Scotland 2026 Day 13 & 14. Slowly winding our way home…

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Day 13 leaving Oban heading to Ayr

Well! after the rigmarole of the previous night we were expecting to be greeted by the manager when we checked out…she had said several times that she would make amends to us on our check out…..umm…NO…. The receptionists knew nothing about the problems we had had…and what’s more the manager didn’t come on duty until 11.am….i was not in the mood to be messed about, so politely insisted that the manager was called….we were told she would be there in 10 minutes….20 minutes later she arrived…she knew of the flooding problem from the day before. She also seemed to know that we had been told that they were going to make amends ….I reminded her of this to which I was to,d “ yes we would like to make amends by offering you a free breakfast” ….as this point I laughed out loud, they could tell from our account we hadn’t had breakfast the day before, she was also aware that we had packed the car up, Dad was in the car and we were ready to leave… my next question was ..at what point was this empty gesture going to be offered to us ….after we’d left, or not at all I suspect….The manager said that they had no jurisdiction to refund us anything, permission would have to be sought from head office….i asked why this hadn’t already happened???? She did say that she did have the power to right off the cost of our evening meal the first night….she then went to do this. We said we expected to hear back from head office, with some further form of compensation for ruining our 2 days in Oban, by 5.30 pm Tuesday 26th May. We thought this was fair. If we didn’t hear back we would write to their head office with a formal complaint and as we had booked through booking.com we would give them a review which explains why no one should waste their money staying at this establishment…I am not prepared to let this drop….Muthu Queen advertises as 4 star, we payed almost £100 a night and for that we expected the facilities they advertise to work…other visitors shouldn’t have to go through what we went through…..as I write this it is 4.30 pm on Tuesday 26th May and as yet we haven’t heard anything….we will pursue this for the sake of others..

Off we went …the scenery was beautiful and we passed-bye some familiar sights…

We took the A85 up to north to Connel then East to Tyndrum before taking the A 82 to Crianlarich. The Best Western ar Crianlarich is a favourite of ours….We stopped for coffee and a loo break. The receptionist and the bartender were the same as 3 years ago when we stopped there..

We crossed the Firth of Clyde on the Erskine bridge and headed on the coast road through Port Glasgow, Greenock stopping at Wemyss Bay …..this is where the ferry goes to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute…the train station is next to the ferry port…it’s an intriguing station, several years ago when we were touring Dad had taken a photo of the inside of the station and had it made into a jigsaw for a present for us…We sat watching the ferry and ate or lunch.

On we went through Largs and on to Ayr….a little time was lost due to road works closing a section of road and us getting a bit lost until we picked up the A77 again….We found The Ayr’s race course easily enough. When there is no racing we like to stay at The Western House Hotel at Ayr Racecourse…..it’s a lovely hotel….superb staff, really nice spacious rooms …and guess what everything works in them….we were greeted like long lost friends, the porter/ doorman offered to help with our bags which we declined….but as we were getting the bags out a young man arrived for duty and helped us anyway…we later met him again in the restaurant …what a helpful chap he was….….the rooms were ground floor and opposite each other as requested….

We ate in their restaurant…a lovely roast with all the trimmings….what a pleasure…the waiters were charming, professional, friendly and full of fun…. What we can say is that the meal for the 3 of us was £30 cheaper than the average evening meal we had had at the Muthu Queen…our rooms were also cheaper in Ayr which really is a 4 star hotel.

Day 14 Ayr to Carlisle

We were sorry to say goodbye to The Western House….we had had a great nights sleep and loved the opulent luxury of a nice duvet, pillows, fluffy towels etc….packed up and back on the road we headed to Greggs for bacon butties and a treat of a sausage roll. We took these on to the promenade road and sat watching the sea and people walking their dogs while we tucked into our breakfast.

We once again headed south and slowly made our way to Carlisle….i had rented an apartment for the next 2 nights ….The Foreman’s residence is very close to the station and right next to The Carlisle Court of Justice.

Whilst we knew it was an upstairs apartment we didn’t realise that the second bedroom was up a second flight of steep steps and it was in the eves …to the extent even at my short height I had to bed over to get to my side of the bed….ummm not ideal but we’ll make do…the blurb on the place had also said on road parking or near bye car park…..ummm…. No on road outside the property it’s a no through road with double yellow lines and the court at the bottom…the road that this is off has 1 hour no return parking, the carpark which is an easy walk is £10 for 24 hours, which is fine…but I do wish that when people advertise their places that they didn’t paint a picture which isn’t totally realistic…..but it’s fine and fairly comfortable….i know I am pedantic about cleanliness and it doesn’t quite meet my high expectations….but it is probably better than our previous experiences at The Station Hotel !!!!!!!

