Homeward Bound

Our last full day of travelling had arrived - and what better way to start the day than with a traditional Scottish cooked breakfast (with haggis of course) and beautiful loch views from a hotel breakfast table.

A substantial highland breakfast

After this substantial breakfast, we took a walk down to the loch shore and wandered past the highland cows on an overcast but dry morning and then checked out to continue on the last stage of our trip.  

Loch Melfort on an overcast morning

Midway between our hotel and Oban was Seil Island, one of the 'Slate Islands' that are situated just off the west coast of Scotland. In the 19th century these islands were the heart of a booming slate industry and exported millions of slate tiles. Now tourism has taken over and even that is a very low key affair. Seil Island is reached by road. A narrow channel separates the 'island' from the mainland and is crossed by an old stone bridge, the Clachan Bridge but more popularly known as the Bridge over the Atlantic. 

Clachan Bridge - the Bridge over the Atlantic

After crossing the bridge we carried on to the small former coastal slate community of Ellenabeich. It was very quiet. There was little sign of activity in the little rows of whitewashed cottages. At a coastal safari company hut by the pier an employee was sorting out lifejackets but other than that, apart from ourselves and a couple of other visitors, there wasn't much happening. Across the water we could see Easdale Island, another of the slate islands and as we walked around we found the rotting remains of an old pier. A few boats were passing through the channel between the islands. It may look and feel better on a sunny day but Ellenabeich had an air of melancholy so having seen enough we drove back an up the coast to the busier town of Oban.

Looking across to Easdale 

A whitewashed cottage at Ellenabeich 

We've visited Oban many times before and it hasn't changed a lot over the years. There are still gift shops selling an abundance of tacky tartan paraphernalia (probably made in China) and a sprinkling of cafes and the usual high street shops. As we were still quite full from breakfast we didn't want a large lunch so having walked around and along the sea front we finally found a nice little cafe by Oban distillery selling cake and hot chocolate. 

Oban seafront

Then filling up with petrol I started the long drive to get to our last hotel of the trip in New Lanark. A rather convoluted drive (due to another road closure) meant we had to reverse some of the route we'd taken the day before. A mid afternoon stop by Loch Lomond at the very touristy but pretty village of Luss was sufficient to stretch the legs before driving through Glasgow and then south to our destination.

The bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond

New Lanark is a now UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a collection of mill buildings and mill workers homes that date back to the early days of the industrial revolution and was first constructed in 1786 when cotton mills were built to take advantage of the water flowing on the River Clyde. It is most famous because the philanthropist and social reformer Robert Owen was part owner and manager there for 25 years and his reforming work was pioneering in showing the benefits of providing good housing and fair treatment for workers. Now the village has  been restored and preserved and is run by a charitable trust.

The hotel is part of the village and run by a trading subsidiary of the Trust. Its an old mill building and our room was spacious with a fantastic view of the River Clyde. 

A view of the River Clyde from our room at the New Lanark Mill Hotel

We had our last meal of the trip in the hotel restaurant before having an early night in preparation for a long drive home the following day. We slept well and had another good Scottish breakfast before taking a final walk. Just upstream from the hotel is a nature reserve and a riverside walk that takes you up to the Clyde Falls. We walked about a mile and a half upstream, through trees above the river bank, following the 'badger trail'. We didn't see any badgers - other than a large mural of one, but we did get to see the waterfalls.

The light filtering through the trees and reflecting on the water lifted the spirits and the roar of water as we came closer to each waterfall was a reminder of the force of the water that had led to New Lanark being built just downstream.

The Clyde Falls

Eventually we returned to the village taking in one final look at the mill buildings before setting off to return home and bring this chapter of our travels to an end.

New Lanark - a final view before heading home

Reflections on the Trip

At the end of my travels there are always things that stand out in the memory and give pause for thought. Some are trivial or inconsequential, others are hopefully more profound. 

Northern Ireland People: Its hard to understate the friendliness of people we met in Northern Ireland. Our cottage hosts were amongst the best we've ever experienced, but even just passing people on a walk would usually elicit a friendly greeting or smile. It made a first visit to a part of the UK that's had a troubled past such a joyful experience. 

'Wee': I'd always associated the adjective 'wee' with Scotland to describe something small. I hadn't realised how ubiquitous it is in Northern Ireland. Almost anything can be 'wee' irrespective of size and the word is used freely when talking about or describing pretty much anything. 'That wee rock over there' could be describing a massive boulder. One of the first shops we saw entering the coastal town of Newcastle for the first time was 'The Wee Charity Shop'. 

'Free Parking': About the only place in England you'll find free car parking is on a Monopoly board. By contrast, in Northern Ireland, every seaside town we visited had free parking - in fact we only paid two parking charges in our time there - once when I parked in a farmer's yard to do a walk and the other time was in Derry where a whole day cost £1.80. It was really nice not to have to hunt for change or find the right app or wrangle the way through a convoluted telephone menu every time we visited somewhere to pay an exorbitant parking charge.

'The Potency of Flags': I hadn't really thought too much about the power of flags as symbols of political allegiance. In England we rarely see national flags flying from homes and buildings unless there's a major football tournament underway (when the flag of St George suddenly appears everywhere for a few short weeks). In Northern Ireland flags were everywhere and did not appear to be temporary phenomena. Driving through loyalist towns and villages we became used to seeing the Union Flag, often accompanied by flags showing the Red Hand of Ulster and occasionally references to the Ulster Volunteer Force. No doubt Brexit has increased fears in loyalist and unionist communities of the prospect of a 'united Ireland' and flying flags and explicitly showing allegiance to a cause are very tangible and visual symbols of a political stance. I was reminded of the yellow ribbons we saw back in 2019 driving through Catalonia that similarly conveyed a powerful political message. In a era of digital media and sophisticated brand promotion we've grown used to seeing visual symbols in our everyday lives but this was a reminder that simple fabric and colour can be very powerful in communicating belief and allegiance.

'The Same But Different': I've not thought too much in the past about the United Kingdom and what binds the four constituent nations together. When we read or think about the United Kingdom or Great Britain we tend to think as our nation as one homogenous whole, bound together by a shared language, history and culture. I confess travelling has given me pause to reconsider what is probably an anglo-centric viewpoint. During these travels we passed through all four nations of the United Kingdom and I started to appreciate that although there are longstanding ties of history (largely a consequence of English conquest!) in very many ways the four nations of the United Kingdom are very different places. Culture, politics and everyday language vary enormously and I think you have to experience and see these differences to appreciate the threads that bind the nations together are perhaps not as strong as we might superficially think they are. 

'The Joy of Travel': Until we started this trip I hadn't realised how much I'd missed travelling. Like very many other people when Covid hit in 2020 we hunkered down and either by choice or dictat restricted our movements - only gradually moving further afield from home as we got used to 'living with Covid' and vaccines meant we could all live a little more easily. For the first time in two years this trip meant we were experiencing completely new things, seeing different landscapes, meeting new people and never sure what would be around the next bend in the road. Many people have written far more eloquently than I can about the joy and value of travel but for me it really does broaden the mind, provoke thought, sometimes takes me out of my comfort zone, leads to meetings and encounters with interesting and often very kind people and makes me appreciate the beauty of our planet and the natural world. I very much hope to continue exploring - and needless to say I have a few ideas about where to go next...