September 18 - We've Arrived to the Scottish Highlands!

A good sign.

Rainbow across Loch Lomand

Oh my what a day!  It is has been full of ups, ups, ups, one down and then more ups.  It started with the gods gracing us with yet another beautiful rainbow and then sun, sun, sun, while we walked about the grounds of our hotel this morning.   It could only portend of good things to come . . . and it did. 

After a breakfast of tattie (potato) scones, sausage, and Greek yogurt, we hopped on the hotel boat for a champagne tour of Loch Lomond.  If you ever need a natural and cultural history tour of the Loch Lomond area, be sure to find Mark, a strapping, young  red-haired chap with a thick, but understandable, Scottish brogue who has a quick with and is in possession of endless nuggets of local knowledge.

Alison and Casey on the boat

Looking north across Loch Lomand

During the sunny boat tour we learned of wallabies currently occupying an island in the lake, geologic history (the highlands and the lowlands are spearated by an almost 3 million year nonformity), that the Culquhoun (Cal-hoon) Clan, who occupied and wisely mined and managed the lands on the west side of the lake, was able to secure peace 

with the McGregors, a warring clan, who occupied the east side of the lake, through bribery.  We also saw the remains of the precursor to a Scottish castle, the crannog, and learned that Bruce Willis was denied access to one of the top four elite golf courses in the world, located on Loch Lomand.  We also discovered just how beautiful Loch Lomand and its surroundings really are without the rain.

A gnome garden in Luss

Typical home in the Town of Luss

 After the boat tour we said goodbye to the comfortable Cameron House and visited the little Town of Luss.  The town of Luss, the ancestral home of the Culquhoun clan.  It is also said that the Luss family provided the Culquhoun clan most of the slate needed to house its miners.  Luss is a conservation district preserving homes in their original state.  We wandered through the community admiring the craftsmanship of the homes and the slate fences and also wondered how tall people ever survived in homes with doorways so low.  Perhaps they were no larger the size of the gnomes we found frequenting their gardens.

Falloch Falls

 We then drove north to Falloch Falls, one of the many falls in the Park, where, glory be, after 11 months of recovery from knee surgery, Alison was able to manage the uneven and slippey slopes of the trail!  Yeah Alison! 

I think what I found most surprising about the park was the prevalance of cascades and falls tumbling down off the treeless moorlands.  Looking across the moorlands you see them everywhere.  It is unlike anything else I've ever seen before.

Highland Scenery

Welcome to the Highlands!

From there, we parted ways, Alison and Casey heading over to Oban and Rick and I driving around to scout out some possible photo shoot locations for next week.  Our wanderings eventually took us up into the highlands and arguably the most beautiful valley in all of Scotland, Glen Coe.  As we drove up north and west out of the park it, became more and more stunning, outside of the National Park boundary.  As we officially entered the Highlands we discovered

More beautiful highland scenery

an area replete with bogs, lakes, streams and mountains covered in heather and grasses, turning gold in the autumn season.  This area, though treeless, reminded me of the alpine areas of the Beartooths in Wyoming and Montana. As we proceeded west, heading down in elevation, into the valley considered Glen Coe proper, we were greeted by a stunning mix of lush vegetation, streams, cascades, falls and karst-like mountains; not triangular and rugged like the rockies, but bell or domelike features.  It was just a remarkable landscape and unlike one that I've ever seen before.

The gorgeous scenery of Glen Coe

Barcaldine Castle

Riding high, as we came out of the west entrance of Glen Coe, we managed to clip a curb perfectly and get a flat :-( Some of you may already know, this is not an uncommon occurence for us when we are road touring.  Fortunately, there was a gas, no, PETROL, station about 20 yards down the road, so we rolled in, changed the tire in 10 minutes (would have been 5 if I hadn't confused lefty loosey, righty tighty), and were off again, paying a little bit closer attention to the edge of the road.  Once we hit the west coast, we travelled south, to our accommodations just north of Oban, the Barcaldine Castle.  The Barcaldine is a a 17th century castle located near Oban, Scotland.  It was built by Sir Duncan Campbell between 1601 and 1609 who was later murdered and is now believe to haunt the castle searching for his killer.  The proprietors also said that the ghost of his wife sometimes plays the piano in one of the guest rooms.

 Unfortunately, we had little time to settle in and get to know the ghosts or the grounds .because we needed to dash off to the "Kwik Fix" in Oban to replace the tire.  We dropped off the car, and managed to make it to our tour at Oban Distillery, just a couple of minutes late, where we learned about Oban's technique for making single-malt whiskey.  Our perky tour guide in a pink tartan skirt (never got her name) gave us details on Oban's particular way of making single malt whiskey.  Apparently the key to Oban's distinct taste is in the shape of the huge copper stills, not where the barley is grown (unlike with wine, in that where the grapes is grown is the most important factor).  We got to see the mash, early in the process, foaming with yeast, and then afterwards when it is an orange liquid ready for distillation.  Oban only makes two whiskies a 14-year old single malt, and a 14 yr and 9 mo double malt.  Malt is the time it spends in the barrel.  The double malt spends 14 years in a "reused" American Oak barrel and then placed in a sherry barrel for nine months producing a smoother whisky.  We picked up one of those :)

Afer the tour we headed across the street to the port of Oban where we had a yummy seafood dinner, me sea bass, Alison salmon, and the boys fish-n-chips and then headed on home for an after dinner drink in the stately common room reviewing the day and planning our outing tomorrow, to the Isle of Mull.