Welcome To Oban

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Loch Lubnaig on the way to Oban

When Regis suggested we spend a week in Oban after the narrowboat adventure, I did some internet research on the town and then I found an author, Peter May who wrote mystery novels about the area. After reading one, I had my concerns. His descriptions of the area was quite simple; COLD and RAINY. This did not significantly deter Regis however as she was focusing on the “Quaint” and the “Picturesque” aspect of the town, and said it can’t really be that bad. As well, we had both friends and relatives who had visited and loved the town.

Getting up early to leave Edinburgh prior to rush-hour traffic got us out of the big city and on our way to Oban. The first half of the trip was on “M” series highways, the “M” standing for “Motorway” which refers to their “Interstate” level highways which are divided and multi-lane with according to the big M/B and BMW passing me, seemingly no speed limit. Then about half way there we had to switch to an “A” level road. Now “A” level might lead you to think this was a pretty good highway. After all it is the main road into Oban from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Ok, think of the narrowest windiest road in Canada or the US . . . . this road was narrower. There were signs warning me that “Oncoming Vehicles may be in the middle of the road”, and when the big 18 wheelers met on some corners one of them had to come to a complete stop inches from the stone walls to allow the other to squeeze by.

The view from the apartment

On the plus side, the weather was lovely, with a day finally with no “Scotch Mist” and lots of bright sunshine and pleasant temperatures. We stopped at a couple of the Scottish famous lochs to take pictures. All together it turned out to be a pleasant drive with amazing scenery.

Looking out to sea from the window

Arriving at Oban we were greeted by exactly what was advertised; a quaint seaside town on the western coast of Scotland. No parking issues here, I found a spot right across from the apartment against the seawall to unpack the luggage, and then moved the car to a free spot a couple of blocks away. The apartment was everything advertised, large, airy, and right on the waterfront with amazing views out across the harbour to the islands beyond.

Then it started to rain, a gentle drizzle as we went for supper groceries, increasing to a steady rain walking back, and then working up to a windy, violent downpour that obliterated the view of the off-shore islands by evening. Welcome to Oban.

Down on the Bayou

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Not the nicest beginning . . .

A quote in the magazine Houstonia says “For the longest time, bayous are just one thing to you: EW, which is to say they’re, slimy, teeming with dangerous characters, disease, and secrets – secrets contained in dumped garbage, old cars, the occasional human torso.” Not exactly a glowing endorsement for tourist attractions, but it was down in the historic district and seemed it might be an interesting place to walk along the water.

Our first day in Houston, we went for a walk along the Buffalo Bayou. On the map it looked like a river, and although a bayou is defined as “Chiefly Lower Mississippi Valley and Gulf States,  marshy arm, inlet, or outlet of a lake, river, etc., usually sluggish or stagnant. “, even when we got there, it looked like a muddy river. Fortunately, Houston has made a decision to develop this area, and it has been turned into a quite nice place to walk. There are miles of paved trails along both sides of the Buffalo Bayou, and it seemed to be used by many runners, walkers and cyclists.

A few highways . . . .

This area might have been forgotten and neglected and indeed might have become just as in the above quote, because it does have a few negatives. The ring road around the downtown area of Houston follows the Bayou – probably cheaper to use this land than expropriating useful property for highways, so much of the trail system actually winds under the highways, sometimes three deep above you.

Canoe - not very watertight

The first part of this trail almost put us off walking it, as we saw a number of homeless folk coming up from the trails, but we also saw some cyclists so we decided to try the walk. The first part was a bit rough, and you could see the homeless squats up under the highway supports and I noticed a number of open power boxes where power was being stolen and a few hidden areas where people had obviously been living. All along the trails were signs forbidding “Overnight Camping”, and I imagine it must be an ongoing chore to roust the homeless from the inviting shelter areas under the highways.

Tourists on the Bayou

As the trails progressed it got better and better and turned greener and more developed. At the end there were canoe launches and numerous inviting benches and garden areas. All in all, it was a lovely morning walk “Down on the Bayou”.