Oban

Last ferry of the day to Mull.

This was our enforced spare day, with the Oban line closed all weekend for engineering works. We’d had the idea of cycling twenty miles or so south to the slate islands but storm Ashley kiboshed the idea. Almost all the ferries were cancelled from midday. We spoke to a woman from West Yorkshire at breakfast whose family had travelled to Iona yesterday but she’d come up later after competing in a fell race and now had to wait in Oban until the ferries were running again, the Iona ferry being cancelled all day.

A short wet walk took us to the War and Peace museum, devoted to the recent history of the town from WW2. The rain had stopped by the time we left, and we were treated to some warm sunshine, so walked to Dunollie Castle. We were disappointed to find it was closed because of high winds and waterlogged grounds, health and safety gone mad! So we headed steeply up into the woods with a glorious mix of golden leaves and rich green moss illuminated by autumn light.

The rain returned in the afternoon and wind intensified, we walked to Tesco for tomorrow’s lunch supplies. At high tide in the evening, we watched the waves looping over the sea wall and soaking the road.

Train home