An early start meant that we had checked out by 7:45am and we were waiting in the queue for the ferry to Oban. It had soon arrived and I had my obligatory hot chocolate which was the best one I've had on a boat during this holiday as it was made by hand, not machine! We went outside to look for dolphins or porpoises and I'm pretty sure I saw one in the distance but none decided to swim up right next to the boat. 45 minutes later after our very last and of course, calm crossing, we were in Oban, Mainland Scotland. We parked pretty soon after we arrived and immediately made our way to McCaigs Tower which we both remember going to when we were little. This was designed by John Stuart McCaig who was a wealthy banker and architect who had originally planned to build the monument to his family in the form of something akin to the Colusseum in Rome, as he admired Roman and Greek architecture.
We then made our way into town amongst the shops and finally found me some Edinburgh Rock which I absolutely love! Back in the car we went to Dunollie Castle, which is a very overgrown ruin just outside Oban, and then on to Dunstaffnage Castle before we went to look for a place to eat. Dunstaffnage Castle was built in the 13th century by the MacDougall Lords of Lorn, and since the 15th century by Clan Campbell - it's also one of the oldest stone castles in Scotland, as is Castle Tioram which we visited earlier on this holiday. Just outside Oban, there wasn't that much in the way of eateries, but we did find a place called Poppies which had a restaurant, gift shop and a Garden Centre, although 'coffee shop and restaurant' came first on their sign! Inside, the menu provided lots of choice. Mathew had a jacket potato with coronation chicken, whilst I had a ploughmans platter. I also tried an almond latte (decaf of course) which was quite interesting and rather nice, not quite as nice as hazelnut but it was a rather nice twist on a nutty coffee!
Afterwards, we decided to check in even though it was just after 2pm. Mathew was feeling rather lethargic today, and as we didn't have much travelling to do today, thought it was a good idea. We were staying at the Wide Mouthed Frog which looked really nice when I saw it online, plus I loved the name of the place! We found it in Dunstaffnage Marina and went straight to check in. We were taken to our room which was in an external building with two other rooms, and ours was really nice and spacious with a spacious bathroom too. The window was triangular and we soon realised that the curtain was one drawn up from the bottom like a sail which was great fun!
We decided to book a table for this evening, I had penne with bolognaise which was delicious, and Mathew had....fish and chips again!
No comments:
Post a Comment