Day 25 (14th July 2022)

 Yes you've guessed it! It rained again! I just read Julia's post on Facebook that had a weatherman and a totally red Europe. Well, it's a lie, wherever I am, it is cloudy and intermittently raining 🌧 

I left early and headed south from Fort William directly into stop #45

OBAN

Obviously recognisable because of the McCaigs Tower (that amphitheatre thing at the top of the hill), but Oban also lays claim to be the seafood capital of Scotland. Just one stop at an unassuming wooden shack next to the ferry booking office confirmed this for me. With prices less than a third of what a fishmonger will charge you in London, I scoffed down a dozen of the plumpest, tastiest oysters I have ever eaten.

Wild horses won't stop me going back there tomorrow.

As excited as I was about cheap fat tasty oysters, Oban was also my stepping off point for the next place on the Germinal CCXXIV mug/T places, and I really was very excited about this one. For a start, I hadn't realised that the trip I'd booked involved actually landing rather than a sail past kind of affair. But nope, it was the whole kaboodle. A ferry to Mull, then a 40 minute minibus ride to another port, to get a boat that took over 90 minutes to finnally get to stop #46.

STAFFA

So here I am, alone in Fingals Cave on the Island of Staffa. To be totally honest, during this blog, I have rarely censored the pics I'm using, and pretty much all of them have been the first attempt. I mean, look at that very first pic. It's terrible. But trying to take a pic inside a cave when it is really windy, and the waves have already soaked your boots, and there were at least 60 other people trying to take their photo in said cave ...

Anyway, I waited till almost everyone had gone in (we were deposited onto the island with strict instructions to be back on the quayside in an hour, and not to go anywhere near any birds) and my first 10 attempts were frankly rubbish. The background would go totally black and all I was left with was me grinning like a fool.

Staffa is fabulous, although, and I kind of hate to say this, but Guy and I have been to Vik in Iceland and they also do volcanic hexagonal pillars and they really do pawn both Staffa and the Giants Causeway. But that aside, Staffa is well worth a day out of your life to discover.

As you can probably tell, Staffa is one of my highlights. It is a magical place that looks so otherworldly, with the added bonus of being surrounded by Puffins. Unfortunately my phone went into a sudden and rapid battery drain which meant I couldn't photograph any Puffins. On this trip, they were closer than ever before, so close you could see the little fish in their beaks just like on all the postcards and calendars and whatnot.

So no more pics until I got to my campsite, in the rain of course.  Luckily for me, it stopped just as I hooked up, so a quick meal and glass of wine before having the most hilarious 4-way conversation between myself, Guy and our lovely friends Pam & Nick while I wandered up and down the beach  getting more and more sozzled on red wine.

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out