The battle of Glencoe vs Fort William - part 3

The final day dawned bright and clear. Well not really, this is Scotland, so it dawned cold and rainy. First stop in the morning was Dunstaffnage Castle, home of the MacDougall clan and site of a castle since the early 13th century. Of course the castle had an abbey attached that had been ruined by the ravages of time and the Scottish weather. Still it was quite an impressive building and could easily have housed a collection of armed men for a period of weeks living off the local grass and the well.

There really is a lot of castles around, I don't think anyone is that surprised, but come on were the Scots always at war? Maybe, I dunno, I just work here.

Anyway, next stop was a stop at Oban for a tour of the whisky distillery. Well that was my plan anyway, but I was let down by a lack of booking. Can't I just show up and go on the damned tour, it appears not. So instead we wandered around searching for another distillery to ease our thirst. But this being Scotland the next place was at least 5 miles away so we were forced to stroll around in the sub-arctic temperatures and cold rain. Sure the town was scenic and maybe the sea fog was amusing but I think we'll be back to Oban for a more thorough viewing next time around.

The battle of Glencoe vs Fort William - part 2

The morning dawned cold and clear with snow topped Ben Nevis visible just out the window of the B&B. The perfect morning for a full Scottish breakfast. Sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding, potato bread, mushrooms, tomato, whisky and a healthy dose of added salt for good measure. First stop on the morning's adventures was Neptune's stairs. Its 8 locks all in a row, and ships go up and down in all the time. Yay! What a magical adventure, meanwhile my ass was frozen because of the damned cold wind blowing off snowy Ben Nevis.

So where else to warm up but the local castle, which unfortunately had been sacked long ago by the romans or so it would appear. Castle #786268 was a slightly dour affair, mid-thirteenth century with 4 sturdy walls, a moat and some very advanced towers for such an early castle.

After the castle the real fun began with some hill walking. Being such novices we decided to leave Ben Nevis next time and head for the wonderful waterfall far beyond the depths of time. Well at good 45 minute walk over a rough ramshackle path filled with water, rocks and killer slugs. Man, this was some awesome hills, the path was filled with enough jagged rocks, crevices and streams to keep you on your toes while the waterfall at the end was great. The only problem was that there was a constant stream of people because the sun had briefly appeared in the morning so everyone had gone walking. The slug became my new best friend as he was so glisteny and bout 4 times the size of your standard slug. He was a trusty fellow and kept me happy while I trod the path down the hill back into the normal scottish weather.

The battle of Glencoe vs Fort William - part 1

So the weekend's adventure involved hiring a car, driving halfway across the country (about a 30 minute drive) and finding out what some real Scottish scenery looked like. First stop on the magical mystery tour was a collection of antiques. So really it was a bunch of old ladies stuff that was collected in a big shed and sold on the cheap to fund the production of more lace doilies. Pretty nifty, but not really my cup of tea, too Earl Grey for my preferences I prefer a more alcoholic tea with beer and haggis.

Then it was the next stop 5 minutes down the road, Loch Loch McLoch. Yes we really stopped at a number of lochs, but in reality they are just lakes with lots of crystal clear water and staggering mountain views. Sure, there was a pub lunch in between and a stop at some random Scottish garden where the locals gave us tea and cake and showed us their vegie patch. But then, enough was enough, we fired up the Vauxhall Corsa, and headed deep into the mountains, where trolls come from and the whole place looks like it should be in Lord of the Rings. . The long straight drive through the hills past some fine mountains down to Glencoe is just stunning. At one end if Rob Roys grave (kind of anyway) and at the other end is some place where lots of Scotsmen died because they like MacDonalds, or were named MacDonalds and didn't seem quick enough to pledge their allegiance to the new king of burgers, the whopper extreme, AKA Mary II and William II. At least that's my understanding of the history, other interpretations may vary.

You may notice that the Scottish weather was being particularly cooperative, and of course we decided in traditional Scottish fashion that the best thing to do was wander off into the hills without a map or compass to find a leprechaun. Well we didn't find our leprechaun, but we did get a little damp and see some more cool mountains. Soon our walk had exhausted us and we headed to Fort William for protection from the local liege lord. Turns out someone had sacked the fort quite a few hundred years ago and instead we had to head to the local Tandoori restaurant for some overpriced pappadams.