Severe weather with high winds and rain meant we had another day in Oban, and what a wonderful day it was. In the morning, we visited Dunollie Castle on the outskirts of town, the ancestral home of Clan MacDougall. The Castle grounds include the ruins of the original ancient castle, and the more modern Laird’s home, constructed in 1745. In the sixth and seventh centuries, Dunollie was one of the important castles in Dalriada, a kingdom that stretched from Ireland over to Scotland. The monks of Iona (our destination for tomorrow) noted Dunollie in the seventh century Annals of Iona, demonstrating the Castle’s significance. The 1745 laird’s house holds several exhibitions about life during the 18th to 20th centuries, from the Old Kitchen with its diversity of domestic items, to Miss Hope MacDougall’s collection of spoons from across the world. We had the morning to explore both the ruins and the museum.
The weather eased in the afternoon, giving us just a light rain for our afternoon excursion to the town of Inverary and the magnificent Inverary Castle, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Argyll, Chiefs of the Clan Campbell. The Castle was designed before the Jacobite uprising of 1745, but was not built until after the crushing defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden, as the Campbells were on the government side. We had an excellent tour guide who guided us through the many rooms of the Castle. The Dining Room and Tapestry Drawing Room are known for their beautifully woven tapestries commissioned in 1785 and hung in 1787. The Armoury Room is a vast room (21 meter high ceiling!) with walls covered in muskets, axes, and broadswords, including weapons used in the Culloden Battle. All the rooms were decorated with the Castle’s priceless collection of paintings, china, and silver.
After returning to Lord of the Glens, we enjoyed a whisky tasting with bartender Andy, who explained the nuances of whiskey distilling and provided us with a taster of three different whiskies–a warm way to cap off our day.