Scotland 2026- Day 12 Around the Oban’s Slate Quarry area….looking at Easdale Island.

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Our day got off to a somewhat sluggish start. The Muthu Queen Hotel is NOT a 4 Star hotel as most sites and itself proclaim…..shame on the tourist board or who ever it is that inspect hotels for giving this hotel 4 stars…..1 star is 1 too many……The maintenance of the property is dire…..simple things which you expect at a no star hotel…such as curtain which pull….Thankfully as John is over 6 feet tall he could reach the curtain rail and gradually move the clips along one at a time until they were almost closed….there was no chance of them sliding in any direction…..they obviously had never used silicon on their rails …..a simple trick which normal people do on a regular basis……The TV didn’t work …if it came on for a minute or two it soon descended into a colourful pixelated screen reminiscent of the old testcard days……The shower was great only the shower screen allowed the water to flow directly onto the floor soaking the bath mat….As we left in the morning for the day out we made it very clear that by the time we got back in the late afternoon we expected the curtains and the TV to be fixed….”yes of course” was the reply by the lovely highly apologetic smiling staff….

Our first stop was 2 minutes along the road…we pulled up next the harbour wall near where the ferry to Mull goes out. We quickly went and got bacon muffins and coffee for breakfast which we happily munched on in the car

Then off we went….John had a secret view point up his sleeve…directing me to drive almost straight up a hill on very narrow lanes….i was almost cursing him when we came across a carpark and steps leading up into an acropolis style tower…

From here you got a superb view across the Oban harbour, whole town and the distant Islands and coast line.

Today we were exploring an area I’d not been to before…the broader coastal area which includes an area known as Lorn within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland.

There are many small islands known as the Slate Islands which are in the Firth of Lorn approximately 15 miles south of Oban ….. A 30 minute drive south of Oban brings you to the Isle of Seil. You cross on to Seil via the historic Clachan Bridge which was built I. 1792. It is more frequently known as The Bridge over the Atlantic.

Carrying on along Sial we came across a couple of highland cattle in a field and a deer who had jumped the fence onto the road….we watched her jump safely back into the trees…

From here we drove across Seil to the small coastal village of Ellenabeich. We stood watching people coming and going on the little passenger ferry to the Easdale Island….the ferry trip takes just 5 minutes.

Essdale Island has today got a population of 60-70 people after it had dropped in the 1960’s to just 5 nearly a generation after the end of its Slate Quarrying period. The last Slate was cut in the 1950. The disused quarry’s provide a haven for bird life. From the Seil Coast we watched Oyster Catchers wading and cracking their finds on larger rocks.

We wound our way around the coastline of Seil, taking in Cuan

… starting back towards Oban we came across a strange sight in the middle of the road …he didn’t stay long…

We went back through Balvicar before retracing our steps back to Kilninriver, Kilmore and then Oban…. The scenery was stunning….just a shame the photos don’t do it justice as it was once again a grey day.

On returning to our Fawlty Towers we found that nothing had been done whatsoever so ever to sort the problems our room had…. A lady calling herself the manager came, looked at the curtains and the TV agreed that neither were acceptable, sent a young man to sort it out…he couldn’t…actually John was more useful with the curtains than he was…so the lady who we now think was the duty manager changed our room from No.16 to No.14…. Well at least it was closer to Dad….she pointed out the fact that, like Dads, we couldn’t open the window because it wouldn’t then shut without trapping your fingers in the mechanism ….you had to press a tiny button in the hinges as it passed the hinge…she nearly broke one of her highly decorative false nails trying to show me…..but yes the TV worked and the curtains closed and even if the room had no view it didn’t matter ……at least I couldn’t be accused of flashing at passers-bye!!!! Excellent.

We chose not to have Manuel !! Serve us in the restaurant and I had booked a table at the very smart Italian restaurant next door….No.17… it was delightful.

Superb service and great food… we ate a very nice 3 course meal before walking next door to Fawlty Towers AKA The Muthu Queen. We retired to bed in our new room, happy after a superb day and tummies full with yummy food…..or at least I thought we had retired….

