Scotland Road Trip – part 1

Awake and moving

We were awake and moving when the front desk phoned to let us know that the rental car had arrived. I quickly organized myself and went to meet the man with the car, a Vauxhall SRI, beautiful car, that would transport us in style up to the Outer Hebrides. I signed the paperwork and ran back in to collect our bags and check out with Nat.
Walking back to the car I immediately went to the passenger side, intent on driving, and quickly realized that it was time to drive on the other side of the road. Nat went to the driver’s door thinking it was the passenger’s, so we did a switch-a-roo and held our breath that I could keep it on the correct side of the road.

Inveraray

Entering traffic, it was just a few easy turns until we merged onto the comfort of a one way highway that allowed me to get more comfortable behind the wheel, on the right side of the car and the left side of the road.
Oban was our destination for the first day of our Scotland road trip and the promise of their single malt whiskey and picturesque views of the fishing harbour had us making good time.

The drive was a scenic and twisty affair, down narrow roads with no shoulders following the shorelines of lakes and rivers.
We had one stop to make before Oban, to visit our dear uncle Shrimpy at his estate, Inveraray Castle.

A quick detour off of the highway led us to the small town of Inveraray along the shoreline of Loch Fyne. We parked in town and made our way on foot up the driveway to Inveraray Castle, now closed for the season.

The grounds were still accessible though, and we got to understand why this gorgeous piece of architecture was featured in the television series Downton Abbey as uncle Shrimpy’s estate.

Oban

With our legs well stretched, we were back in the car and refocused on Oban so we could walk around town before the day was over. The scenery was starting to open up in places, giving us a glimpse of what was to come as we headed north and it wasn’t long before we cruised into Oban in the late afternoon.

We checked into our clean and efficient little hostel, freshened up and then bundled up to walk into town. A bustling harbour town, boats coming and going were crossed with ferries streaming into dock. The wind was blowing hard, straight off the water and it was damn cold, but the sun was shining through in bits and pieces and the last distillery tour of the day was within reach.

Oban Distillery looked like it was going to be a cool distillery nestled right in the middle of town, but as sometimes happens “winter schedules” have loose interpretations and there was only one tour that day and we had missed it.

Still wanting for a dram we forged on through town, stopping at a few shops and enjoying the blustery port. Dinner time was upon us and we were both starved. The consistently recommended restaurant throughout the day was Coast so we figured we would treat ourselves on our first successful day on the road. After a quick drink and email check at The Lorne we headed down the street to Coast.

The dining room was clean and nicely decorated and there were a few other couples quietly enjoying their meal. Picking up our menus and scanning them over, we both realized that we were in road trip mode now and what we were really craving was a hamburger and fries with a tall frosty pint of beer. Thankfully at the end of a short list of expensive seafood items there was a hand made hamburger on the menu, bingo!

Coast

Our waitress, the wife and co owner, with her husband chef, smiled as she took our order understanding our craving and recommended a couple of local brews that paired well with our deluxe burgers.

Well fed and wiped out we walked along the port’s edge in the freezing cold darkness to our hostel.
The next day we were up early and fired up to tackle the next leg of our journey up to Portree on the Isle of Skye. My confidence behind the wheel had grown and I was really starting to appreciate the Vauxhall and the driving. It was going to be a long day, but little did we know the grandeur of the scenery we would witness driving through snowstorms, wind and rain. Frequent stops along the way would be the only way to register the size and drama of the mountains and hillsides lining the highway leading us to even more epic scenery.

Check in next week for a pictorial of the Isle of Skye.

Thanks to Visit Scotland for the use of a car to explore their fine country. For more information visit their website at Visit Scotland.