West Highlands & Hebrides, Scotland Day 8 - Isle of Kerrera & Oban
The weather of Day 8 was gorgeous since the early morning! Taking advantage of the food items that our B&B host provided us in advance - milk, a loaf of bread, many kinds of cereal, butter and jam, we made our own breakfast in our room and nicely got ready for the day ahead. We had walked around the town of Oban a day before and found out that there wasn't much to do. J came up a wonderful idea for the day - escape Oban and hike on the Isle of Kerrera!
The Isle of Kerrera is an island, close to the town of Oban. You can take the public ferry to get the island from a tiny port on the southern Gallanach route, located 2 miles from the town center of Oban. The port was like a local bus stop in a country side, which you could easily overlook. There was a car park, though limited. The ferry was pretty simple with a flat platform on where passengers stand. No seats or roofs. How exciting!
The ferry ride to Kerrera was only 5 minutes. The island is not large, only 4miles long and a little over a mile wide. The population was about 40 in 2015 and the number went up to around 73 in 2021 due to some reasons such as recent improvements of road infrastructure on the island and a new trend that more people seek living in a remote area. Still 73 is a small number, I guess. While we walked on the southern half of the island, we saw only a few houses and a couple of farmers.
Clearly there were much more sheep than people there. Sheep were everywhere on the island!
Interestingly the island had a tearoom that was selected one of the top tearooms in the UK. I was very curious and would love to have tea and scones there. However, unfortunately the tearoom was closed on the day. There was no other tearoom on our trail, maybe on the island. Glad we had a bottle of water!
We turned left on a grassy trail at a sign of the way to the castle at the south end of the island.
I was stunned by the magical scenery laid out before my eyes, as if we wondered in a fairy tail...
We climbed up to the hill that the castle perched on. The views from the hill were marvelous. The weather was delightfully on our side. The morning sunlight and the blue sky were helpful to shine and enhance the colors of the views!
I found a cute sheep smiling to us. :)
The ruined castle, or tower house was Gylen Castle. It was built by Duncan MacDougall of Dunollie in the late 16th century to control the trading businesses among the islands of the Inner Hebrides when the island had become an important access point of the ship lanes connecting with the other islands. The owner decorated the castle with the impressive Oriel window and Romanesque style carvings to make it impressive and brag his status. However, during the Wars of Three Kingdoms (England, Scotland, Ireland) in the mid-17th century, a detachment of the Covenanters (members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement) besieged the castle. The clansmen in the castle surrendered and then all massacred except John MacDougall, 18th Chief of the Clan who was spared on the grounds that he was an only child! The castle was burnt and has remained a ruin ever since. That's the history behind these tranquil views.
While the castle was a highlight of the trail, our walk continued. We walked around the small beach below the castle and passed through the sheep meadows over there.
The trail ran along with the shore for a while and took us to a series of up and down hill walks on inland. Still we often enjoyed the ocean views from high points of the hills.
The three hour walk was remarkably enjoyable. We took a ferry back to Oban. Good bye, the Isle of Kerrera!
The bustling town of Oban made a clear contrast to the restful island that we were just on about 20 minutes ago. We had a reservation at Coast Restaurant, a modern Scottish restaurant located in the busy town center.
The restaurant was well-rated with over 1,000 reviews. Based on the number and the location, I guessed it would be a busy place with tourists. My guess was happily wrong. Perhaps because the restaurant currently accept only a limited number of customers who made a reservation in advance and it was a lunch time, there were several tables open and the dining area was very quiet. The decor was chic and the service was smooth. I had an fried fillet of hake with green beans, char-grilled red peppers, crispy anchovy bites, spinach, fennel, herb gnocchi and a soy dressing. The dish was beautifully presented and tasted wonderful. J had haunch of venison with roasted polenta and cheddar batons, asparagus, wilted spinach, heritage carrots, confit garlic and a red wine jus. It seemed he enjoyed the dish very much!
We walked around the town for a while after lunch and stopped by at a cafe to buy some sweets for later and a couple of scones for breakfast on the next day.
Then, we also stopped by at a fish and chip shop to get J's savory snacks for later - crispy fried haggis and chips! Later we knew that the shop was one that our B&B's owner believed the best in Oban.
Somehow the photo is out of focus, but it was the crispy fried haggis that I have never seen before. J liked it actually. The chips was served with a generous portion!
On the other hand I enjoyed my Jammy Dodger! It was a very fulfilling day in many ways.
To be continued...
