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rustyruth Posts: 18773 Joined: 23rd Oct 2012 Location: England | quotePosted at 20:57 on 17th June 2014 Tuesday morning and it's another warm sunny one. We had a bit of a lazy start to the day today, and what a great place to be lazy, no noise apart from the wildlife and wonderful views of the mountains, there also seems to be an abundance of rabbits around this morning too. I'm sore in places from yesterday that I didn't know I had, ouch. When we finally got motivated around 11.00am we drove through Oban and out on the road South to a village called Clachan, where a very pretty stone bridge crosses the Atlantic Ocean onto Seil Island. Around 5 miles South of Clachan is the very small village of Cuan. A ferry leaves from here to cross the 200 metre stretch of Atlantic Ocean to the island of Luing. We have by now realised the locals are very proud of the fact that they can cross the Atlantic in a matter of seconds using the Clachan bridge, or 2 minutes using the Cuan ferry. Well 2 minutes using the ferry, but not between 12 noon and 1.30pm during which time it stops running for lunch. No signs tell you this, we just happened upon a local man, who after he'd got over his disappointment at us not being American tourists, (he wanted to tell the tale of being able to cross the Atlantic in 2 minutes) informed us that the ferrymen would be back at 1.30pm. It was only 12.50pm so we decided to sit on the slipway and eat our lunch. Sure enough at 1.30pm two men appeared one carrying a cat in a basket, the other a mattress. They lowered the car ramp and loaded on the waiting vehicles, all two of us, the others who'd arrived later had to wait, the ferry only has room for two. We were still wondering about the cat and the mattress but didn't ask. 2 minutes later as promised we had made our Atlantic crossing on to Luing. Luing is one of the Slate Islands, it has a population of around 200 people mostly living in the two villages of Toberonochy and Cullipool. Toberonochy was our first port of call, about 5 miles away on the Southern tip of the island. On the way we came across the ruins of an old church called Kilchatten, ignoring the "Dangerous ruins keep out" sign we stopped to take some photos. Close by was a cenotaph bearing the names of all the men from the Island lost during the two World Wars, a surprising number of names for such a small place. On arrival at Toberonochy we found a tiny village of whitewashed ex slate workers cottages, a small slate beach with the wreck of a ship called Crystal Waters and that was it. A few photos later we set off to try our luck in Cullipool, where we again found a small village of whitewashed ex slate workers cottages. The difference here was that instead of a wrecked ship there was a shop, or should I say the shop, the only one on the island, owned and run by a very nice lady from.......wait for it.......Manchester !! Having covered the length and breadth of the island on the two single track roads we headed back to the ferry. We noticed the cat and the mattress had gone. Back on Seil Island we stopped off for a quick look at the pretty village of Ellenabiech, another ex slate workers village, but with a few more shops, a museum and a visitors centre. I took a few pictures and then we set off to drive back to Oban to grace Tesco with our presence yet again, then it was back to the cabin to sit and enjoy the evening sun, eat, and write this drivel. Tomorrow we are going on the 9.50am ferry to Mull. I forgot to buy wellies, and since leaving Loch Lomond on Saturday we haven't seen a midge !!! Just as a matter of interest. |
Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England | quotePosted at 21:16 on 17th June 2014 Another great informative read Ruth. We stayed in Oban for a week some years ago and didn't see half the places you have today. I really like the idea of crossing the Atlantic!! You will enjoy tomorrow, Mull is a lovely Island even though the day we went it rained for a lot of the day. Hope you realise you have now offered the midges a challenge they will not be able to ignore  Look forward to tomorrow's masterpeice |
| rustyruth Posts: 18773 Joined: 23rd Oct 2012 Location: England | quotePosted at 21:46 on 17th June 2014 Thanks Dave, we think we've solved the midge riddle, well at least round the chalets anyway. The lady who owns them has installed some two foot high electronic gizmos called Midge Magnets at various places around the site. Well it's either them or my £2 for 50 citronella candles from Poundland :) Looking forward to Mull tomorrow and the forecast is for even hotter than today. Looks set to last until at least Monday next week, but this is Scotland so it can change in 10 minutes. Our house goes on the market the day we get home next week, if it wasn't for mum being around still and me being an only child I think we'd be looking to buy around here. |
| Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England | quotePosted at 22:07 on 17th June 2014 Aye it is a lovely part of the country. The highlands are a very close second to the lakes for me |
| rustyruth Posts: 18773 Joined: 23rd Oct 2012 Location: England | quotePosted at 22:29 on 17th June 2014 They are both beautiful Dave, but we could afford to buy here if circumstances were different, the Lakes, I don't think we could get what we want for our budget there, a bit like Cornwall too expensive. It reminds me a bit of New Zealand here - empty, in a nice way |
Vince Hawthorn Posts: 12758 Joined: 19th Apr 2010 Location: UK | quotePosted at 23:18 on 17th June 2014 Another great chapter Ruth, an interesting day out and sounds very photogenic and the area sounds a world away, I wrote that half an hour or so ago !!! Got a phone from the guy who lives above the shop next door to mine- BURGLAR ALARM AGAIN. Last week it went off on the Wednesday aftrnoon ( early closing day and my day off as well ), that was the mountain of duvets had fallen over- we are overrun with them at the moment. Tonight no apparent reason, the duvets are still neatly stacked - must have been a moth out for a slap up meal. Blooming shop !!! |
| rustyruth Posts: 18773 Joined: 23rd Oct 2012 Location: England | quotePosted at 23:50 on 17th June 2014 Thanks Vince, it was another very nice day, this heat is getting a bit draining though, never thought I'd say that about Scotland Burglar alarms, well I have an opinion about them. Complete and utter waste of time and money. Between David and myself, we've just had a think, we can't come up with more than 2 occasions when a burglar alarm has been a genuine break in. That's over a 30 year period. Buy a copy box off a well know auction site. Install a battery so it flashes, attach it to the wall and it looks like the real thing for about £10. Trouble is of course being a shop your insurance company probably demand the real thing, another scam. Its like car alarms, who takes any notice ?
