Destination: Oban

Today is Sunday, and when I planned this trip, I picked Fort Williams as an overnight spot because I knew that there was a Catholic Church in the town with a mid-morning Mass.  But I was pleasantly surprised to find the church right next door to the Berkeley House.  It just didn’t get any easier than this to attend Mass this morning.  Norrie, the B&B proprietor had no issue with us leaving our car in their lot while we attended services.

When we exited the church after mass, rain was coming down at a pretty steady rate.  Our hope was to drive out of it as we headed to Oban.

Guess what?  Our hope didn’t work out.  We made better time than I had anticipated, so we decided to stop off and visit yet another castle before entering Oban. 

By the time we were finished walking around, it looked like someone had sprayed us with a hose.  Thank goodness for my raincoat.  I looked drenched, but stayed dry inside, and that’s what is most important, right?

You may not believe this, but it had not been in my plans to visit this castle.  It certainly wasn’t of any significance as far as we knew, but we couldn’t check into our B&B for a couple of hours, so why not?

I’m fairly certain that none of my blog followers will have heard of Castle Dunstaffnage.  And Marty and I were taking bets as to what significance this fortification would have to offer.

Yesterday, it dawned on me that every castle that we have visited has some feature that makes it unique in the eyes of the Scots. 

The biggest, the oldest, the longest continually inhabited, a unique design, visited by royalty, etc. etc.  You get my point.   

The first thing we noticed was that the castle appeared to rise out of a giant slab of rock.  Just as we thought, it was built on the edge of the peninsula right on top of a giant rock.  This castle had once held the Stone of Destiny, the rock upon which the Kings of Scotland had been crowned, for safe keeping during the Viking invasions.

It was underwent a siege by King Robert the Bruce in 1309,  and eventually became the property of the Campbell clan.  Flora MacDonald, the woman who aided Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape by dressing him up as her maid, was held prisoner here after she was  arrested by the British.  Marty made the comment that Flora surely seemed to get around, as her name kept coming up these past few days while we were visiting Jacobite History.  Flora and locks of the Bonnie Prince's hair…..wonder if there was a connection?

On the property grounds, tucked into the nearby woods, a rather large chapel ruins still stands.

You can still see the spots were windows adorned the sides.

Marty found a spot to stand under in an attempt to get dry.

That was short-lived!  You can see the rain glistening off of his jacket.

Walking back through the woods to the car park offered an entirely different perspective.

  This oasis is actually surrounded on its land-side perimeter by industrial buildings and housing developments.  Thank goodness for Historic Scotland buying up the property to preserve this beautiful area.

We decided that since we were already soaked, we should head into Oban, find a parking place, and head to the Oban Distillery, take our free tour, and worry about finding our B&B later.  I was remembering what the man at the Talisker Distillery had told us at the end of his tour:

"There's always a blue sky somewhere

and, some days, when you can't find it

a wee dram of a good whiskey might help you to find it."

I was certainly up for the challenge!

After our experience at Talisker, I figured that we would have to sign up for a tour time since it was obvious that Oban was overrun with tourists.

Much to our surprise, we were able to take a tour 10 minutes after our arrival, and only 4 other people ended up joining us.  What a difference from the other two, more remote distilleries!

Our tour guide, Marilyn,  was from France although she had more of an Eastern European accent.  I found her very difficult to understand, and had I not already gone on two distillery tours in the last week, I would have had no idea what she was trying to explain.  However, her enthusiasm was appreciated, and she was obviously excited to share what she knew about distilling whiskey in Oban, even if we couldn’t understand her.

This facility is the oldest distillery, built originally in 1795.   It is also the smallest distillery of its kind due to the fact that there just isn’t any place to expand. 

But, they still manage to produce 5000 liters of whiskey a day, but it is not stored on site for maturation.

Marilyn was excited to offer us a sample of the Oban Whiskey, and surprisingly enough, I liked it!  I’m not saying that I’m crazy about the stuff, but I popped a piece of the candied ginger into my mouth that was offered to me, swished the whiskey in my mouth, and actually enjoyed the mingling of the two tastes.   I would never have believed it.

By now, it was time to find our B&B.  It is located on a hill, in an old building built in the mid 1800’s.  We have a room on the top floor that overlooks the bay.

Now, how amazing is that?

Our B&B host, Sarah, is a hoot,  and it appears that just might be a trend.

There are two of this wooden owls standing on the banister at the turn of a landing.  Unique, to say the least. 

Before you get too excited about the room, there are a few things worth mentioning.  Apparently the hot water is not left on during the day, and I sure hope that it is up and running in the morning when I plan to take a shower.  The light in the bathroom above the mirror doesn't work, and when I asked Sarah about it, she told me that it was the end of the season for her, and she wouldn't have it fixed until winter.  Also, the bath towels look like the rags I used to use to dry Buster, there is no bath mat, and the hand towels are the smallest that I've ever seen!

I'm not complaining here…..just setting things straight regarding the accommodations.  But the owner really is quite delightful.  She is apparently ready for her winter holiday to begin next week.  and, I know that I am lucky to have found a room, and equally lucky to have the beautiful view and not a brick wall to look at!

She directed us to a fabulous place for dinner along the bay and we began our descent of the hill down into town.

Lucky for us, the rain halted for awhile, and the clouds even let a wee bit of sun shine through for a short time.  (The Talisker man must have been right!…it was the wee dram, wasn't it?"

At the restaurant, we were lucky to get a window seat. 

We were more than happy to just take our time and enjoy a leisure dinner while the sun went down.  Not that we actually saw a sunset, since the skies had since clouded over.

I snapped a few shots on our way back to the B&B, and here is one to admire.

Just lovely, don't you think?

Tomorrow we hope to take the ferry to the Island of Mull for a short adventure. We will be leaving the car parked here in the hotel and hoofing it for awhile.

Here's hoping for a break from the rain and heavy winds, or we'll be rethinking our plans for sure!