After that, we realised that our tent bag was in the car, also some strips
which were using to pack air bed were also in the car. Midges were attacking
us. First we thought it was raining but it was actually midge attack. Poor
dog Woody had to sit out side, waiting for us to pack. He seemed a little
confused what was going on, us packing in the dark. Woody was also suffering
from midge attack, could not stay still. It was a nightmare. Is this "Holiday
from Hell"?
last update 11th December 2004
We had to load our luggage to John's defender and continued our journey.
It was brilliant. First proper off road experience with proper 4WD.. I
have never been anywhere like this in a car before. Then suddenly we reached
to long white sandy beach. The defender kept going driving on the beach. Again, I have never be
in a car on the beach. Great feeling. This place was like a desert island.
I only saw one girl with a black Labrador walking on the the long white
sandy beach. The girl was waiving at John. He seemed to know everybody
in the island.
↓Oban Campsite
Our room had sea view of Caolas House's garden which directly connected
to their private bay where often seal visits. Also From the garden you
can see basking shark, whales if you are lucky. We managed to see basking
shark's fin by binoculars.
You don't need alarm clock at Caolas House. Chicken will wake you up by "cock-a-doodle-doo". I kept thinking to turn my alarm off. But obviously you can't. Funny thing was though, they stopped as soon as we woke up. They might know what they are doing. Only down side is that you cannot set time as you wish.
Day 2 at Isle of Coll. We visited village to see what was happening there.
They had one shop, one post office one cafe bar & restaurant and one
hotel with garden pub. That was all. We had a quick cup of tea and coffee at
the cafe and had lunch at the hotel pub.
After lunch we explored the island. It is only 11 miles from south to north
and only few roads, so people keep bump into each other. Ferry visits the
island only once a day, so you will feel like you know everybody by end
of second day. We went north end of Island. At the end of the road there
was a farm house, also saw some Scottish bulls. They looked amazing with big horns
When we went to the port to book our return ferry. A guy in the office knew we have mini without
us saying anything. That was only second day morning. Nice that you are
remembered but a little scary if you live there.
Caolas House was fantastic! It is a real working farm, where you can meet piglets, horses, sheep, caws chickens, goose and 9 dogs all at the same time. At the front garden,
chickens and goose are always hung out. Piglets are also eat their dinner
at front garden and chase visitors for fun sometimes. At B&B you can
taste their own pork/bacon, lamb and vegetables.
Caolas House's cream tea seemed to be pretty famous at the island as well.
Once there was a couple visited from village by 4WD taxi just for the cream tea.
Woody the dog managed to meet all 9 dogs by evening of our arrival day. They welcomed him as a guest. One of nine called "Snowy" fancied Woody. John kept telling him. "It's a boy!!" Luckily Woody knew how to deal with this kind of situation so did not have any problem..The 9s are 6 golden retrievers, 1 spaniel, 2 black dogs (we don't know what bread they were). Top dog is a golden retriever called Cana.
Jed which was spaniel which keep escaping from back garden, loved chasing
stones. He kept asking guests of Caolas House to throw stone for him.
Woody met other animals too in the Caolas House. Meeting first time with
piglets was funny. He kept barking at them but they did not care. When
Woody was on the lead. Pigs decided to revenge on him.
← Photo of Isle of Coll. I put red arrow where we stayed in the island.
This is professionally taken
↑At Oban port, our ferry for Isle of Coll
We arrived on time at the Oban port. Sea was very smooth and no sea sickness
for me. Woody the dog looked fine on the ferry too. We spent four hour
watching TV and looking around scenery with binoculars.(thanks to Big Woody!)
The ferry arrived Isle of Coll on time. A man from Caolas House was waiting for us at the port with his army defender (It looked more like cow pattern to me though!) The guy named John, who
is an owner of Caolas House and Farm, was big build with Wellington boots
on. He was indeed a farmer looking. He looked a little different from what
I expected.
Anyway, we started following his defender with our little mini. He drove like a nuts we were struggling to catch up since the road was so rough and scraped our bumper several times. We finally arrived car park near B&B. We could not go any further with our mini. There was no road beyond this point.
