Cannae go wrong when you’re in Oban. Not the time of year to visit more remote islands as the choice of accommodations are limited but there are a couple close ones yet to see.
Love the crown over a crown jewel of Whisky.
I stayed at The Claredon Hotel last time in Oban and was disappointed when I couldn’t book this trip. I was afraid it had not made it through the pandemic. The Clary pub below the hotel is a cracker so after I dumped my kit, I went to suss things out.
I could hear the jukebox and soon I spotted Erica Mouat, proprietress of the establishment who remembered me too, as she says too all lol. Turns out it wasn’t the pandemic but the energy crisis. Like most old buildings in the UK the walls are poorly insulted and the windows are rubbish single glazed. Due to how your building may be listed, to upgrade windows to something more energy efficient is a criminal offense. That’s the kind of illogical thinking that resulted in Brexit. Erica determined it was a better business move to close the hotel until after the heating season as she needed to belays full to pay for the fuel.
So I stayed in the very nice Great Western. After some room shifting ( the original single was too hard for my spine so I asked to upgrade. After I settled in to the new room housekeeping told me it had shower issues (no rod or curtain was a hint) and moved me to one of the best rooms at no extra charge and then industrial action meant a couple days longer in Oban so it worked out. It’s the room over the door.
It had been a slog today. Rail issues meant a 2 hour stay in Queens Street and I was parched. After a couple at the Clary I worked my way back to the hotel
Funny when the Yank educates the Englishman. Man had been in Australia a couple months and was quite put out when he tried pay his round with cash. “We don’t take that here” said the barkeep. I nearly spit my beer having been told that with Scottish money in England. He went back to his table muttering about English hating Scots when I asked if I could see the money he used as this dumb Yank wanted to understand the issue. He showed me and I laughed. I saw the bartender out of the corner of my eye with a grin. Now the Englishman was getting heated so I asked how long he had been in Oz. Couple months. Ah, then you are not aware that the treasury had taken the old money out of circulation and will only accept the new plastic money. The recently enlightened gentleman apologized to the bartender and bought your’s truly a pint.
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