Day 5 -- Monday, the 30th June
Since we wake up early, I switch the telly on. Can we find better than Magnum, P.I. S3.E6 Flashback that we caught the other day? Well, we can indeed! This time, they are airing Allo' Allo'! S5.E26 All in Disgeese, which is still a hoot to watch.
It is our last breakfast on Arran. Potato scones are available at the shop again, so we have those and not the (arguably-superior) fried potato slices substitute we had over the weekend. Bah!
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| JS's fruit salad |
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| My veggie breakfast (poached egg and tattie scone) |
We load up the car, speed through the hills and reach the ferry terminal at 9:21 for the 9:30 sailing. This is such an informal crossing it should be no problem. Right? Wrong. We panic when we see MV Catriona leave the quay, and are puzzled when she berths a few metres farther.
The 9:30 sailing is cancelled, it turns out: the tide is out and the water level in Claonaig is too low to dock. We have ninety minutes to wait for the next departure. So much for that, eh?
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| Where shall we go, then? |
The Sandwich Station on the other side of the road is doing great business. Passengers for the 9:30 and the next sailing are piling up and on a mission to kill time. What better than brunch in the sun? Indeed, it is sunny, now.
We chat with a couple of cyclists. One who sports an Ardbeg bib tells us how he visited all distilleries, active and closed, by 1993. He adds he could not do that now, what with so many launched this century.
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| adc by the water |
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| This hooded crow is well impressed |
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| A heron flies by |
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| And a thrush observes from a nearby tree |
Time passes rather quickly. I only hope it does not kibosh our (loose) plans for the rest of the day.
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| Aaaaaand we are gone |
Once we have landed in Claonaig, we drive up to Inveraray, then north again to Loch Awe. There is no calling at Fyne Ales, this trip. We get to marvel at Kilchurn Castle instead.
The weather is more and more overcast as we head towards Tyndrum. Further on, the majesty of Glencoe is shrouded in mist. adc is very blasée about the long drive on the plateau, which will make me tease her mercilessly for the rest of our road trip ("It's okay, but I once saw better in Luxemburg"). As we descend into the final bit, she is forced to admit just how dramatically, mind-bogglingly beautiful Glencoe is. Phew. Saves me throwing her out of the car.
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| Even in the mist. Or especially in the mist. |
In Glencoe village, we turn right towards Kinlochleven. That is a long detour, but it appears Kinlochleven has an excellent seafood restaurant (Lochleven Seafood Café), and we are hungry. They are only open Thursday to Monday each week. Fortunately, I did my homework: today is Monday; we are good. It is a true Scottish road (meandering, single track, dangerous, littered with locals driving too fast), but we make it in one piece. Only to discover that the restaurant is closed today.
Not a little pissed off (what is the point of preparing?), I remember that we shortlisted ten options, of which this is but the first in order of preference. The second (Creagon Inn Whisky Bar & Kitchen), third (The Pier House) and ninth (Ee-Usk) are now too far behind us to still be considered. The seventh (Lord of the Isles) and eighth (Castle Stalker View Café) appear temporarily or permanently closed -- not to mention they are also far behind. The fourth (Laroch Restaurant), fifth (Tea at Moss) and tenth (Garrison West) are more or less on our way, but will be closed by the time we can reach them. That means we have only our sixth option to fall back to: Ballachullish Hotel. A wee while later, we are on site.
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| And what a site! |
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| Ballachullish Fish Pie (me) |
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Whole Grilled Plaice (adc) "You have to flip it over to eat the other side," the waiter thinks useful to specify |
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Summer Green Tagliatelle with Scallops (JS) |
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| Sticky Toffee Pudding (me) |
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| Vanilla Crème Brûlée (adc) |
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| Avocado and Lime Cheese Cake (JS) |
We dine like royalty and hear good music, mostly from the 1980s. The only shadow is that adc hurts her arm with a wrong move.
As we board the car with smiles on our faces, JS points out that this was only our sixth preferred option...
From Ballachullish, we drive north to Fort William, Spean Bridge, then the awesome portion past Lochs Lochy, Garry, Loyne and Cluanie. We are very sad (at least, I am): the delay at Lochranza means that we are too late to cross Kyle Rhea with the Glenbeg-to-Kylerhea ferry. We therefore have to drive along the north end of Loch Duich instead. We fly by Eilean Donan Castle (it is pretty even in the rain) to reach Kyle of Lochalsh. From there, we cross the bridges to Kyleakin, our destination for today.
We are staying at Glenarroch, a backpackers joint. It is functional and we are so tired (at least I am), we could sleep under a bridge. To celebrate completing this long leg (the longest of our trip), we have a dram of Caol Ila 35yo 1984/2020 (47.5%, The House of Macduff The Golden Cask Reserve, C#CM260, 204b, b#128), followed by the grand opening of 163.1 6yo 2018/2024 Smokin'! (58.1%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 240b). The latter is excellent, today, all roasted peaches and grilled persimmons.
Despite three hitches (delayed ferry, closed restaurant, missed ferry), we covered the 350km from Arran to Skye today. Anyone who has driven in the west of Scotland will understand that is not to be sniffed at.
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| Devil's approves! |
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