SCOTLAND IN SEPTEMBER: Crianlarich to Oban

We left Ewich House on day two with full stomachs, anticipation of what the day would bring--and raindrops. Soon, however, shafts of sunlight appeared over the mountains. The rain stopped.

 I took this photo through my side backseat window from the moving car.

 

Occasionally, Joyce, Larry, Ron and I all hollered "Picture!" at the same time, as we did for the shot pictured above. And believe me, it's even more gorgeous in person. Lots of other cars had stopped for a photo shoot, too. If you want to follow along on a map, we were on two-lane highway A82 in the western part of Scotland. A few miles down the road we stopped again. And again. And again. . . .

 Ron and me.

We continued on A82 to Glencoe, a village near Glen Coe, a  natural scenic area.

 

After Glen Coe, we doubled back on A82 until, at the last minute, we decided to take a short cut and turned  onto B8074. This delightful one-lane road wound through farms and along a river that changed quickly from a roaring rush (above), to a tranquil, meandering one (below).

 

I snapped the picture below from the back seat so you could see how narrow the road is. Occasionally we'd meet another vehicle, which meant that one of us would have to pull into a "lay-by"--lay-bys occurred about every half mile or so--or back up. Below is a photo of Larry driving; he drove the whole time, did a great job.
 

 Larry "getting acquainted" with a mannequin in Inveraray.

We came out on A85, then detoured onto A819 to Inveraray, a great place to purchase wool and cashmere items, then backtracked to A85 (past Loch Awe).

Kilchurn Castle on the banks of Loch Awe.

We arrived in Oban that afternoon, and spent ages looking for Dunheanish Guest House. Oban roads are quite narrow. It seemed like folks parked their cars anywhere they wanted, so sometimes getting past them put you between a car (or a rock) and a hard place--rock walls. Dunheanish Guest House had off-street parking that provided challenges. We almost decided that "you can't get there from here," but we persevered and were rewarded with a splendid place to lay our heads.

 

The walkway in front of our first-floor bedroom overlooking Oban Bay.

I took the above picture through one of our four bedroom windows. Remember, I like shooting through windows.  Dunleanish Guest House has six guest rooms; ours had a king-size four poster bed with a gorgeous view of Oban Bay. It also had a private bath. Yay!

Superb hosts William and Linda steered us to the waterfront for dinner. We dined at EE USK (which means I Ask) located on North Pier and owned by the MacLeod Family. Dinner was delicious!!

Dining room at Dunheanish Guest House.

Dunheanish Guest House 

Dunheanish, Ardconnel Rd., Oban, Argyll

PA34 5DW

Phone: +44(0) 1631 566556

www.dunheanish.com

If you haven't read my first post about our trip to Scotland and are interested in doing so, scroll down to the next blog post.