Driving to Oban

Thursday started out with us sleeping until 8:00. We then had breakfast at the motel and finally got on the road by 10:30 toward our destination of the town of Oban, Scotland. It would probably have been better for us to leave closer to 9:30 because the ferry from Oban to the Island of Mull was scheduled to leave at 6:00 PM, and we arrived at the ferry terminal at 5:50. But, wait, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

From Warrington we drove northwest through some beautiful hills and the lake country of England. We had lunch, as I wrote yesterday, in Lockerbie, Scotland, at the Queen’s Hotel. The building looked old to me, so I thought it might have been around in the days of Queen Elizabeth I. Alas, it was originally a manse built in the early 1900s – just a little over a hundred years old. Obviously I am not a judge of antiquities. After lunch we were on a forced march to Oban to catch the last ferry to Mull. We were on a major (M) roadway as we drove through England and around Glasgow, but then we had to take an “A” class road which is much narrower, in some places down to one lane; therefore, we were slowed down considerably. We drove by Loch Lomond but were unable to stop because we were worried about missing the ferry. I got a quick shot of the water through a break in the trees as we rushed by. Because the narrow roads forced us to drive more slowly than we would have liked I, being the passenger, was actually able to enjoy some of the beautiful scenery we passed through.

We drove into Oban at about 5:35, but it took us 15 minutes to get through the traffic and find the ferry. Fortunately there was room for us even though we had not pre-booked a space, and the ferry was running about a half hour late. We heaved a sigh of relief and booked our passage – round trip, so we at least knew that we had a spot on the return ferry. When we docked at Craignure on Mull we found a little restaurant called Macgregor’s where we had another lovely meal. I had broccoli and blue cheese soup, scallops and rhubarb and ginger crumble. After dinner, we took the road up the east coast of Mull to Tobermory and then went west (inland) to Dervaig where we stayed at a B&B. There was one beautiful vista after another the entire way. I have included a picture of the B&B because I took it at 10:30 PM without a flash. We are so far north that it doesn’t get dark until 11:00 PM, and it is light again sometime between 4:00 and 5:00. AM.