Oban, Mull, Lochs and Waterfalls

Oban has to have the steepest streets we have ever seen.  The view out the breakfast window of our B and B is superb, and that is because it is at the TOP of one of these hills.  So the two nights we walked back certainly gave us our cardiovascular workout for the day.  Part of the way is a walkway with handrails, and you just about need these to pull yourself up the hill.

View from the B and B of the harbour

View from the ferry.  Our B and B was just to the right of McCaig's Tower, the round structure, just a bit higher!!

Looking out the window was beautiful and we could have spent the morning looking at the sunshine with the boats moving around below us.  But we were booked on the ferry to take us to the Isle of Mull.  The B and B owner was nice enough to drive down in front of us to direct us through these steep, windy and sometimes one way streets to the ferry port.

We couldn't believe how the weather had changed.  The day before was a bitterly cold with a fierce wind and showers most of the day.  Now we had beautiful sunshine, and the 45 minute ferry ride was far more than we were expecting.  The scenery passing us was breathtaking and we went quite mad with the camera.

Views from the ferry

Arriving at Mull, we were surprised to discover just how big it was, and the realisation hit us that we could not possibly see all we had planned, so we needed to choose either go to the north or the south.  We opted to visit the small island of Iona, which was 35 miles to the south.  This took is directly through the island with beautiful rugged hills and then down the western side coast with its little villages.  We missed the ferry to Iona by just a minute or two so had to wait half an hour for the next one.  We parked the car and braved the cold wind while waiting for our ten minute ferry ride across.  The weather had suddenly changed and the blue sky was replaced by threatening clouds.

Iona is of great historical importance to Scotland.  It is where St Columba came across and set up a monastery in 563, spreading Christianity throughout Scotland.  We toured the abbey and found the museum there quite interesting with its displays of stone.  Heading back down the hill, we found the ferry waiting, so opted to catch this one rather than continue walking around in the cold.

The Nunnery a ruin on Iona

The Abbey

View from the Abbey

View back to Iona

Back on Mull, the weather suddenly changed again, and the sun came out.  How strange that it was so different when on Iona.

By this stage we only had two hours left until we had to line up for the ferry and it was an hour's drive back.  We drove in to look at Duart Castle from the outside, although we had seen terrific views of it from the ferry.  All we then had time for was a ten mile drive north to Salen where we finally found a coffee shop and it was then back for our ferry crossing.

Duart Castle

The ferry disgorging vehicles

Homeward bound on the ferry

What wonderful scenery we had seen.  Heading out to dinner at twilight, we detoured to McCaig's Tower where the view would be hard to beat at that hour.

Inside the tower

Magnificent views from the outside

Friday morning we had another delicious breakfast from Fiona, a lovely lady who we chatted to for some time to suddenly discover it was now 10.00 am.  What great value these B and B's are.  We have had lovely bedrooms with ensuites, and this one cost us 60 pound, about $100 Au dollars with a beautiful huge breakfast.

Foodwise has been interesting this week.  At Dornoch where we had dinner was very Scottish fare.  I had chicken breast stuffed with haggis, and breakfast has also included black pudding, which Jim was surprised to find was very palatable. It looked very different to what I remember my Dad eating.

Lucky we didn't have a great distance to cover today after our late start.  We turned and headed east, past even more beautiful scenery.  We couldn't resist a ten mile detour so that we could have lunch on the banks of Loch Lomond.  Some things you just have to tick off.  On the way back we stopped off at the Falls of  Falloch.

Loch Lomond

Falls of Falloch

Our next stop was Killen and we were amazed to find the Falls of Donarcht that we had driven in to see were actually tumbling through the middle of the town.  We also
walked to an ancient stone circle a short distance away.  All along on our travels today we have seen loch after loch, some big, some small, but all presenting beautiful vistas.

Back on the road and our next detour was to the grave of Rob Roy, although it seems that no one is really all that sure whether he lies there or not, but are claiming it anyway.  We are right in the middle of his territory now, stopping at Callander for the night.  Tomorrow it is on to Braveheart territory.