Monday, October 02, 2006

Highland Honeymoon

Sandra and Ian's photo from above Stalker Castle, 20 minutes from the cottage

We had a wonderful time! The first couple of days were lazy, chilling out,
days as we were tired from the build up to the wedding and the journey.
We arrived about 10pm on Sunday.
We had a short walk round the other side of the loch to break us in,
then a day or two later walked up to the Inchree Falls. We went diving
with Puffin Divers in Oban on the Friday, and dived the wreck "rondo"
which was quite a long journey in the boat, and a scenic dive nearer to
the harbour. The weather was beautiful for the first week. We had
planned to do a shore dive from the Holly Tree- did you know it's a recognised dive site? - but the weather turned so we didn’t get the chance. On Thursday we went up to Elgin, via Inverness which is where Ian's grandmother was born. On the way we stopped at Fort Augustus.
We used your handbook a great deal and visited the craft shop in Glencoe and the cafe looking over the castle - Ian got this beautiful photo of the sunset which we are going to have enlarged and framed.
We went on the Steam train to Fort William, but found it to be pricey for what it was, and
when you have scenery from your cottage, you don’t really get to see anything more spectacular! We went round the Oban distillery, highly recommended outing on a wet day!! And you can pick up something to warm you up at the same time!!
We also visited the hydro-power station which was interesting – again something for a wet day as it's a hollowed out mountain.
Not at all impressed with the sea life centre near Oban, I'm afraid. Maybe becausewe dive and see the fish and animals in their natural habitat we just didn’t like seeing them in tanks. Also the whole thing about rescuing seals seems a bit odd - they only get about 20 a year, isn’t it just
natural selection that some are lost each year?
Eating out, we didn’t try any of the really posh places, but had two good meals at the Holly Tree, the first time the service was iffy, but the second time a different team was on and it was much better.
Can't fault the Clachaig Inn though for good value wholesome food at reasonable prices, and a lovely atmosphere. Sat there on Wednesday night watching the rain coming down in stair rods!!! The cottage really felt like home, especially after we put all our wedding cards up, it's in such an idyllic spot, and we enjoyed just sitting in the garden when the weather was nice.
Overall we had a lovely holiday. We loved it so much we want to buy a place of our own up there ........ Thanks for all your info - I feel sure we'll visit again

Sandra (and Ian)

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Lochside cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland
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