DAY 2 – AUGUST 3rd – DESTINATION: OBAN

We woke up this morning and had a nice breakfast at our hotel (most of the places we are staying provide breakfast as part of your stay). We headed out after breakfast down a beautiful road towards Oban. Seriously! I don’t know if I have seen anything more beautiful. There were rolling green hills, black and green mountains set against a blue sky covered mostly by grey clouds. Oh and did I mention how GREEN everything below that was??? We took Rick Steves’ advice and detoured to a loch town called Inveraray… There was a pier (on which we witnessed three different people cast their fishing lines and within SECONDS of casting, reel in mackerels!!! (Did you hear that, boys? SECONDS!) Matt and I also looked out over the loch and noticed a weird-looking, long thing with a beak-like nose. He popped his head up for a moment and then went back under! No one seemed to know what it was when we described it… a loch monster perhaps? ;) We went to the shops, walked down cobblestone streets, and visited the castle belonging to the Campbell clan. This was a beautiful Cinderella-esque. Then after ANOTHER wrong turn, we took the long way to Oban… our final destination. Of course, in taking the long road, we came upon beautiful scenery and charming little towns which you would miss if you blinked! (Oh, we stopped and asked for directions AGAIN… very helpful.) The country roads were windy and narrow, but they were so fun!

We arrived at Tanglin B & B and were greeted by our kind, chatty hosts Jim & Liz. After settling in, we walked around Oban… I LOVE this place! Oban is another port-like town, full of shops and rich with Scottish tradition (bagpipe music filled the streets!). We had dinner on the pier at an Italian restaurant called Piazza’s (I know, I know… we have YET to eat an authentic Scottish meal in a restaurant!!! LOL!) We waited in the charming upstairs loft for our table and then were soon after seated by the window looking out at the water. After dinner, the two of us went to a candy shop and then headed back to our B & B to watch a movie on our laptop (again, stores closed early because it’s a weekend!). Tomorrow is the Isle of Skye. I can’t wait!!!