Saturday, April 01, 2006

A Short Break In Oban - Settling In

Oban

We needed a break after the frantic chaos with our work's relocation so a long weekend was in order. The weather forecast wasn't looking that great but we thought we might as well take the break anyway. Had a sniff around the net for a decent B&B in Oban on the Saturday morning, called up the Glenroy Guest House to book directly and avoid any agent fees and off we set.

Oban is a busy town as it is the main car ferry point for travel to and from Mull, Coll, Tiree, Barra, South Uist, Colonsay, Lismore and Islay so booking first seemed a good idea. The drive up took about two hours so we got there in plenty of time to get settled in, have a wander about town and then find somewhere to eat. The B&B was easy to find, on the way up to McCaig's Tower, and the room was nice with a great view over the harbour.

Dusk Over Kerrera

Eating Out

We'd eaten in The Gathering before and it was pretty good so we went along there, only to find that it doesn't open until Easter. Anyway, O'Donnell's Irish Pub upstairs had a reasonable looking bar menu and we couldn't be bothered looking any further so we tried that. Unfortunately, the Steak'n'Guinness pie was off so I opted for the Irish Stew and a pint of Guinness - seemed close enough to me. Frankly it could have been better and it seemed a bit overpriced for a pub meal. Maybe it was just the time of year but that, on top of the complete lack of ambience, probably means we'd avoid the place in future.

Sunset Over Oban Bay

Fed, we wandered down to the harbour looking for a pub to spend the rest of the evening in. Took a few snaps of the sun going down from the front and went into the Oban Inn, which is right down on the harbour front. It has a downstairs bar and a lounge upstairs but the traditional old-style bar looked lively enough so it was a few more pints of Guinness for me and a pleasant evening was had until bedtime. Dang, forgot about that climb back up the hill to the B&B!

Heading In For The Night

Tomorrow, we go walking...

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