Oban on Scotland’s west coast.

51.3 Miles. Now at North Ledaig Club site at Connel, Oban.

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Kiddies play truck at Maragowan camp site, Killin with 2 steering wheels.

After an early morning stroll into town for some last minute provisions it was time to break camp and head off across the Trossachs National Park and out towards the coast.

Winter time marker posts so you know where the road is.

Sign's are now in Scottish Gaelic and English copying the Welsh.

We have found the road surfaces through the mountains to be very coarse and noisy which I suppose is due to Winter snow. The other odd fact is the road side markers which are 5 foot high poles with red reflectorised tape at normal height of about 2ft and another near the top. I presume this is also for winter snow but who would want to drive through snow several feet deep.

Connel Bridge from a distance.

The highest peak we saw did have some snow left on it after a snow fall a couple of weeks ago. Once clear of Tyndrum we were out in open countryside again skirting around the top of Loch Awe and the bottom of Loch Etive until we reached Connel. Here we had to travel around a loop road which led us up onto Connel bridge over the estuary out into the Firth of Lorn. There were rapids on one side of the bridge where the water was roaring through at a great rate of knots.

Connel Bridge, originally built for the Ballachulish branch of the Callander and Oban Railway now the A828 road.

It was only a short distance from here that we reached our next camp. Pulling into the reception area gave us no clue as to what was to come. Once checked in we were escorted by a warden to our site. Going up over the rise on the camp site proper we were immediately struck by the fantastic view out over the Forth of Lorn to the Isle of Mull and all around the bay. Next to the site is Oban airport where we have seen one single prop commercial flight come and go and several light aircraft. There has also been a glider with an electric motored prop on the front buzzing around. Immediately behind our site is the track bed of a dis-used railway which happens to be another section of the line from Callander to Oban, through Killin, that we found 2 days ago.

North Ledaig Caravan Park.

Since our arrival we have seen ferries crossing the bay on an hourly basis. Looking at a map we see that ferries from Oban service Achnacroish, a small island in the bay, Craignure on Mull, Castlebay on Barra island and Lochboisdale on South Uist, so a busy little port and waterway.

Gypsy Rover at  North Ledaig Caravan Park.

This is our view from Gypsy Rover although a bit hazy as late in the day.

Taking a stroll down along the beach at the bottom of the camp grounds we found a pair of Oyster Catchers who we learned had hatched 2 chicks which were hiding in the long grass, After a short while observing them one chick came out into the open to be fed. Suddenly Gulls flew over head and the parent bird gave a shrill whistle  and the chick just seemed to vanish. After a few minutes it stood up and walked back into the grass. All it had done was to lay down on the short grass and it just merged in with it’s surroundings. We thought that if we couldn’t see it the gulls wouldn’t either.

Oyster Catcher and chick. can you spot it.

A total of 2964 miles, since 5 March 2011