Sometime after I had climbed into bed I heard Johns voice say “Help” from the bathroom….jumping out of bed I rushed and opened the door…..standing bemused with his trousers around his ankles, paddling in about 2 inches of water was my poor husband. He had finished washing and gone to go to the toilet when he felt water spraying the back of his legs…looking down his trousers were soaking…the pipework at the bottom of the flush cistern was squirting water out in every conceivable direction……I dragged on some clothes and raced downstairs to reception- the receptionist came with me and the look on her face said it all….she turned and ran to find help….in the meantime John went in search of a toilet and I used the bin bucket to catch one jet of water in one direction and a plastic bag pulled open from the loo seat to the toilet brush to make a tripod to catch some of the water in the other direction…The deputy manager came back with a man who had a wrench…sometime later she disappeared again ….eventually I went down to reception and said we were tired, wanted to go to bed so we would go back to room 16….. but they’d given this malfunctioning room to someone else…..the only room available was room 47 on the 4th floor with the lift out of order….but no worries the plumber had just arrived as had the actual manager…..all were very sorry for the problems….a considerable time later the problem still wasn’t fixed…the water was creeping out of the bathroom across the carpeted floor…finally enough was enough…the manager kept saying they would make amends tomorrow when we booked out….but that didn’t solve the now problem….they carried our bags up the 4 flights of stairs and we finally got to sleep in room 47…….where everything worked apart from the lift to get you there !!!! And it had a great view ….

If you think that’s the end of the matter wait until tomorrows blog !!!!!

Scotland 2026 – Day 11 – Inverness to Oban.

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Day 11- Inverness to Oban…. We were up and away from our AirB&B by 9.15. I must say we were very comfortable in our 2 Crown Circus Apartment. It was fairly expensive but we were very comfortable. Anyone thinking of staying here would not be disappointed. Claire the host is a delightful, helpful lady. The only thing you should be aware of is that the welcome pack is coffee beans, sachets of tea, coffee, sugar. There were dishwasher and washing machine tablets, kitchen roll, toilet rolls etc…..In all the other Airb&bs we’ve stayed in both in UK and in Europe we have always had a welcome gift with bread, milk, butter and a preserve….we’ve also had luxuries like eggs, cheese, apple juice, wine, bananas etc etc But here the extra gift other than the expected norm was coffee beans…we didn’t use these as we had brought our preferred coffee from home.

We headed towards Dores and Foyers along that side of Loch Ness to Fort Augustus…some of the road is one track with passing places. There are frequent parking places but only a few have views of the Loch….Nessie obviously had the day off probably due to the chilly wet weather!!!!! We did spy the tourist cruise out searching for her….we stopped to take a few pictures of Urquhart Castle…..We have a superb photo of this on our wall at home from the days John was heading up Barclaycards marketing and advertising…he had used his photographers picture to advertise the card in Scotland, it has a lovely pinky haze and has adorned our dining room wall for many years….so we always enjoy seeing the real thing when we are up in Inverness.

We had a very convenient loo stop at Fort Augustus before heading on to Spean Bridge where we stopped at the Commando Memorial.

The weather was really coming in and it was difficult to see the snow capped peaks of the Ben Nevis Range

We stopped in Fort William for a cup of coffee at the Railway Station so John could get a few pictures. Our trip continued on to Oban via The Loch Nell Arms Hotel, at Connel Ferry for a loo break ….what a delightful hotel with superb views and really nice staff….next time we pass this way we will definitely stay here…John was taking pictures ( which due to the poor internet where we are at present we can’t download) and a couple asked if he was staying, when he replied “ not this time” they replied it was a shame as it was the very best hotel in the area….looking forward to staying there in the future.

We nipped up to the station for John to get a photo….he was delighted it was a train with a bike carriage which he had failed to photograph the last time we came up to Scotland. So with a smiling husband we arrived in Oban and found our hotel – The Muthu Queen…right on the promenade front…a pity our rooms were looking at the back of the front of the hotel ….

If I said this hotel was a real live Fawlty Towers…..those of you who remember the TV series of the 1970’s or the more recent West End award winning stage show ….you will know that our experience has been highly problematic and thankfully due to our good sense of humour, highly amusing…..

To start with Dads room was 3 floors below ours….”NO” we had requested through booking.com rooms near if not next to each other and on the lowest floor possible. We knew that we had to walk up the first set of stairs but the lift which takes you the rest of the way was out of order…so eventually the lovely receptionists changed our room to the other end of the first floor to dads….then Dad opened his window and it wouldn’t close…the other lovely receptionist came and closed it using something pressed into the mechanisation so he didn’t trap his fingers, then our curtains didn’t close,,,John eventually managed to unhook them enough to pull them along but no chance of reopening them, our TV had no signal then sprang to life with constant interrupted signal, and the bathroom floor flooded when you had a shower….!!!! At supper the soup sounded appetising so we selected it only to be told it was a different soup which we didn’t fancy…our main course was brought before our starter plates were removed, so there was no where to put the main course plates ….we were asked if we wanted a dessert while we were still eating our mains…..and so it continued….the staff were so lovely…but nothing really worked…and the service was dubious……more about that tomorrow.

