninsula was the best of the best. It really is the hills and nooks and crannies of the rocks on land that take your breath away. Don´t get me wrong, I´m always down for more water, but I started looking all around me for places to stop. I drove into the town Uig on the tip of the peninsula and got caught up in their little festival (smells of wood smoke and some pork product). I also saw kilt rock which gets its name from the stripes made by weathering.
Then I limped my sweet little Nessie over to Iona´s house near Portree and met her and Jaime her husband. They left to go to her Dad´s birthday dinner and I took a break, did laundry, wrote some postcards, and walked around their area a bit. They are both from Skye and lived in Glasgow and Inverness a bit until settling back to the island in October with their son Rory.
In the morning I headed to the Fairy Pools which aren't the easiest to find. I wanted to go early so I could guarantee a spot in the tiny parking lot and was in luck. I had the place to myself for most of my hike up. When I looked back I saw a tiny progression of colorful raincoats heading towards me. The pools are basically located in between two large mountains and it´s a progression, you can just keep walking up and finding more and more waterfalls and pools until the midges get too bad and you need to turn around. Some of the pools are deep, their colors tended to be dark blue and turquoise, some pools were shallow, showing the colorful pebbles underneath them. Waterfalls came from all directions. Wildflowers were everywhere, it was truly magical. I didn't get too close to the pools in certain areas because it was literally a huge mud patch and it was raining, but I saw what I came to see. On my way back to the car it started to pour down rain, so I timed that one well.
Next I headed to Inverness to meet up with Mary and to find my friend, the real Nessie...
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