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.