We had originally planned to go to Fort William but we ended up going to Fort Augustus. I am glad we made this choice, as Fort Augustus has five locks that rise through the center of the village and it was fun to watch them operate. We had a pint while we waited.

It was a cloudy day but we still found the scenery to be lovely on the drive to Fort Augustus.

Fort Augustus

Boats entering the locks

The Drive to Kinlochleven

The scenery just kept getting better!

I dropped off Michael at the hotel in Kinlochleven and drove to Glencoe to walk the trails. (Michael was still a tad under the weather.) There was again so much green! These pictures are from two trails: the mountain trail and the woodland trail.

We drove to Oban the next day. We stayed at a nice little guesthouse (Don Muir Guesthouse) with a friendly female proprietor. Here are some pictures of the drive to Oban, Oban, and the town of Tobermory on The Island of Mull (with the colorful buildings). We took the ferry from Oban to the Island of Mull, then took the bus to the town of Tobermory. We had hoped to tour the distillery, but there were no more openings so we just went to a restaurant where I had some whiskey (this is what they make at the distillery) while Michael had beer.

We had planned to take the car on the ferry so we could drive to Tobermory ourselves, but we learned that it was too late to buy a car ferry ticket. So we took the car back to the hotel and walked back to the ferry terminal. Thankfully, we could still catch the ferry (about 2:00 p.m.) to Mull that day as well as a return ferry later that day.

I saw this very cool castle from the bus and took a picture, not knowing what it was. I have since learned that it is Duart Castle. For over 700 years, Duart Castle, the seat of Clan Maclean, has dominated the view to the Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe with its huge curtain walls and solid keep.

You may also recognize Duart Castle from some Hollywood feature films such as Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones’ “Entrapment” (1999), “When Eight Bells Toll” (1971) with Antony Hopkins and “I know where I’m going” (1945).

We will tell you about our long attempt to leave Oban in the next post.