Scotland2005: Last day (thank God) in Oban

Wet, wet, wet. Not like people from Seattle aren't used to it, but it's been very wet the last few days. We've often said that the weather here is very similar to Seattle's, but it's rained so hard that there has been major flooding in England and Scotland, south of where we are -- so much so that the rail lines and some freeways are shut down. If this keeps up, we may have an adventure getting back to London this weekend.

Last night we went over to a little "TexMex" place here in Oban. Let's just say that the Scots do a very interesting TexMex, which consists of dumping Pace Picante Sauce on anything cooked, wrapping it in a tortilla and calling it TexMex. We were also the only ones in the restaurant at 8pm too. This town really does die at 530pm.

This morning we got up early and drove up the coast to Ft. William. It's about 50 miles away, but it still took us 90 minutes. The roads here, though two lanes, are very windy and very scenic by the same token, but distances here aren't great (like we are used to in the West), and 70 miles is almost considered a day's journey.

We got to Ft. William and found our train waiting on the platform. The Jacobite Steam Train is run by a charter outfit, and goes up the West Highland line, a very scenic rail line through rugged mountains and glens that was built in 1880, and is considered an engineering marvel at the time. The train doubles as the Harry Potter train from the movie, and they filmed the train from the air in the scenes where they go from Kings Cross to Hogwarts. The cars are all from the late WWII era, and one of the cars even has those traidtional compartments that that seat six on facing couches. All have wood panelling and plush seats. We had first class tickets, two single seats facing with a wee table between. Coffee and tea provided (really warm water with food coloring, so we sufficed with diet cokes and short bread cookies).

The train is called the "Jacobite" after the people who supported the return of the Stuart kings after the English civil war. Jacobite" refers to supporters of the lineage of King James, and James in latin is Jacob. "Although technically the pretender to the throne was named Charles (hence "Bonnie Prince Charlie"), he was a direct descendent of the line of Jameses that ruled Scotland for centuries. When he attempted to regain power, his base of support was all in this area of the Highlands and his supporters were named Jacobites (there will be a test later on all this).

The train filled up with quite a few people. Mostly guys -- it must be a "guy thing". Most were also train buffs, or railfans, or as they are known here "trainspotters". I guess old steam trains, like old cars, and really any kind of big machinery attract guys, and very tollerent spouses -- Tony included. While I spent much of the trip hanging out the vestibule window feeling the wind, smelling the steam and smoke, and watching the scenery, Tony sat and read, watched out the window, and eavesdropped on the other conversations going on around him. (Tony writes: Mind you, I am still battling a cold and didn't think sticking my face into the rain and wind would be a good cure for my ailment) Tony said one young chap, fresh back from Iraq said when the topic of Haggis came up "I'm not going to eat anything made up of assholes and elbows".

In addition to eavesdropping, Tony read the British papers, which are interesting in their own right. They tend to put the National Enquirer to shame, and include a bare breasted woman in each issue. As Tony said each time he came across one "Eww"! Now if they had been bare chested men, well, who would complain about that! Lots of gossip too -- especially about Boy George (you remember him don't you? -- the Brits sure do, he's their Brittany Spears I suppose). He was busted for Coke posession (the white kind not the soda) in New York last week, and its THE major news story over here. Tony also sketched out his Scotland inspired tattoo -- weaving the Gaelic word for "Bear" which he got from our hotel front desk lady who called her "mum" who speaks Gaelic, and the Scottish shield and some celtic knots. It will be very painful -- both to have applied and to the wallet, but it is pretty cool. With luck we might find a tattoo place in Glasgow for a truly permanently memorable trip!

While Tony was reading and snooping, I was watching the train along with a lot of other guys. "Every time the train would go around a curve, arms, heads, and cameras would pop out of every open window for a view or a picture, especially as we went over the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which is that big white arched bridge you see in the Harry Potter movies. I shared the vestibule with a couple of other guys, and we talked trains, and even motorcycles since I was wearing my Harley logo rain jacket to stay dry. Everyone asked if I rode a "'arley" back home...

We got up to the coast at the town of Mallig after about two hours, where they gave us a 90 minute break for lunch. We were able to have a relaxing lunch of steak pie, walk all the way around the town (both streets), watch the ferry to the Isle of Skye leave, and still have thirty mintues before the train left to go back to Ft. William. VERY small town.

The trip back was much the same -- me enjoying the Highland scenery go by from the open windows, and Tony relaxing in the seat. It's hard for me to describe the Highland scenery -- and words can't do it justice. Picture very rough, blackish rock on steep hills, covered with a light fuzz of reddish brown grass, scattered sheep grazing, with some trees here and there, cascading waterfalls coming down out of the mist covered mountains that disappear into the clouds. A small blacktop narrow road, no traffic, or a rail line -- scattered white stone farmhouses, and fields criscrossed by walls of stacked stones. It is something one must see and experience first hand to really appreciate -- it's unlike anything on earth, including our own Cascade mountains in Washington.

It's wonderful to have a spouse who will put up with your excentric tastes when it bores the crap out of them -- and I'll repay it when we get to London and he has tickets to some awful play -- something called "Midsummer Madness" starring Vera Charles, Chauncy Penman and Byron Prong...or something like that.

We got to Ft. William and made our way south to Oban on the same road we came up on. The roads here are wonderful for motorcycles, but a lot of work on anything else. I feel like I had a good upper body workout with the manual transmission and steering on these curvey up and down roads. It got me and Tony to thinking that a great new business would be to set up an escorted Harley Tour of Scotland -- either as single riders, or taking a passenger. What a life eh? (The fact that we were thinking about this probably explains the severe rain and flooding in Central Scotland today -- MOTHER!! we are just fantasizing!)

We'll head back to the Royal Hotel shortly and pack up -- we catch an 820am train back to Glasgow tomorrow morning. We'll spend the night there and sometime tomorrow decide if we are spending only one or two nights in Glasgow before returning to London. Truth be told, Oban is a charming little town -- typical of many Scottish small towns, but it's too small to spend three nights in. The only thing open tonite we haven't done is the bowling alley. If one truly wanted to unplug and get away, this is a good starting point -- and the Isle of Mull is even more remote and quiet. It's not something I'm terribly good at, (Tony writes: Imagine that!) so I don't know if I could enjoy it like the pilgrims going to Iona do...perhaps it's a weakness.

From the much quieter tonite Oban Youth Hostel..

Gary and Tony