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 18th
Century Castle. I didn’t realise until I came face to face with Maggie Smith
& Hugh Bonneville, that Downton Abbey’s 3rd season finale had
been filmed here, at the home of the 13th 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 13th 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.
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