Oban Off The Beaten Path

This is a 30 acre farm park situated a couple of miles outside of Oban up in the hills. They have all kinds of animals there including deer, sheep, goats etc most of which are rare breeds and very cute! There is a pet corner where kids (and adults alike!) can feed and pet the tamer animals.

Its a previous winner of the Scottish tourist boards "Tourism Oscar"

The West Coast of Scotland is a veritable diver's paradise. Many non-divers, or warm water divers ask 'Why would you want to dive there?!' - but once experienced, you will never be able to get enough.

Offering some of the clearest waters in Britain and with thousands of dive sites to choose from including sea-lochs, wrecks, tidal races and whirlpools - the marine wildlife is abundant. We have some of the most incredibly rich and biologically diverse seas in the world containing an estimated 8,000 species.

Based in Oban, Puffin Dive Centre is a 5 star PADI Career Development Centre who offer everything from Try-Dives through to experienced instructor courses. Completing my PADI Open Water qualification through them, I found them to offer high quality tuition, and to be extremely flexible. Although the Open Water course normally takes 4 days - I actually took 6 days to complete it and was not charged any extra! I was also able to complete the course over the period of 3 weekends. All off the staff I met were extremely helpful, and had a great deal of patience!

The most beautiful coast with very white sand, plenty of shells, rocky beach, very clear (ok maybe a tint of blue) water…sitting by the benches and looking out to the coast swept all your troubles away. We took pleasure in our walk along the coast towards the highlands… As we admired the brick-houses facing the coast, in our mind, we longed to live in one. Our getaway from the mortal world…

Located in Stafford Street (near the North Pier) is open Monday to Friday all year round for guided tours. We didn’t really went in but passing by almost everyday. We like to walk around the town searching for road less travelled by visitors.

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Loch Etive is one of the most unique sea lochs in the UK. It is approx. 20 miles from the head of the loch to Connel Bridge, where it joins the Firth of Lorn forming the spectacular Falls of Lora, the only two-way tidal falls in Europe. Due to the two sets of narrows, at Bonawe and Connel, the loch has an extraordinary tidal system, which gives a two hour difference between high water at Connel and Bonawe, a distance of only 5 miles. This also has an effect on the salt content in the water - the surface layer of the water at the head of the loch can be almost fresh. The loch is over 400ft deep in places.

About 8kms East of Oban, starts by Connel Bridge.

This picture was taken on the electricity board access road to Cruachan Dam. I presume the sheep normally build up speed on the long downhill stretch, though why the limit is 24 mph is puzzling. Possibly this is the speed at which sheep go out of control, losing their footing and rolling unstoppably downwards in a blur of wool and baaing.

As if that wasn't hazard enough,watch out also for the falling rocks. I suppose they may be dislodged by the hammering of hooves as a herd of ovines thunders past.

This is a picture of Loch Awe taken descending from Ben Cruachan, around 25 miles drive east of Oban.
Ben Cruachan is a Munro (mountain over 3000 ft) and a popular hillwalking area. There is also a hydro-electric power station (with visitor centre) underneath it. Loch Awe is a large inland loch east and south-east of Oban. Most people will see it from the north shore, along the Pass of Brander, but the long arm of it stretches southwards, and is very off the beaten path.

This picture is looking towards the point where the two arms of Loch Awe diverge. To reach Trevine on the peninsula from the north shore opposite would take a few minutes by boat, or around 25 miles by road.

There is a hotel, the Ardanaiseig Hotel, almost at the tip of the peninsula/

Below is a link to a multimap page of this area:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=210000&Y=725000&width=700&height=400&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&zm=0&out.x=8&out.y=12&scale=50000

Furthest south of the sites located around Kilmartin Glen is the iron age fort of Dunadd. Although there is little to be seen of the actual fort except for some of the outer walls which kind of blend in with the rocky hillside, there are a footprint and bowl carved in the rock near the top that are believed to have been used in ancient ceremonies to crown the kings of Dalriada. There are also inscriptions in the ancient Irish language of Ogham.

Dunadd was the capital of the Pictish kingdom of Dalriada and the seat of power from around 500 AD. Its believed this is where the kings were crowned [including King Aidan by St Columba] until the PIcts were defeated and the capital was moved to Scone in Perthshire.

The village of Kilmartin itself has some interesting features. Kilmartin church is known for its carved medieval Christian crosses and gravestones and what may be the earliest carved figure of Christ in the UK.

The village is also home to the Museum of Ancient Culture. Unfortunately I didn't have time to go there but I'm sure it would have given me a much better understanding of the significance and history of the various cairns and standing stones in the local area. There is also a good view over the valley to the south where you can see one or two of the cairns in the distance.