Grass and Barley, or Day 28 in Fort William and Oban

We woke up again on couches, but this morning, it felt like a friend's place instead of a strangers. We decided last night that, sadly, without a car and trying to make the 11am bus to Oban, Glencoe was not going to happen. Just add that to the list of things to see next time in Scotland. (That list includes climbing Ben Nevis and taking the actual Quirang hike, instead of the crazy one we did.)

Alex also woke up with Sooty, the cat, by his face. I was only getting in the way of that relationship.

We got out a bit late, again, so ran down the hill to High Street (which we speed-walked through) and got to the bus with minutes to spare. The bus ride was pretty, but not quite pretty enough to prevent us from getting sleepy.

We got to Oban, and immediately started enjoying the quaint seaside feel. Oban is the "seafood capital of Scotland," and some parts definitely smelled like it. Alex mentioned that every place we've been to in Scotland has had its own feeling, and it's no different with Oban. We locked up our luggage at the rail station and headed for some lunch.

The past few days we've been eating a balanced but similar diet of raisins, peanuts, fruit, and granola bars (and chocolate). Today we treated ourselves to a hot lunch at a cafeteria-type restaurant. We then headed to the Oban Distillery.

Going to a distillery to see the Scotch whisky process has been on our list for a while, but this was the first (and will be the last) that was open and accessible. Our tour guide stepped us through the malting process of the barley (dried with peat smoke to add some smoky flavor), then the mashing (rinsing out the sugars in giant vats), then fermented, then the distilling. Theirs is distiller twice, then the first stuff that comes out is too strong ("the head"), then it is the correct strength ("the heart"), then it is too weak ("the tail"). The head and tail are put back in the storage container with the "low wines" (coming from the first distillation) and distilled again, again creating the "head", "heart", and "tail". Then, it is put in recycled bourbon casks of American white oak for 14 years. We got some ten-year-old cask strength (so about 58% alcohol, as opposed to after they add the water to bring it down to 43% when the bottle it), which was surprising smooth, for whisky. We then got to try their standard 14-year-old, which they've been making for over 200 years.

We stopped by the bed-and-breakfast, caught our host to give us keys, and then headed up the hill to a lawn bowling club!

Alex and I sat in the sun (yay, sun!) and watched the veterans play. I went inside to see if we could, but no one was at the booth so we contented ourselves with watching. The games were to 21 points, with your score each round being the number of balls closer to the jack, a small white ball, than your opponent.

After the afternoon games wrapped up, we headed further up the hill to McCaig's Tower. The story that Alex told me was that McCaig wanted to build a museum with a sculpture in every window, but he died before it was completed. Now it is a shell, albeit a pretty shell, and on the top of a big hill, with pretty overlooks onto Oban.

We headed next to dinner, though we got a bit sidetracked with a nap... well, at 8pm we were looking for dinner, and came out right before sunset (so, 9:30). We walked down along the water, and around the bend saw a run-down castle. Alright, last adventure of the evening!

Dunollie Castle had been built in the 1200s (like many of them), then abandoned and now was a fun walk up the hill in twilight. It was extra spooky from the time of day, but a good walk up and back.