 |
| View North from the guest house - bleak and windy, lots of authentic howling noises but it is toasty warm inside as I wait for my 1500 calorie breakfast. And good news - the ferry left Oban so there must be some chance that it will be able to dock. |
 |
| View South from the guest house - even bleaker |
 |
| At least these boys and girls appear the be enjoying the view |
 |
| To much time spent over breakfast - so I decide to leave the "ringmarks" for my next visit. The Rockvale Guest House is very nice |
 |
| Just time to pay my respects at the war memorial - are there any "Williams"? |
 |
| No - but there are a lot of names in total - and when you think this is such a small island* and the names of the fallen go right around the other side. *Current population: ~800 with a peak of 4500 in the 1830s |
 |
| Where do all the young islanders live? With so many incomers, shortage of salaried work and so much property aimed at retirees and holiday lets - its here by the port where some "social" housing has been recently constructed. |
 |
| They are filming an advert for ?Internet Dating? I met the main driver/fixer on the ferry from Oban. Lots of stories - Monarch of the Glen, Fresh Mango and Organic Yoghurt for Brian Cox (for breakfast, in rural Scotland, at short notice) and going to acting school with Robert Carlyle. It takes about 30 folks to film ad advert - island hotels full, flights booked out and so on. |
 |
| I think its the church at Gott - but I can't get the photo to line up with the OS map. |
 |
| Hooray - here comes the boat! |
 |
| This is Coll - foreshore with kelp, then a bare ecological no-mans-land and then bracken and heath. Kelp was a big industry - fertiliser and a source of soda & potash & Iodine & charcoal & lamp gas. Some of the species are edible. |
 |
| Ferry terminal at Coll - school children waiting for a big trip to see the Scottish National Opera in Oban. On balance i think I would prefer to live on Coll than Tiree - Tiree is half+half but Coll is proper island living. |
 |
| First off the boat in Oban - welcoming committee look pretty cheesed off. |
 |
| I did manage to fit in "ringmarks" after all. These are at Cairnbaan - got a blue symbol on my roadmap - so I thought I would break my journey down to Tarbert (careful there are several Tarberts and Tarbets - all in the same sort of geographical location) |
 |
| After a very pretty walk up the hillside I came to the special stones - frankly a bit disapointing "is this it?" I struggled to work out which of several stones matched the two shown on the diagram but then... |
 |
| What is beyond this tastefully painted gate (appears to be Historic Scotland house colour as everything was painted the same) |
 |
| Hooray - that is more like it. Strange feeling - folks were here 5000 years ago. |
 |
| On the way back to the main road - what is this - looks like a wee fortification |
 |
| and here is a 'holloway' - so it is old and it got a lot of traffic in the past. |
 |
| and this perfect viewing platform - clear oversight of the strategic routes through the valleys - and without being seen yourself - and someone has even built a little campfire. |
 |
| The view from my room in Tarbet. You can just about see the castle on the hill (right side of loch) - behind which is a great place for a run (no photos - it was dark by the time I got on the hillside) |
 |
| This image copyright: Forestry Commission Scotland (the full PDF is here) |
 |
We have some excellent chefs at work - at least one ex-Jamie Oliver who tells me that the Haddock-Mash-Poached Egg combination comes from Gary Rhodes* - you can get it for £3.01 in the company canteen. *I can't prove this but he has haddock form |
 |
| Sea Bed or Seabank - the latter I think. As I discovered last year the fish dishes at several noted Scottish restaurants are sadly limited in variety - I am guessing I am too early in the season and perhaps there is not yet the necessary gastro-infrastructure in place. It should be noted that the total bill at the Seabed in £ came to less than one main course at the Seabank in €. |
 |
| The spectacular and original stained glass doorway at Knap House, Tarbert |
If you are catching the ferry from Kennacraig - this is a good place to stay. OK - it is a pretty excellent place to stay full stop
No comments:
Post a Comment