Wet West Coast, Oct 13

I'm starting to feel quite at home at Crewe train station! This time we were heading north to Scotland, Oban to be precise, to visit Susan's family. And by family, I don't just mean the two legged ones - her mum has lots of dogs who all tolerate me to some degree or other, but I always get nervous when Susan leaves me unattended with them. Unless it's Shimmy, who I like quite a lot. I think she's quite old but she is Susan's special dog and sleeps in her room.

 Although I have been to Oban before, I was excited about this trip as Susan had a few excursions planned! The wonder that is Couchsurfing had put her in touch with Brian, a South African living in the area. He had a visitor called Sebastian from Germany and they were planning a trip to Mull. Susan hadn't been to Mull in years, so she jumped at the chance to go with and play a bit of a tour guide for them. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible and the big plan of the day was to visit the White Tailed Sea Eagles. Now, I say, big plan, I wasn't too keen on the idea and made sure that Susan packed plenty of warm clothes around me just in case they could smell me from her bag! 

Thankfully for me, but unlucky for them, the Eagles had decided to hunker down somewhere else so they didn't see any. We still had an interesting hike up the hill to the nest with the ranger, and learnt lots about this species and the other birds on Mull. I think Susan would like to come back when they are ringing chicks, but I think I will make my excuses and not go on that trip! Sebastian was keen to get a photo of me with the eagle, and his sense of humour leaves a lot to be desired in my eyes - who "feeds" a meerkat to an eagle, even if it is a stuffed one!

Brian had taken his 4x4 over on the ferry, so we decided to drive to the south of Mull and visit Fionnphort, where the boat goes to Iona. Susan has visited Iona a few times with friends, but we didn't have time to take the ferry over to explore this small island, famous for its Abbey, which was founded by St Columba and brought Christianity to Scotland. I'd love to visit one day, as it's supposed to be a very tranquil place. We watched some fishermen bringing in the catch and saw the ferry make a couple of trips across the narrow Sound of Iona.
If you're not getting the ferry, there really isn't much to do in Fionnphort so we got back in the car and drove back towards Craignure. While we had been on Mull, it hadn't stop raining, and the road was very badly flooded in some places with all the water coming off the hills. Brian and Sebastian loved driving through the deep water and making big waves and splashes! Unfortunately, we were booked on the 6pm ferry and still had plenty of time so Brian suggested a trip to Tobermoray.
This picturesque fishing village was made famous by the children's show Balamoray. With it's brightly coloured houses and shop fronts, even in the rain it looks pretty! We spent some time walking along the quayside and visiting the few shops that were still open. While Brian went to buy a bag of chips, Susan popped into a chocolate shop and bought some sweet treats to take home. I would have liked to have visited the distillery, to meet Tobermoray Cat, but unfortunately we had to hit the road again to catch the ferry!

Goodbye Mull

With friends on the ferry

At the weekend, Susan's friend Kat was visiting Oban for the first time. I used the excuse that she may want another "kat" on the trip to tag along. On our way to meet her, we went over, then under the Connel Bridge, which stretches across the mouth of Loch Etive. When the tide goes out, the backlog of water cannot get out through the narrow gap quick enough, causing the Falls of Lora. There are often kayakers testing their skills on the water and the loch is a safe haven for marine life, with some record fish having been caught in its stretches (according to local papers.)

We took Kat into Oban and spent some time wandering around playing tourist. It felt strange in the off season, but there were still plenty of other visitors around, so Susan didn't look too out of place with her camera! Having Kat here was great cos she persuaded Susan to visit two places she had never been to before - the Cathedral and the War and Peace Museum. I'm not sure what she thought, but the Cathedral was pretty impressive for such a small town, and it was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the guy who designed Liverpool Cathedral and Battersea Power Station. Across the road we posed for some photos as the CalMac ferry came in from Mull. It was a different boat to the one we had travelled on, but they have three boats running out of Oban most days so ours might have been on a longer voyage to Coll, Tiree or Colonsay.

The most distinguishing feature in Oban is McCaigs Tower on the hill. The tower was designed by John McCaig, a banker during the late 19th Century. He based his design on the Colosseum in Rome and wanted it to be a lasting legacy to his family. Unfortunately he died before the work was completed and what stands today is only the outer shell of his plans. We didn't go up, but you can get fabulous photos with the tower from the North Pier, next to Ee'usk and Piazza restaurants which do fantastic seafood and Italian dishes!



 Kat was keen to see some more of the area, so we thought a wee drive down to Seil would be good. No trip down here is complete without a photo of the Bridge over the Atlantic, and we had fun sliding on the rocks looking for signs of otter.
Why? Because George Maxwells book Ring of Bright Water was adapted into a film which was set around Seil. Susan and I recently watched the film for the first time and it was really good to recognise many of the places featured.


We drove to Ellenabeich, which is often incorrectly called Easdale. Easdale is actually the island just a stones throw from Ellenabeich, and is home to the World Stone Skimming Championships, held ever year in a flooded quarry. We spent some time in the Visitor Centre, which Susan calls an Aladdin's cave of Scottish goodies. Being the off season, we were offered shortbread and tablet (a Scottish fudge), which was very scrummy! I must confess that I had a little too much, so when we left Kat threatened to make me get the bus back. Luckily for me, someone had erected a Meerkat sized bus shelter in the village square, so I wasn't too worried about the wait, but Susan persuaded her to take pity on me after I almost got nabbed by a seagull down on the pier!