Oban and Isle of Seil

September 20, or 20-09-14

Started off early for our trip with Isuk Tours and left at 8 am. First we went to Loch Lomond, the biggest loch in Scotland, and took a stop at the village of Luss. The tiny town itself was very picturesque, and the view of the lake -loch- took me back to reading that monster of a book, The Mists of Avalon. Fun fact: there's only one lake in Scotland, which was named by an Englishman. The rest are lochs, not pronounced 'lock', but more with a rougher 'g' sound.

Cloudy in the morning, but it made for some really cool pictures

There were flowers everywhere

I fell asleep a little on the drive to our next stop, but woke up for a little to see the start of the Highlands, and I'm really glad I did. The mountains here are a result of glacial carving, so they look a lot different than the mountains at home. I didn't do that much research about the Highlands before I came to Scotland, so I was expecting rolling hills for some reason. Nope!

Oban, the seafood capital of Scotland was next. The weather cleared up and it was a gorgeous day; seriously, we've been so lucky. We went to McCaig's Tower, saw the ruins of Dunollie Castle from afar, some great views, and tried to catch a parade, except that the parade went the opposite way of where we were sitting. We had fish and chips with our hands, and I really enjoyed it! Super greasy though. 

At the Atlantic Bridge, or the Clachan Bridge, stopped to take pictures of the Atlantic Ocean, which was around 20 feet wide at this point! It connects the Isle of Seil to the mainland, and although it is so close to the mainland, it is an actual island completely surrounded by water. It was interesting getting around on our bus; some of these roads barely pass as two lanes. The bridge itself is very pointed; we had to go really slowly to avoid scrapping the bottom. 

*not currently letting me add captions, but the first is the view of the Atlantic Ocean, and this is the Atlantic Bridge-pretty tiny

And our last stop was my favorite, a town on the Isle of Seil. Our tour guide, who is very enthusiastic, told us he knew a way up the hill/mountain that was very easy and took 10 minutes. We just had to jump a fence and follow him, because it other ways would be dangerous. As it turned out, it was still slightly dangerous, and it was probably a 20 minute walk up that sheep-poop covered hill. It was completely worth it, so I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.