Oban

Wednesday 12 June, we decided to take a cab to the airport when it started to rain. Paying for the cab seemed much better than schlepping our luggage about a mile to Waverly Station and sitting wet in the car.  It was an excellent choice!  Robin (having some experience driving in Europe) got first drive.  She did a very good job but it was still very stressful for both of us. 

Enroute to Oban we stopped at Stirling Castle, got a bite to go afterward at a café just outside the castle and ate it in our car.  We drove to Killin and took pictures at the Falls of Leny.  Killin was a very picturesque little town!   

Falls of Leny

We decide to head north in order to drive through Glen Coe.  It took us forever because we kept stopping to take photos… the landscape is absolutely spectacular!  When we got to the Glen Coe Visitors Center it was already closed but we drove through anyway and found a walking path.  Naturally we decided to do a bit of the walk.  With cameras in hand we started down the path, and didn’t get too far before finding something to shoot, when we were swarmed by these tiny little gnats….that felt like they were taking wee bites out of our faces…..MIDGES!  It didn’t take long for us to scrap the walk and return to the car.   At Ballachulish we were amazed to see a field of bluebells surrounded by wild rhododendrons with two churches on the property… St John’s Episcopal church.  The old church was built in 1777, the new church in 1844.  We took pictures here for quite some time and talked with two older women who arrived after us to attend to a grave.  They told us that the bluebells were really magnificent last week but had faded some since; it’s hard to imagine them looking better than they did!   We didn’t arrive at our B&B until 8:30pm.  I felt really bad for our hosts, but another couple arrived at the same time which helped.  This other couple, as it turned out, is from Folsom CA…..small world innit ?!  
 

Glen Coe

St. Johns Episcopal Church

Our B&B in Oban, Dunheanish Guest House, is at the top of a hill, just below McCaig's Tower.  It has a beautiful view of Oban Bay and we hope to get a photo at sunset if we can stay up long enough one night before we leave… like tomorrow!

View of Oban from our B&B

Today, Thursday, we got up early, walked down to the ferry terminal and caught the first ferry to  Craignuire in Mull.  From there we took a bus to Tobermory where we had booked a photo outing with Sam Jones of Islandscape Photography.  We had a really lovely day.  Sam is great fun, offering helpful advice and taking us to some beautiful places to photograph.  I can’t say enough nice things about her tour!  Unfortunately for me, I had put my camera battery in the charger overnight and forgot it in the morning.  My backup battery was not fully charged so I had to be very conservative with my shooting and the battery didn't last the day. 

Pony Mull

 

Mull

Mull

Mull

 
While the view from our B&B is fabulous, the walk up isn't .... so we ate after we got off the ferry, despite being a bit on the grubby side.  We had dinner at Ee-Usk on the dock, a restaurant recommended by Sam, before making the uphill climb to our room.  

It was laundry night, as we are out of socks and other essentials!  Robin is softly snoring, and I am soon to follow!  I hope to add photo's to this post tomorrow!