Oban, Scotland

This morning at anchor in the outer harbour of Oban. Coming in along a narrow channel past The Isle of Mull , lovely to see it again. Mull was the home of our ancestors ,Mums Family , McFadyen’s, who came to New Zealand a long time go..The Caledonian Ferry ,Isle of Mull sailing past, with the name still in Gaelic on the side. On Skye all signs are in Gaelic and English.
We came to Oban 20 years ago ,with Lorraine, Norm, Cetrece and Richard ,so today we re traced some of our steps ,with fond memories, we may not have Norm, but he is forever with us.
Not much has changed. It is a very old town ,of the solid old buildings ,an old fashioned air about it .A perfect harbour ,with many ferry services to the outer Islands.
Amusing Haircut for Sam, which seemed to be the Dog Groomers as well.!! A severe doing, that will take some time to grow…and he assured me there were more customers of the human kind ,waiting after him.??
The turn around place for the Caledonian Canal cruise, that begins in Inverness, so able to see The Lord Of The Glens ,have a hankering for that. Time to wander back to the old buildings tucked away ,with roses on the walls.
Later we walked a long way ,along the waterfront ,where we had not been, past fine establishments, for accommodation, small Hotels and guest houses nicely kept.
Met some Guillemots, cute little birds from these regions ,with bright red feet ,more often from the outer Islands, but there are a few breeding pairs here ,the small ones bickering and pecking each other, as kids do…onward to some seating near the Castle, which is just a ruin now, on a small headland, so we watched the world go by, on a warm ,calm day. Met some interesting US people ,who are on a Train Journey of the UK, along a whiskey trail…Oban of course has a famous brand. Small galleries that had beautiful things ,and learned that the Great Diver, is actually the lovely Loon, not abundant in Scotland ,but some are here, how special, and they are really quite a big bird.
After many streets and trails ,we came back on board ,calm on our long tender ride . Later in the evening we sailed away on mirror seas, the full length of Mull, which took many hours, and such varying landscape, huge cavernous cliffs, small inlets, even a beach , green pastures, a grand Castle like home ,tucked away, with a para glider flying over the cliff tops, for simply ages… until the sun set. We had Islay and Jura on the other side, [ a little distant],as well, Jura was the home of my Grt Grandfather , Dr Patrick Fletcher ,who has a nice memorial in Middlemarch, where he lived. Other McFadyen’s lived on Islay. So a lovely day til the very end ,in the realms of the ancestors.
This morning we woke to news we were deviating from course, to sail up the sound and around the Isle of Arran, delighted, so for 5 hours we have been in clear view of the Isle, varying in scenery along the way, high mountains on the west side, in parts, a volcano with collapsed caldera ,ancient, above. Villages , and the patchwork of crofts. The hills red with the heather, in parts. Parts of Arran, looked the most like New Zealand, that we have seen, I thought ,and never usually do, our cabin steward said he thought it was too.
Such a bonus ,and can you believe ,most showed no interest at all, very few were even taking notice, so as one Officer said to me, What more can we do.! They had coffee, and refreshments in the Crows Nest, for a couple of hours ,took it away ,almost untouched…You do wonder why people come in some cases.
We have since had yet another Mariners Awards Brunch ,which was very pleasant ,and shared our table 4 ,slightly refined ,Australians, all very convivial.!
Early afternoon another wonderous sight ,Ailsa Crag, this unique, small Island, in the middle of the open sea .A volcanic plug, from a long extinct volcano, millions of years old. It has special granite called Blue Hone ,used for curling stones, and was used as flooring in the castle in Edinburgh. A ruined castle and tower to be seen, a lighthouse , still maintained .Very steep and a bird sanctuary ,for mainly gannets ,large beautiful ones diving from great heights ,and puffins, although we saw many other birds on the surrounding water. The Gannet Colony is simply huge , there must be millions, I thought there has to be great fishing in the area, so many mouths to feed.! Unusual pillars of stone. Most seen through the binoculars, but all so amazing. This is Prinsendam, always little unexpected surprises,
Later today we will sail past The Isle of Wight, and on to Liverpool tomorrow.Les mer