Day 4, we left Lake District and headed for Scotland. First time for me to visit Scotland. Scenery gradually changed. Mountains were started to appear. At Glasgow,
we took "wrong turn" and headed to completely wrong direction.
Motorway around Glasgow is so confusing. So many junctions within a short
distance.
Anyway, we managed to re-direct ourself for Lock Lomond where our camp site was. Finally arrived Lock Lomond. Now could not find the campsite. Driving up and down small and rough
B roads. By the time we arrived at the campsite, I believe it was around
3 o'clock, the site was already full. They could not even take our small
tent and small car. However they kindly suggested to visit Cobleland campsite which is approx 20 minutes drive from Lock Lomond. The site was located in the middle of Queen Elizabeth's Forest Park.
It was relief that Cobleland campsite had a space for us. We pitched our
tent by lovely stream and visited Aberfoyle village for food shopping. We found local butcher and got two massive stakes for our dinner. I don't normally enjoy stake
very much, especially fat edges. However great local meat with slow cooking
BBQ made it exceptionally delicious.
It was so typical though, as soon as we started BBQ, started raining. Luckily
we were under trees so BBQ did not effect too much. We had our dinner in
rain. Upside was only rained when we were eating. We found lovely walk
for Woody to run around. I was a lovely cosy campsite
Day 5, It was only few hours away from Cobleland campsite to Oban. We had to stay in this town to catch early morning ferry for Isle of
Coll.
Oban is a port town, gate way to inner hebrides. After pitching up our
tent to the campsite We decided to have a quick look around the town, did some trouser shopping for Woody(Graham). I bough flip-flops at the same outdoor shop too.
The weather was not good in Oban. Obviously we could not have BBQ. So we
decided to get some fish and chips. We accidentally found very famous fish
& chips shop in Oban. Why is it so famous? Because it is one of Rick Stein's favourite fish & chip shops.
It was all started when I booked ferry for Friday departure. When we were
double checking our ferry time table, we suddenly realised that our ferry
does not go to Isle of Coll directly. The ferry was scheduled to straight
pass the island and drop us off on the way back. If it was direct, it only
takes two and a half hours however our ferry took four and half hours to
get to Isle of Coll.
Our ferry was departing six o'clock in the morning, which means that we
had to leave the camp site by five at the latest. This caused a bit of
problem.
Camp site gate only opens between 8:30am to 11:00pm, Therefore, our car had to be parked out side parking space and we had to carry all our luggage to the car park when we leave. Addition to that, our mobile's battery was running low and it was the only alarm clock we had.
Anyway, we managed to wake up at 3:45 in the morning. Mobile battery last
just enough to wake us up.. We started packing in the dark. Only light
was our touch. Then, battery of the touch ran out, so we had to change
the battery in the complete darkness..
← You can have sea view from top of Oban Camp site.
↓Famous Fish & Chip Shop in Oban
↑Here is where it happened. Woody is now on the lead. We cannot let him
off
↓Straight to the bath. We did not have doggy shampoo, so we used Mariko's
shampoo instead
↑Let him off the lead, then what happened? Diving into cow poo. Wet coat
is not from water, you know?!
↑Woody enjoys The FatLamb's Garden
↑FatLamb's Bar entrance from garden side
We left our home at 8:20am, slightly behind the schedule of what we were
hopping for. But we made it. We left early enough to beat London traffic.
We actually went through London in half an hour! Straight through M1 then
M6. In six hours of driving on motorway we arrived beautiful country side.
Edge of Yorkshire Dale. Our B&B for the first night was called FAT LAMB
↑Working farm. First time seeing real sheep dogs. Woody the dog was overwhelmed
by the atmosphere. Probably a bit scared
2nd day at Langdale, we had a big breakfast at the pub near our campsite,
then off to great walk. We took a path near the pub then walked for over
four miles. At the end, we reached to a little village called Chapel Stile. We had a quick pint there then headed back the same route. It was a lovely
hot day. Sheep were everywhere.for Woody's entertainment.
View My
Webcam
