Scottish Summer Dispatch IV - Tuesday, 2nd July 2013

Dear Friends, when I last wrote, we were off to see Single Spies by Alan Bennett, at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. We enjoyed our picturesque walk (I’ve found at least 6 different ways to get there or back) and sat back to watch possibly the best theatre experience we have witnessed in years. The actors were sublime, the plays provocative, and the acoustics perfect. The theatre is comfortable but in every other respect reminds us of the early days of the Union Theatre at Melbourne Uni, which became the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Russell Street Theatre. When you went to a show there, you felt as though you were part of the whole experience, not a remote audience member miles away from the stage.

Our first metric distance sign in the UK!

We came home to watch the footy on delay, then into our glad rags and an early dinner at our hotel. On Day 4 of our stay we worked out how to open the windows and enjoyed fresh air for the remainder of our time! I also found a spot in the room where my mobile could get wifi, as I was fighting for airtime with Wes, and as he can’t get wifi on his phone full stop, it seemed only fair that he win the battle.

We left early on a rainy Sunday morning to drive to Queen’s View, about 15 minutes outside of Pitlochry, as we had promised to send photos to Caroline Storm, whose photos from many years ago hadn’t worked out. We were unexpectedly blown away by the sights and were lucky enough to get there before the busloads crammed in and spoilt the seclusion and quiet.

Views are shown below & at the top of the page:

 

Wes drove us on a very scenic route to Glencoe through the pretty town of Killin with the Falls of Dochart, and then through streaming rain to the Highlands, where we decided enough was enough and we would take the coastal road to Oban and have a late lunch, as check in at our B&B wasn’t until 4pm.

Oban is a very pretty fishing town of 8,000+ and has badged itself as the seafood capital of Scotland. We chose the Waterfront Restaurant to test this out and were very pleasantly surprised by an extremely yummy meal – mussels followed by stramash, a kind of seafood mornay, baked and grilled with a breadcrumb topping.

After lunch, we had a walk around to see what sort of shops there were and found a W H Smith with a Logic Problems magazine, the latest Ian Rankin at half-price and ditto Patricia Cornwell. Wes persuaded me we needed all three items and so we do!

We arrived at our B&B, eventually, along a number of narrow winding roads, to discover we had the downstairs front room and a real shower, placed down one end of the bathroom nowhere near the toilet. No gymnastics required getting in or out and there are three spots to put your soap, body wash & shampoo – bliss! We watched the remaining footy games, sadly all one-sided affairs and fell asleep early in our very comfortable bed.

 

We were very interested to know what breakfast would be like here, and we weren’t disappointed – Wes and I both had a bagel filled with Scottish smoked salmon infused scrambled eggs.

The morning was spent doing domestic chores. We took our big bag of dirty clothes to the service laundry, where they were washed and dried and folded for us for the princely sum of £12 ($20), I left my good possum jumper to be dry-cleaned; we found a hairdresser who would give me a fringe trim if I waited 5 minutes (cost £3); found a Post Office to send a parcel, and stocked up on chemist items. As it was not a good day to be on the water, Wes suggested we go to see Inveraray Castle.

So off we trotted through the rain and out again, until we reached the pretty seaside town, with its 18^th Century Castle. I didn’t realise until I came face to face with Maggie Smith & Hugh Bonneville, that Downton Abbey’s 3^rd season finale had been filmed here, at the home of the 13^th Duke of Argyll.

Wes in his element – sea, boats, good food & wine….

 

We had hoped to find a seafood lunch spot on our way back, but gave up and headed for another of Oban’s recommended eating spots – Ee-Usk, where we shared a dozen flavoursome oysters and Wes indulged in stuffed sea bass, and I tasted my first grey sole, both of which were perfectly cooked and served. We tried Oban ice-cream afterwards and walked around the pier, before collecting our laundry and wandering home to read books, do Logic Problems and plan the next day’s activity.

 

This morning we enjoyed another yummy breakfast before heading off on a very big adventure – the trip to the Mull of Kintyre. It involved about three hours driving each away along rugged coastline, through driving rain until finally we reached the turnoff for the lighthouse and decided to visit it. The next 30 minutes of our lives were spent in thick fog and heavy rain on a single lane road, with sheep meandering along in front of us. The road came to an abrupt end and I refused to get drenched, so Wes rugged up and tried to walk to the beach (unsuccessful), while I attempted to find the fog lights on the car (successful) and took photos of the area (not so successful). We retraced our steps and headed for the beach by the low road until we found the spot where Paul McCartney sat singing the song, back in 1977.

On our way we visited Skipness Castle, a lovely ruin of a place with wonderful views from the tower, stopped to drink tea at both Tarberk and Campbelltown, and finally arrived back here 8.5 hours later, tired, but very satisfied. We went straight to the pier and enjoyed a pizza and glass of wine before venturing to the whisky shop as Wes needed a new bottle. He tried two before buying an Aberlour Single Malt 12 years’ old double cask matured, and he is happily checking it out as I write this.

This wonderful sign greeted us on our walk to Skipness Castle, a 13^th C ruin

Thanks to everyone who has emailed or made comments on Facebook – especially those who are reliving their Scottish holidays. Sorry we can’t visit all the places you suggest, but we are having a ball. P.S. Don’t forget if you are emailing me, please reply to my email – karenmaloney@bigpond.com....as Wes and I are sharing the laptop, all my emails go out under his address.