Ferry from Craignure to Oban

Have to admit I was a little nervous about the ferry crossing today, because boats are not my favourite way of travelling, but actually it was OK and, dare I say it, even pleasant!

But, let's go back a bit because I had the best time last night at the pub! They had a live Gaelic band, just a duo with a piano accordion and a violin, but they were fabulous

Lomond Ceilidh Band

They played mostly traditional Scottish/Gaelic music and it was soooo good. They were advertised as 8pm - late, so I hung out to about 10pm but I knew I had to get going this morning so I left then. But I could've sat and listened to them all night.

This morning I packed up and was ready to go, but I knew my ferry didn't go until 12.40pm so I decided to have a walk around town. The tide was in and somehow that made it just look a whole lot more attractive...

Tobermory in the morning

Main street Tobermory

So the time came to leave and blow me down if there wasn't a proper road as I left town!!! It was a dual carriageway that you could legitimately drive along at 60mph.... But they were only tricking!!! Cos about 10kms down the way, it reverted to the old one lane road.... but this was a civilised one lane road, because it had white markings along the side, and the tarmac didn't have jagged edges that were over a foot deep!  However it didn't last too long, and we were back to a main stream road again.

Today's journey

The ferry terminal on Mull was at a place called Craignure which I had visited when I came in from Lochaline and had my ticket confirmed etc... At the time, the lady in the ticket office suggested I get there about 12-ish, but I arrived about 11.20 and they were lined up already, so I joined the queue. Lucky I had booked and confirmed because there was a queue of people who hadn't and they just had to take pot luck and wait for the next ferry with a vacancy.

Waiting for the ferry

Waiting for the ferry

Ferry coming in.

It was easy from there. Just drive on the boat, then we had to vacate our cars. And there was a lounge inside or seats outside. The lounge was pretty popular for a little while as they had the royal wedding on and it was just at the point where they were saying "I do!"

But soon as the ferry started moving, I went outside and right up the top so I could see what was happening. It was pretty breezy out there, but once again the day was delightful!

Here's some pics from the crossing...

My view

Castle on the Isle of Mull

Lighthouse

Cross currents - but very calm really

It was only 45 mins and at last Oban came into view

Oban in the distance

Oban

The big building is the Catholic Cathedral

My hotel is called the Royal Hotel and apart from a few issues with parking it's fine. They only have a very small carpark out the back and otherwise it's street parking, but the council has just brought in pay parking, so I'll have to work my way around that! But that's a first world problem!!!!

-------- (continued after dinner)

Tonight is Saturday, so I decided to go to Mass at 6pm. There were a couple of factors involved in this decision.... First the footy is on tomorrow morning at 6am and I'm going to try and watch that. And 2nd - the issue with parking is going to dictate my movements a bit over the next 24 hours.

This hotel actually advertised it had parking otherwise I wouldn't have booked here.... only trouble is there are only maybe 6 places in their carpark, which is a bit dodgy anyway. But in the street out the back, the parking finishes at 6pm om Sat and as far as I can work out, it's free on Sunday. The alternative is a free carpark about 10 mins walk away, which might have to be Plan B, but I like to keep the car within a distance where I can check it. Consequently .... I'm not going to move the car tomorrow unless I have to!

Because of all that I've decided to have a rest day tomorrow and not go anywhere in the car. I'm here for 2 nights and it looks like rain tomorrow, so I'm just going to chill and have coffees and walk around a bit (if the weather allows) and catch up with things a bit. I don't have a firm plan for the next 2 nights after tomorrow, so I need to do some research and booking for that too.

Anyway - back to Mass......

St Columba's Cathedral

Inside St Columba's Cathedral

St Columba's Cathedral sign

Again, because of the car I decided to walk to Mass and it was a very pleasant walk along the promenade ( about 1 km each way). There was also no options for parking near the Church. (Parking in the UK provides one of the biggest hassles for travelers!)

The Church was just lovely. It had a very still and prayerful atmosphere. It is actually the Cathedral for this Diocese - the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles
Here's a map of the Diocese - see how spread out it is...

Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles

The priest was lovely and I was really glad I made the effort.

Now I've had my dinner and am ready for an early night, as I'll hopefully be up early for the footy tomorrow.

To finish up, here's a few pics of Oban... It's a busy little town

Oban

Oban

Oban