We packed up our things this morning, and while we both felt that we had more or less seen the sights of Oban, we had both enjoyed our hotel and particularly the wonderful view. When we were young we usually stayed in fairly cheap, and sometimes rather depressing, places when we traveled, and we always tried to get up and get out as soon as we could to take in a full day of sightseeing. Now that we are older and less inclined to see everything and do everything, part of the joy of travel is staying in nice places and enjoying them.
Today we begin our cruise of the Inner Hebrides. It is a small boat, only eight passengers. We had been asked to show up at the dock ready to board promptly at three o’clock and not earlier. But that left us with some time in between having to leave our room at Dungallan House and getting on the boat. I was not particularly hungry, but when I saw MacGillivray’s Fish Grill I knew I had to stop and order something. My mother was a MacGillivray, and the clan comes originally from the island of Mull. So I figured that if I ordered some scallops and chips I would be supporting one of my distant relatives.
We found the Oban War and Peace Museum in a shop front on the Esplanade. It was a small place which proudly announced that it was staffed by volunteers and funded by donations. Despite the odd name, the focus of the museum is about more than just the war, although it does boast a large amount of World War II memorabilia. There was a great deal of informative material about the early history of the town, the coming of the railway and the ferry, and some of the odd characters who lived there. For example, I learned that what I had thought was an abandoned coal gas storage tank high above the town had was actually a unfinished family monument.
John was a little anxious about catching the boat, and he did not want to be late. So we took a cab back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, and had the driver take us to the pier. We were about a half hour early at this point, and that also seemed to make John nervous. There were a few other people standing around waiting as well. Finally, a little before three, a young man with a scruffy beard came up with a luggage cart. “You must be Ted,” I smiled, remembering his name from the email.
He gave me a handshake. “And you two must be John and John.” Almost immediately a couple other groups of people came up and our whole group was ready to board the ship.
Our boat is called “Splendour” and while it is a good, clean, well-equipped vessel I think its name may be a bit of hyperbole. On the main deck there is a small kitchen and a dining area with two tables and booths upholstered in a tartan plaid. John and I are in one of the four downstairs cabins. As you would expect, there is not a whole lot of room in it. We have our bed, an extra bunk, and a small closet. There is space to store luggage under the bed. We is a small combination bathroom, the kind where there is no dedicated shower, but just a grate in the floor to drain off the water.
We had a brief safety orientation before we pulled out. It was, as you might suspect on a small boat, a great deal more information than the muster drills you have to endure the first day on a typical big cruise ship. And after that we set sail.
We watch as the landmarks of Oban slowly faded away like Saint Columba’s Cathedral
and DonOllie Castle.
We sailed past the Isle of Kerrera and across the Firth of Lorn. We sailed past the ominous Ardtornish Castle, built by the Lord of the Isles to guard the entrance to the Sound of Mull.
We sailed past a small shoal with a navigation signal on it and a nearby small island with a lighthouse on it.
Ted told us that supposedly one of the chiefs of the MacDonald clan had discovered that his wife had been unfaithful to him, having an affair with a stable boy. The chief tied her to the small shoal where he was sure she would drown as the tide came in. He tied the stable boy to a post on the larger island so he would have to watch her die. However, a passing fisherman rescued the woman and helped her to safety. She took refuge with her brother, the Duke of Argyle. The Duke then invited MacDonald to his castle for dinner where he came face to face with the woman he had tried to kill. I gathered that things did not turn out well for MacDonald.
We are staying the night in Loch Aline, a narrow inset off of the Sound.
