Day 129: South to Oban

Departed Skye at the usual time, sad to be leaving though we won't miss the inclement weather. Even heavier rain today than yesterday! After crossing the bridge back to mainland Scotland, we turned southwards and made our way into the valley of Glencoe.

Glencoe is a famous river valley, surrounded by high mountains and pine forests, where in 1692 a bunch of MacDonald clansmen were massacred by members of a rival clan. It partly inspired the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, and these days it's hard to believe such a brutal act could happen in such a nice part of the world.

We stopped for lunch at a well-known pub and filled up, then drove to a nearby lake and went for a short hike - only an hour or so. The rain was fairly incessant and neither of us were feeling great about it, so we decided to head back to the car and press on southwards to Oban. A bit of a shame that we both felt underwhelmed, maybe we caught it on a bad day! Orkney and Skye are definitely a hard act to follow though, and it's also possible we were just getting a bit fatigued with the highland scenery.

Arrived in Oban late afternoon, surprised to find that it's actually a large bustling tourist town! Big enough even to have one of those big red open-topped bus tours like in major cities. And a mid-sized cruise ship anchored offshore, yikes. Had a coffee and cake in a local tea-room before heading to our Airbnb. This place was another B&B, though we at least had an en suite bathroom. Definitely felt more like a hotel though, as there was no kitchen facilities (shared or otherwise), not even a chair to sit on. Just a room, a bed, a bathroom and a cupboard. Oh well.

After a big lunch and a late afternoon tea, neither of us particularly felt like heading back out for dinner, so we ended up staying in and just chilling out!Read more