Oban, Glencoe, Killin

XIX BLOG Toto Travels
Incredible vistas in spite of the rain

29 May, Sunday

Leaving Oban after 3 great nights at Tanglin Bed and Breakfast with Jim and Liz. We were up the stairs on the first floor, room one, I think, or perhaps room 2. Jim and Liz are great fun to talk with and they have such good tips about local gems. Another good breakfast cooked by Liz.
We were talking about the local whisky and I said I enjoyed Scotland’s whisky especially with a bit of Drambuie. Jim laughed and asked if I had noticed the cartoon of them that is hanging in their entryway. I said that I had seen it and thought it was well done. He grinned and said look closely at what Liz has in her hand.
I peered at the cartoon again: Liz has a plate of full Scottish breakfast in one hand and a bottle of Drambuie in the other. Liz defended herself saying, “But I DON’T drink it for breakfast!” We had a good laugh.
Jim asked where we were going today and when we told him through Glen Coe and then down around the north of Loch Lomond to circle around and come into Glasgow tomorrow, he told us it was a great drive. After a moment, he suggested that we stop in a tiny town named Killin. “It’s off the road a little, but there are two rivers that meet and form great waterfalls. The fishing is the best.” He told us where to turn, but I didn’t process quite what he said and we were off.
Today is our unsure destination day. I definitely wanted to stop in Glencoe and was thinking we would stay in Callander or thereabouts. We had seen the sign to a castle just outside of Oban and so that was our first stop a few minutes out of town with mostly cloudy skies, but a little sun peeking through and no rain – yet.

Dunstaffnage Castle is another old ruin of a castle that looks over the loch. We can see Connel Bridge from most of the property and also the Firth of Lorn to the west peeking through the vegetation.
The man at the Historic Scotland tickets when we said we were seniors, "Yea right, so ought to charge ye double, take ye twice the time to get 'round." he smiled.
As the morning progressed, the rain moved in. Although not a toadstrangler – drenching pour – it was seriously raining and seriously interfering with the view. At Glen Coe, I ran out of patience with the weather, as if that helped. The cold cloudy rainy days with brief periods of sun finally got to me. Hearing Scot after Scot say it was the worst May they could remember had its effect as well. So most of the rest of the day, I swayed between a stiff upper lip and being very irked with the effin' rain.

Traveling from Oban to Glen Coe through the glen (rainy, windy and foggy glens) toward Callander was totally stunning. It was at least equal, if not more beautiful, than the trip past Fort William to Glenfinnan. Although we could not see the sweeping vistas with the layers of hills and mountains above the lochs and glens, it was still impressive. We stopped for about an hour at Glen Coe - in the rain and mist - and took in the well done exhibits at the center. There are well presented exhibits and media presentations about some of the history and geography of the region, reinforcing the reality of the brutality of the English in their conquest of the Scots and also the brutality of the Scottish clans toward one another.

Having read some of the “Harry Potter” lore regarding filming locations, we were on the lookout for Rannoch More, only to discover later that we were driving through the south end of it. The film location for Hagrid’s house was also a mile or so off the road although there are no traces of the hut now, nice to know that the film company took care of the environment.
As it approached 2 o’clock or 14:00, I began to get stressed about accommodation for the night since it was a holiday weekend. When we reached the turn for Killin, I initially said, “No, let’s go on down the road.” Then thought about Jim’s spot-on recommendations and asked Mike to turn back. Mike kept saying that perhaps we could stay in Killin and I was opposed to that idea – wasn’t not my “plan.” I had to remind myself that we had done loads of things that were not in a “plan.”
Killin is about 20 miles north of Callander off the A85 on the A827 and as we turned I realized that Jim had said to turn at Lix Toll which is just a turnoff. He had said it was easy to miss and, of course, he was right.
We drove through the small village and it is in a beautiful glen – valley – where rivers converge into Loch Tay just up the road from Killin. After considering several places, including a stop at the old Killin Hotel, we stopped at Dall Lodge Country House on the outskirts of town toward Loch Tay. And although I was still reluctant, we decided to stay at Dall Lodge. It was a brilliant decision and we would really like to come back and stay a few nights in Killin. Sally and John were our hosts and Mike wanted the room with the view, so that is where we stayed.

Sally recommended a couple of places to eat and we set off back into town for food! The Old Smiddy looked promising and that turned out to be a stellar choice. I ended up having spaghetti, of all things, but is was delicious, Mike had fish and chips – what a surprise. And then we had dessert – oh my – freshly made to order apple tart with a crust that melted in your mouth and I had sticky toffee pudding. It was tied for first place with the Brown Cow Inn in the Lakes District for legendary sticky toffee pudding. Plus the owner came out and visited with us and his almost-one-year-old granddaughter was there to entertain as well.

I have not mentioned it was still raining – ugh. My hope is that is clears in the morning long enough for me to take some decent photos of this beautiful place. I could take photos if I had my back to the rain which protected the lens, but that approach hampers the photography hobby significantly, yeah, ya think! We shopped just a little bit, but all the tourists were clustered in the little shops because it was WET outside, so that shopping spree was short-lived.
Between showers, we drove a ways up the south side of the river, but the road narrowed quickly and then turned to rocks and mud – not a good combination in the rain. So we ventured a few miles up the A827 on the north side of the river and Loch Tay. Mmmmm, beautiful, but rainy so we went back and tucked into our room for a while. I took a short walk – avoiding rain showers – and Mike took a nap. We ventured over to the Hotel Killin later and it was busy with reservations required. We sat in the Hotel’s pub and felt less than welcome part of the time. At some point the server either decided we were okay or decided she was doing herself out of a tip (a little unusual in the UK), so she did provide decent service once our food was served. Go figure. Those experiences have been rare, people here are almost always friendly, helpful, and most attentive.

Interesting to look at the photos and news articles on the wall of the hotel, it is obviously a historic site in this part of Scotland. The town of Killin is seemingly well-known by Scotland’s populace, Jim had given us a great tip to stop in this beautiful area.