Our last night at Culloden House comes to an end. We like not having the pressure to get out early for our next sight, so we dawdle over breakfast, planning our day. But, eventually, we have to leave. Checkout is easy and while I'm bringing the car around, they bring down our luggage.
First stop is Urquahart Castle. It's a ruin along Loch Ness. We get in free with our Scottish National Parks pass.
From there we continue south along the Loch to Ft. Augustus. I'm pleased that our GPS seems to be leading us along properly, but it's pretty bad at estimating travel times since it assumes we can travel as fast as the speed limits permit, which we can't. We arrive at the boat dock (our next stop) just minutes before it's going to leave. We park the car along the road, and I hope that it will be there (not towed and not ticketed) when we return (it is). The boat trip is on Loch Ness. It's a combination of an hour out on the water with pleasant scenery, mixed with a schlocky back story narration about the Loch Ness Monster over the speakers. Mostly we ignore that but enjoy the time on the water. Despite the silliness, it is worth having done.
We take a slight detour to head to the oceanfront town of Oban. In an earlier iteration of planning for this trip, we'd expected to be taking the ferry from Oban to Islay, for the whiskies. But, it was going to cost us nearly $200 and take 2 days to do that level of detour, so we'd settled for a shorter visit. Dinner along the water. Maxine buys a fresh fish salad from a guy with a truck, and we end with ice cream from another truck. That guy is particularly nice and we spend some time talking to him. It really helps that sunset isn't till well after 9pm, so we enjoy a few more minutes in the sun, with the water. Oban was worth the detour and we wonder if or when we'll ever be back?
Next we're driving along Loch Lormond. We'd read that it's the most popular Loch in Scotland. in part because it's less than 60 miles from Glasgow. It's pretty, but doesn't have the Loch Ness back story, and by this point we're getting a bit bored with the relatively attractive scenery we continue to pass. We stop at a place called The Drover's Inn for coffee and a break from the road. I'm tempted to order a beer because the place is just TOO classic, but we both settle for coffee. They've got T-shirts that say something like "Voted Scotland's Best Pub 1734".
Finally in Glasgow, we discover that the Hilton that we'd gotten on Priceline is actually on the river! Another small room, but incredibly nice staff (in a country of nice people!). One guy is just coming on duty and hasn't checked in yet, but sees me looking at a monitor. He comes over, offers to help, and then tells me that if I need anything either he or any of his co-workers would be pleased to help.
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