Tuesday 29 May 2012 -
Day 47 and 112 to go.
Another good night’s sleep and we were ready and raring to get on the road, unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen until 11.30am. In the meantime we filled in the hours having breakfast, watching TV, surfing the net and getting some cash.
We vacated the room at 10.30 but continued to use the hotel lounge before dragging the bags onto the street to wait for our Budget man to pick us up. He was prompt and helpful and he drove us to the Budget depot 10min out of Glasgow. We went through the usual paperwork before being told we were getting an upgraded car, a Nissan Qashqai (Cash Ky). A smaller version of the Murano. We were also lucky enough to be able to hand the car back at the airport before we check in next Monday, as it will be a bank holiday and they won’t be open. Yippee.
We were shown all the controls before we drove on to our first destination, Dumbarton 15 min North of Glasgow. We didn’t stop here rather I plugged in Luss which is situated further along the road and sits on the edge of Loch Lomond. This Loch is the largest fresh water lake and is just splendid.
We walked to the water’s edge and wandered out onto the jetty. The water was crystal clear. While it was a cloudy day we were still able to see quite well. There were little islands in the middle of the lake and people heading out on boats to tour around.
We then wandered up into the little town stopping for lunch at the café before we continued our drive on to Oban.
The drive continued to be spectacular as we clung to the edge of the Loch. The green covered mountains fell into the water. We were climbing into the highlands. I though Ireland was beautiful, but this was stunning.
It was hard to know where to look. I wanted to stop and take pictures whenever we could to capture it all. It was great having the glass roof on the car as we could see so much more. We made it to Oban 1 ½ hours later. It was now 4pm. We found somewhere to park in the centre and then went for a walk along the waterfront. Oban is the seafood capital of Scotland and as such we had to stop for ½ dozen oysters. They were enormous, plump and juicy. Yum! Our next stop was the pub where Paul could have a glass of Oban whisky. He said it was wonderful.
We then walked on to the Oban Whisky distillery in town. We did a quick look inside the gift shop before heading back to the car to drive up the hill to the Mc Caig tower. This is a colosseum like structure, but just the outer wall and was built as a memorial for the family. It was right on the hill so had great views over Oban and the quay.
With time getting on we set the GPS to our B&B in Fort William and continued on another 1 ½ hour down the road. The views continued to be spectacular and I continued taking photos from the car or we found places to stop tot take in the view of the mountains surrounded by cloud, dipping down into the Loch’s below.
We eventually drove through Fort William and on a further 15min to our B&B. We settled in and had a cuppa with scones and biscuits and at 7pm we drove back into Fort William. We found a pub to eat at and watch the French Open Tennis. It was quite a lively spot. After our meal we drove back towards the B&B, but diverted to another pub for a pint before bed.
When we returned we checked out the things we would like to do tomorrow and worked out distances to places, ensuring we would have enough time to do what we wanted. With our itinerary sorted it was time for bed.
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