Farewell to the Isle of Kerrera ~ Loch Ness, and North to Inverness

Sunday, October 23, 2016 ~ by Amy

My room was shivery when my alarm buzzed in the dark of morning. It seems that I had bumped my heater when I got into bed so it shut down for safety. The freshly laundered clothes that I'd hung over the end of the bed and chair to dry were still damp so I threw them in my bag anyway. As soon as we were dressed and had everything zipped up, we went downstairs for instant coffee and yogurt. One thing I'll say for old stone houses, they're charming, but without proper heat, they are freezing!  Loui and Isla sweetly helped us haul our luggage down to the ferry for our 9 am departure. The day had dawned beautifully sunny, even though it was really chilly. 

Loui and Isla heading to the harbor with our bags

The only farm animals about were the peacock, hen and chick and the highland bull, who is pastured in the driveway area. The latter just stared languidly as we passed.

Highland bull, guarding the driveway

I popped into the little office and paid the ferryman our 2.50 British pounds a piece and then we boarded the little vessel for the short ride back to the Oban harbor.

Loui and Isla

Kerrera Harbor

Farewell to Kerrera

City of Oban

On our arrival there we had to walk about ½ mile to where our car was parked. Loui suggested a taxi but drew us a map in case we decided to walk instead. A taxi would have been great since we had quite a bit of luggage to haul but I'd use the last of my money to pay for our additional night and for the ferry. Loui's map worked brilliantly (a little UK lingo) though, and we found our Mercedes unscathed, right where we left it on the side of a back road, near the slip for small boats.

GPS programed (Alyssa has figured out a few tricks), sunglasses on and we headed out of Oban, with our sights on Dunstaffnage Castle. I could actually feel it in my bones that today was going to be a better day for driving. I still had a healthy respect for the narrow roads and fast paced traffic, but had lost my fear somewhere in the peace of Kerrera. Though our GPS got us lost three times and still no castle, my good attitude remained. Some ways back we had spotted a garden center and cafe, called Poppies. We turned around and went back for a lovely breakfast and mochas. In addition to a lovely garden center and cafe, Poppies was also a cute gift shop and bird wildlife refuge. Lots of interesting little birds and water fowl hopped, waddled and flew just beyond the window.

Alyssa got plain scrambled eggs and toast with a mocha

I ordered Scottish Royale ~ Smoked salmon eggs benedict

Outside Poppies

A little gift shop fun

When we were leaving, we asked the cashier where the castle was and she looked at us like we'd lost our marbles. She motioned a few times and I told her that we'd been down that way and the road ended in a marine biology place. She said that was true, but you just keep driving. Sure enough, there was a narrow road behind it and soon we could park and go find a castle.

After the castle we headed northeast toward Inverness, the largest city in the highlands and the center of culture, communication, commerce and administration. Our route would take us through the Great Glen, a geographical fault that literally splits the highlands in two. Bordered by low mountains, we would follow a series of lakes: Loch Linnhe, Loch Lochy, and Loch Ness. The latter made famous by the legendary Loch Ness monster.

Loch Linnhe

Fall color

Lake and mountains in the distance

The day remained bright and the traffic not too bad. Scenery was beautiful.  The deciduous trees were turning orange and gold and some evergreen (possibly a cyprus) was turning rusty. 

Loch Lochy

Loch Lochy

By the time we drove along Loch Ness, it was too dusky to stop and take a picture.  I looked the best I could when I dared take my eyes off the road for a second but saw no sign of a monster of any kind.

Colorful valley

We arrived at the top of the glen, in the city of Inverness, in the early evening. Our lodging for the night was one unit of a 4-plex in a rural area overlooking the city. Our host, Chris, was grubbing around in the back yard when we arrived. He lives about 5 miles away and just comes to meet his guests. Everything was fairly neat and tidy but desperately needed a woman's touch (or perhaps a designer). The garden dropped off steeply in the back and was a tangle of overgrown bushes and weeds. I wished for a pair of gloves and an extra day. It had great potential. 

View over Inverness and the Beauly Firth in the distance

 Even though the apartment had a full kitchen, we hadn't seen a grocery nearby so we asked Chris for a restaurant recommendation. Since we were only a mile or so from the downtown, it wasn't long before we were seated in The Mustard Seed. This was our first dinner out on our trip so was much appreciated. Most days we've had at least one meal of pure junk food. I started with a cream of mushroom soup, followed by trout with lemony smashed potatoes and a side of roasted root vegetables. Alyssa had some fancy chicken strips in an interesting bbq bean sauce. As we walked out into the darkened streets, I saw a man carrying what looked like groceries in a plastic sack. I pointed to it and asked where he purchased it. He motioned that he didn't speak English. I told him that's okay, just point the way. So he did, and we found a nice little grocery in the middle of the city where we were able to buy food for breakfast as well as some much needed candy.

City lights of Aberdeen