Scotland 2026 – Day 10 – The Black Isle

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Today is my wonderful husbands birthday….so a slow start with presents and cards….

It wouldn’t be his birthday unless he had a couple of new T Shirts…

We headed out of Inverness directly to Fortrose and down to Chanonry Point. This is a well known spot for dolphin watching. The channel is deep and the most likely time to see dolphins is 1to 2 hours after low tide…so that was around 11.30. We managed to dodge the golf balls as we traversed the courses road which leads to the point. It’s a tiny carpark but we managed to get the last disabled bay. We walked to the waters edge…..

…and spent some time watching a hatch and a rib sail past.

Dad sat on one of the thoughtful seats watching the world go by

We then decided to walk around the corner of the lighthouse to view the bay which is most renowned for dolphins.

Dad set off with us, but the beach was large stones and very rickety so he soon turned back. John and I continued to where about 100 people were sitting, standing, strolling…all in the hope of seeing dolphins…

We stood and watched a couple of boats go by…but no dolphins …

After a while we headed back to where Dad had taken up residency!!

He had been joined by a couple of dunnocks

We headed off to Cromarty. We pulled up against the shoreline and cracked open the flask…for a coffee, while admiring a Costa cruise ship and the old oil industrial site..

We headed across the Black Isle off to Dingwall, so John could photo a few trains….on the way we passed beautiful gorse, bluebells and numerous sheep with lambs..

We had our picnic at Dingwall. On the way back from Dingwall to Inverness we called a Muir of Ord for another train photo.

Back in Inverness we spent the rest of the afternoon having a rest, prior to going to The fig & Thistle for supper…

Scotland 2026 – Day 9 – Wester Ross

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After a slow start, breakfast, putting the laundry away, making a picnic lunch we were finally off and travelling out of Inverness..

Out first stop was Garve on the road to Ullapool. There sat in the station was the Royal Scotsman, the Belmond Company Special train which does tours of Scotland. The clients had just been disembarked on to two busses which would take them off to see the sights prior to rembarking at another station…probably Inverness or Avimore. the train is hauled by a deselect locomotive with the Belmont Royal Scotsman’s livery.

After the buses departed we walked onto the platform for a few more photos of its reception and the platform at the rear of its observation car .

Having peered through the window of the dinning car …

I cheekily asked the train manager if I could step aboard to take a picture…he a little reluctantly agreed…

After a few photos I started to wander back to the car…as it was once again raining….just as these two reprobates left the platform ..!!!

We drove on from here through some fabulous countryside……it was of course raining but this only increased the dramatic eerie moorland with its sheer granite rock faces. We were going to explore Wester Ross.

Arriving at Ullapool. We drove along the front of the quayside. Quite a few ferries go from here to other Scottish Islands and the port was a hive of activity.

We found a nice looking hotel and had coffee and used their conveniences.

We back tracked a little before turning off to Gairloch. This time we drove along the edge of Broom Loch. The Loch had loads of Oyster farms, which always fascinate me….as we drove on we continued to drive along well potholed roads, some were single tracks with passing places eventually winding our way along Little Broom Loch….both of the lochs run into the sea. We stopped at a stunning viewing laybye for our picnic lunch….

As we travelled on we saw loads of Christmas tree plantations …as well as some beautiful beaches….

On our circular route we joined the Kyle of Lochalsh – for Skye- Road at Achnasheen. We’ve seen deer here on the railway track before now…however we were thinking we weren’t going to be lucky ….. but on leaving the station we did see a pair of Oyster Catchers near the pond.

Back on the main road, I suddenly swerved into a lay-bye, this time it wasn’t to avoid the ever present potholes ….it was because I had spied a real beauty…

We continued on along the edge of the Loch Maree and called at the Beinn Eighe visitors centre…really to use their loos but they had some great information boards as well.

Arriving back at Inverness we struggled to find a way across the River Ness, due to one of the bridges being closed due to an accident …we did eventually make it back having stopped at Tesco to pick up a gammon joint, vegetables, croquet potatoes and trifle for supper….however we ended up eating rather late due to the fight I had with the cooker, hob & microwave !!! Why can’t all appliances work the same?????

More sightseeing tomorrow….