Scotland: Day 6
Our journey on Isle of Skye has come to an end. For a change of pace, and a break from driving, we opted to take the ferry back to the main land. This doesn’t really save you any time due to the waiting, checking in and actual ride, but it was nice not to be behind the wheel for once. We met a woman from Martha’s Vineyard and chatted with her for most of the boat ride over.
Once back on solid ground, we headed to the Glenfinnan Viaduct hiking trail. Yes, the Harry Potter bridge. There was a car park packed with cars and humans and no where to go, but the directions I printed for the hike suggested another parking spot by a bed & breakfast and ferry. We made our way, easily found a spot, and headed off.
The trail is beautiful. We made our way from the bottom of the bridge up top (need those aerial view shots!) and shared the path with another couple and their child. What people don’t do (including this trio) is continue on the path, and what a shame! While we were walking, a train came by and road over the bridge (sadly no Hogwart’s Express, but it will do). We continued on and were met with amazing views of Loch Shiel and the Nevis mountain range. It was truly stunning.
The trail in total is about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.
Eager to make it a bit further along on our journey, we headed towards Glencoe, which is famous for it’s amazing scenery (and for HP fans, it’s where Hagrid’s hut was filmed). We stopped at the Glencoe visitor center, had a quick ice cream pit stop, and then made our way around one of the paths, taking it all in.
Check-in at our next bed & breakfast was at 4 pm, and so finally coming to that time, we made our way there. I was driving at this point, and the road that took us from the highway to the B&B was…. not my favorite. It was 5 miles long, going about 10 mph, littered with sheep (some just ran in front of the car when they weren’t even in the road!!!) and extremely hilly.
We and the car made it in one piece. The B&B – the Blarcreen House – is definitely remote, but it’s stunning. Our room had a king size canopy bed (my inner 5-year old is obsessed with canopy beds) and beautiful furniture and decoration. The rooms overlook green fields filled with sheep (luckily not the suicidal ones that ran in front of my car) and is simply quiet. We both agree though that the most comfortable bed we’ve slept in thus far is the one in the yurt (which makes no sense whatsoever) and so here’s to hoping the AirBnb in Edinburgh is better!
For dinner we made our way down another single track winding road (no sheep though) into downtown Oban. We had a reservation at Eeusk, which is famous for their seafood. The food was good and fairly priced. James and I shared a massive bowl of mussels in a butter garlic wine sauce. For my entrée I had the king scallops and James had the seafood platter (which was filled with more mussels, oysters, langoustines, scallops and salmon – and only 20 pounds!).
Eager to get back before dark (these streets don’t have lights!), we headed back to the B&B and despite saying that we’d stay up later, I was definitely asleep by 9:30.