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| rustyruth Posts: 18773 Joined: 23rd Oct 2012 Location: England | quotePosted at 21:09 on 18th June 2014 Wednesday morning, warm and sunny again. We still have the early morning rabbits, they have today been joined by a lone sheep. Sandwiches packed we leave at 8.45am to drive to Oban for the first ferry to Mull. We arrive in plenty of time to find that the free car park we found is already full, so onto plan B, find somewhere else. Car parked we head off to the ferry terminal, we get our tickets only the find that the queue for the ferry resembles Manchester Airport on a Bank Holiday Monday. There are coach loads of people from all over the world, well America and Germany mainly waiting to board. The ferry is due to sail at 9.50am, it's 9.45am and there's no sign of it. A nice lady from CalMac reorganises the queuing system which has by now got badly out of hand. The passengers from the UK have grasped how a queue works, it seems people from other nations are having a bit of trouble with the concept. Following the reshuffle we somehow end up at the front. It seems the ferry is late because there is a massive fog bank out to sea between the mainland and the Isles. It eventually arrives at 10.10am we are all quickly herded on board. David and I find a nice seat on deck out of the sun, strangely enough we are alone. When we enter the fog bank we suddenly realise why, we are sat directly underneath the fog horn !! We move. Out of the fog and three quarters of an hour later we dock in Craignure. We find the coach to take us the four miles to Duart Castle, the home of Chief McClean and his clan. The driver tells us that it's going to be 28 degrees on Mull today, great more burnt bits. The drive to the castle is along a single track road, it seems most of the roads on the island are like this. They also now have a badly filled in ditch along the right hand side where the Scottish Government have paid for all the Islands to have super fast broadband installed, but have neglected to fund the repair of the roads after the cables have been laid. Along the way we're treated to a potted history of the castle, I won't bore you, it's easy to Google it. The driver was very passionate about "his" island and it's history, we couldn't fail to note though that he was English not Scottish. The castle itself was very interesting enough. It was nice to see that the coach loads of tourists from the ferry had headed off elsewhere and the castle and it's surroundings were nice and quite. Chief McClean was wandering around the grounds with two animals, one a West Island Terrier, the other we couldn't decide whether is was an odd looking cat or a deformed chicken. One little girl and her Gran had it down as a chicken, that was until it rolled over and it had four legs. We must be right, it was a cat - no, we had to ask the Chief, turned out it was a Pekingese dog - whoops !! He was very understanding and told us that everyone thought it was a cat, we thought it wise not to mention the chicken business. David had taken a small telescopic fishing rod with him so when we'd seen all there was to see inside the castle we headed off down to the seashore. After lunch he wandered down to the rocks to do some fishing, whilst I sat and watched the boats and ferries appear and disappear into the fog bank. I also spotted some cotton grass growing and thought it would make a nice picture, it did, but I was suddenly reminded that it grows in boggy ground, ah well, I suppose the mud will wash off. We'd intended to take the 5.00pm ferry back to Oban but had a change of mind and thought that the 3.00pm one might be a quieter option, as all the day trip coaches would be re appearing for the later one, and it would be another battle ground. We were right, the 3.00 pm one was nice and quite, strangely as well just as we boarded the fog bank that had been there all day just vanished, and we had a wonderful view of the Lismore Lighthouse which had been invisible on the way out. We arrived back in Oban around 4.00pm, had a quick wander round to find me some wellies, then tea was fish and chips in a lovely little place on the harbour front. The Highland cows didn't let us down on the drive back to the chalet, they'd managed to block the road again, this time they'd used the calves. Two brown ones and the little light coloured one from yesterday's photo, the adults sort of get the message eventually that you want to pass, the little ones don't, they just stand there looking cute and make you wait. We eventually made it back, I'm sat outside in the evening sun now with a glass of cold white wine composing this gobbledygook. David has nipped down to the loch with his fishing rod, I think he's still trying to even the score from Saturday. No plans yet for Thursday, so anything could turn up tomorrow. |
Martin Humphreys Posts: 58 Joined: 31st May 2012 Location: England | quotePosted at 21:15 on 18th June 2014 Great stuff Ruth ... brings it all back to me from last year when we had a fantastic 2 weeks in Scotland.... and you have the weather too. What more could you want ?... apart from a midge free zone of course. |
| Vince Hawthorn Posts: 12758 Joined: 19th Apr 2010 Location: UK | quotePosted at 21:31 on 18th June 2014 Another great chapter in the saga of Scotland and a very interesting and amusing monologue. I did note when watching the weather today that you and David were due another hot day.zzzzzzzz splat. |
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