A Wee Dram

Oban Distillery

Oban is a small seaside town in Northwest Scotland. It is busy because it hosts the ferry terminal for many of the islands offshore. However, its reach extends all over the world, and even people back home in Canada may recognize the Oban name from one of it’s most famous exports, Oban 14 year single malt Scotch whiskey.

Although I am not a whiskey fan, it is a big part of the town, and was only three blocks from our apartment, so we booked a tour of the distillery.

The distillery still works out of the original stone building in the heart of Oban under the cliff

Lots to sample . . .

from McCaig’s Tower. When you walk into the visitor’s center however you are in a modern renovated room that although hip and stylish was a bit out of character for the old building it was in. This area housed a gift shop (With lots of whiskey for sale), a reception area for the tours and a tasting bar in case you just cannot wait for the tour to sample the product.

The Fermentation Tanks

Our tour guide was excellent and kept us not only informed but also entertained as she took us through the process of making whiskey. I learned some interesting things about whiskey. The Oban product is fermented in huge Larchwood tanks unlike most distilleries, which use stainless steel for this. The Whiskey is aged for at least 14 years in used American oak barrels that once stored bourbon. Their higher end product is further aged in French Sherry barrels or European oak. Although they still operate out of the original building, growth has forced them to store the barrels off site and some of the other process is done elsewhere as well. They only have four larchwood fermentation tanks and two copper stills, making them one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland, but they manage to produce 650,000 litres a year. That means that there is over 9 million litres of whiskey stored until it is sold. Apparently they produce a quality drink, and a friend back home claims Oban 14 is her whiskey of choice.

An enthusiastic tour guide

The tour was excellent, and although not a whiskey fan, I left with a new appreciation of the drink, and will probably bring a bottle home to have on hand when Scotch fans visit.

Brian, Your House Needs Work . . .

The dog-stone and Dunollie

Back in “New” Scotland (Nova Scotia), we have friends with the surname of MacDougall, so when we discovered that the ancestral home of the MacDougall Clan was just down the road, we figured we’d wander over, drop his name and have a visit. It sounded like pretty swanky digs, high on a hill overlooking the mouth of Oban Harbour.

The Dunollie Castle, House and grounds remains the ancestral home of the Clan MacDougall, but the house is now mostly a museum, and the castle a majestic ruin on the

The remaining tower

hill. The house contains some interesting historical artifacts, and allows you to see some of the rooms in the old house. In one room there is a most amazing collection of over 5000 wooden spoons from the collection of Hope MacDougall, and another area displays shoes and shoe makers tools.

The Castle ruins

A climb up to the castle reveals the “consolidation” of Dunollie Castle. This means that the castle is too far ruined to be restored, so it has been stabilized and the remaining structures have been made safe for people to visit and explore. There really is not much left, just one tower, part of another and a small section of wall. It is not surprising, since the history on a handout seem to indicate that the Clan MacDougall ended up on the wrong side of Scotland’s rulers on a number of occasions and lost all their ancestral lands at least twice.

Beautiful View

Walking down from the castle, you can wander through a beautiful willow garden where a local Girl Guide group had decorated a tree with painted wooden spoons, inspired perhaps by Hope MacDougall.

I was hoping to catch my friend Brian MacDougall at his ancestral home and thought I might share a wee dram with him, but mentioning his name did not even get me a reduced admission price, I had to play the “Senior” card to get a discount.

Some spoons for Mrs. MacDougall's collection

Walking Around Oban

Oban Waterfront

You eating that fry?

Well, Scotland is full of surprises; a rainy day was forecast but we awoke to sunshine, so we set out after breakfast to explore the town of Oban.

First we wandered along the waterfront and out onto the piers. Oban is the terminal for ferries going to many of the islands offshore, and there is a steady stream of these ships large and small coming and going. Pretty slick to see the large ones come into the harbour, turn and slip into the berth sideways. We found a nice looking fresh fish shop where we plan to get fresh catch for dinner one day.  

Painting Oban's Crown

Selfie at McCaigs Tower

After a delicious fish & chip lunch we decided to climb up the hill to the McCaig’s Tower. High above our apartment this structure was a mysterious building that invited investigation. It looked from a distance like a miniature Roman coliseum. Climbing hundreds of stone steps and steep roads and pathways brought us to a circular wall with arched windows all the way around.  Reading a sign informed us that this structure served no other purpose but to provide work to unemployed stone masons by a wealthy resident, John Stuart McCaig of Oban. He originally intended it to include an art gallery and a monument as well as statues of him and his family, but none of these additions were finished. Now it is simply a magnificent crown to the town of Oban providing great views out over the harbour.

Oban Cottage

We then wandered back through town to locate groceries for today’s supper, and back to the apartment after a day wandering the town.

Oh, guess what, now that our haggis is in the oven, it’s raining again . . . . .

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.