WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get. This is a journal blog, an explore-blog, a bit of this and that blog. Sharing where the mood takes me. Perhaps it will take you too.

Menotouring; Showing off The Bonny Land #1

I collected Kay from Gourock, where an airport taxi had brought her; it was already dark and it was rush hour and the YAMster is finding night-driving a little challenging with aging eyes, so this was our agreement. Turned out she had an Indian driver and he was brilliant, knowing the place well and keeping her entertained. Bags were transferred to Little Ren and off we set back to the Hutch via the car ferry. Soup and cheesey tomato rolls were consumed, a bit of introductory chatter and then it was bedtime.

Wednesday morning (only a week ago? seems like 87, we did so much!) a brekky of good ol' Scottish porridge, some fruit, plenty tea; flasks filled, sandwiches for emergencies and bananas plus a toilet roll. Never travel remote roads without a toilet roll. Jus' sayin'.

There was a blanket for Kay added to the packing and then it was all piled into Ren. We were on the road by 0930h. Perfect.

Lochgilphead
An hour round to Inveraray, where toilet break and couple of quick photo snaps for the guest traveller were enjoyed. The heavy showers were squally, but not so horrid as to make driving nasty. A relief, I can tell you. The next goal was to reach Oban - essentially another two hours, but of course we had a couple of stops along the way. It was a road trip after all! My visitor had been planning for this trip for a looooong time and was having to take lots of breaths to believe she was really here at last. There was much ooohing and aaaahing. With each corner, the further North we went, the gasps and squeeees of delight let me know that there was happiness going on!!!













The crabs were alive and moving...
We arrived Oban just before 1400h. Thus turned out to be too late for all the fish and chip outlets - one of the only reasons for stopping there, as it is a major centre of the fishing industry. There was a market stall selling shellfish, but that was not what we had in mind! As you all know, I am a vegetarian, but once a year or so, I may break with sattvika for a decent bit of freshly caught fish. It wasn't to be. This, it turned out later, was in our favour...

Instead we found a little cafe at the ferry terminal which provided just enough refreshment to add to our picnic that we did not go hungry and were revived for the next leg of the trip. We had a long way to travel yet...











































LOCAL INFO UNRELATED TO ROAD TRIP; you'll note the name of the little tug. It is the name given to a stretch of water nearby. Every bit as treacherous as the better-known Corryvreckan.  Here's a short vid of the whirlpools in action.


12 comments:

  1. Yam what a wonderful tour guide you are and I know Ms. Kay was pleased with ever aspect of your travels. Good grief those whirlpools are just plain scary. I cannot imagine being on a boat with all that going on around me.
    The tug looks low and sturdy and not top heavy though
    Hugs HiC

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  2. Sounds like you got the trip off to a great start. How fortunate that the weather was not half decent. I still have nightmares about driving an American friend from Loch Torridon to Skye in the violent autumnal storm, gales and horizontal rain lashing the Mini and, worst of all, not a mountain to be seen through the nearly sea level cloud...
    I admit I hadn't heard of the Dorus Mor before, despite having once done some sailing in those parts.
    Cheers,
    Gail.

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  3. What a great kick-off to your journey. So sorry about the lack of nommy fresh seafood...but what a wonderful group of photos fro the area!!

    Those whirlpools are amazing (and a bit scary)!

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  4. It sounds so wonderful! That video was pretty cool, hate to get caught up in a whirlpool!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  5. Thanks fur sharing your travels with us...Scotland tugs at Mimi's heart because many of her ancestors were from there. Mimi and I both read the article you sent her about the dogs and the wolves. Thanks, it was so interesting.
    Your Furend,
    Louis Dog Armstrong

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  6. Heard of porriage but not sure what it is. I do like most hot cereals.
    Coffee is on

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  7. it's great to travel with you... and I would love to sit in that little cafe, watching the ferries :o)

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  8. Hello, gorgeous views and awesome photos. What a beautiful place to visit.
    Happy Wednesday, enjoy your day!

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  9. Crikey ..... I can see the fudge hasn't been idle in my absence. Mum's looking forward to the pics of the rest of your trip. Me ...... not so much!! Although that whirlpool was pretty impressive.

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  10. That fish and chips we had two years ago (doesn't time fly) was fantastic. Was that in Oban as well?

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