I made my way to the little fishing town of Oban on Thursday morning. I had a rough plan of what all I wanted to accomplish, but have become accustomed to not being able to achieve everything; However, to my delight, I achieved nearly everything that I wanted in addition to some unexpected highlights of the trip.
As many of my trips start, this one started with early morning buses & a cafe as soon as I arrived. Once my hunger & desire for caffeine has been quenched, I made my way up & down the streets in search of gifts to purchase. This was primarily driven by the fact that I, for some reason, have waited until the last couple weeks to look for things to bring back to friends & family. Luckily, my search was relatively successful & I was able to find many a wee treasure. Once I had spent enough time looking at plaid nick-knacks, nessie & highland coo themed everything, & whisky, I made my way up the hill looking over the town. Here is where McCaig’s Tower resides, however I was in search of something specific & sadly did not find it at this time.
Making my way back into town, I stopped into the Oban War & Peace Museum. It was here, as I read about soldiers from Oban in World War I & II, that I learned of my first unplanned adventure, Dunollie Castle. I made my 1 mile to the grounds where I purchased my ticket & made my way into the museum. I learned that the museum was actually built by an owner of the castle who decided he wanted to dismantle the castle & use it to build his family a home. I made my way up to the partially dismantled castle while fighting the very strong winds & carrying my heavy backpack. From the castle I got great views of Oban & the two isles nearbye, Kerrera & Mull.
Since check in time approached for the hotel, I made my way back into the main town. On the way I stopped into the Oban Chocolate Company having seen it on the way to the castle earlier. This quickly became an unexpected highlight. I had a hot chocolate & 3 truffles that may be the best chocolate I have ever had. If you ever go to Oban, I highly suggest getting some chocolate here & bringing me some. Once I determined I would come back for more instead of buying more chocolate than one person needs, I checked into my hotel. After a bit of time working & chilling, I made my way back out onto the streets. I went to Waterstones on my way to get dinner & purchased a book I wish I’d had the entire trip, I Never Knew That About Scotland by Christopher Winn. The book gives fun facts & brief overviews of different places across Scotland, broken down into counties then cities/towns & is organized alphabetically. I ended up reading a bit about the Isle of Mull while I ate my dinner since that was the scheduled adventure for Friday. I then retired to the hotel for the night.
The next morning was a dark & early one. I woke up around 6:30 to get ready for my 7:20 ferry to Mull. Around 6:43 I read my ticket & noticed it said “last check-in: 6:55”, since I was sleep deprived & have never been on a ferry, I thought that meant everyone had to be there at that time. I quickly jogged down the stairs & to the ferry, to learn that check-in is the same as purchasing a ticket so I jogged there to just wait for 20 minutes. Anyway, the ferry ride to Mull was very pleasant & I got to see the sunrise from the observation deck. From the ferry port in Craignure, I took a bus straight to the isle capital of Tobermory.
As always, I started my time in Tobermory at a little cafe for breakfast & coffee, followed by some more gif shopping in the few shops that had opened at that point. I leisurely made my way over to my tour of Tobermory Distillery, to learn that I thought the tour was at 10:30 when it was actually at 10:15. Luckily my habit of being places at least 10 minutes early meant I only missed the first 5 minutes of the tour. The tour was very educational & enjoyable as we made our way through the whole process of making whisky, followed by tasting 2 drams, the Tobermory 12 & Ledaig 10. Near the end of the tour the tour guide told us that they give already used barley to the local cheese makers to use in their cow feed. I had already planned on going to Isle of Mull Cheese & Spirit but this just confirmed that I should go.
During my time in Tobermory, the weather was one of my favorite types of weather, consistent rain while also being sunny, & the walk to the cheese shop was this way. I saw the most complete rainbow I think I’ve ever seen on the semi steep walk. I didn’t realise the cheese shop dubbed as a restaurant with an amazing ambiance with vines growing up the walls & on the ceiling, an indoor balcony, & a farm dog named Luna. Obviously I had to get the grilled cheese for lunch, what else are you supposed to get at a cheese shop.
Once I finished my meal, I walked all the way across town & a mile past to a frisbee golf course. It was here that not only did I spot the rare Scottish disc golfer, but I even played with them. It was very nice to be able to play frisbee golf with people again & it was very helpful since they knew the course so I didn’t have to try & figure out where the next t-pad was. After hitting a lot of trees, not playing well, but having an enjoyable time, I was able to get a ride back into town instead of walking. This allowed me to take a bit more time in the main town & went to the Mull museum where I learned about the area more. I also stopped into the Tobermory Chocolate Company to get myself a sweet treat.
I got a bus back to Craignure to catch my evening ferry back to Oban. Like a mirror of my morning ferry, I got to see the beautiful sunset from the observation deck. I dropped my bag off at the hotel & went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. As I ate I reflected on how that day was very close to an ideal day for me. The only issue I had was that a lot of it wasn’t quite as good as I wanted. None of it was bad, but Tobermory whisky isn’t my preferred style of whisky, the cheese wasn’t Tillamook, & the chocolate wasn’t quite as good as the Oban chocolates I had the day before. I still am very grateful for that day & really enjoyed my time exploring and seeing beautiful sites.
You may have noticed at this point that I haven’t told you what the specific thing I was looking for at McCaig’s Tower was. That is because on Saturday morning I went back & found what I was looking for. A cat named Misha, who is very friendly & at the tower often enough to be marked as a tourist attraction on google maps with 213 reviews, making him sit at 4.9 stars. I got some pictures, spent some time petting him, & even had him jump onto my leg while I was kneeling down to pet him. It was worth the slightly puffy eyes.
Before I had gone up to visit Misha, I stopped into Hinba Speciality Coffee. This was some of the best coffee I have had in a long time. They let you choose between three origins of coffee for them to use in your drink & the milk texture was amazing. After my visit with Misha, I went back to the chocolate shop to purchase some chocolate (which I have finished while writing this). I got lunch & went back to Hinba for another cup of delicious coffee for my bus ride back to my apartment in Newmilns to conclude this weeks adventures in Scotland.