Friday & Saturday 22 & 23 August 2025
Breakfast in our hotel dining room was excellent and so 1960’s country house style. It reminded Lady P of her nanna's house. Today was
the day we decided to chase up our Scottish ancestors. After much research from Joanne, we
had a good plan to track down some of the Scots that emigrated to Australia
around the early 19th century. I mean, it’s really a chance to drive
in the country, looking for churches and graveyards and perhaps stopping for a
wee dram and an ice cream or sausage roll. Both of these are highly regarded
hereabouts.
So, off to Boleskine
church which was not too far away. Alas,
no Eureka moment. Then off to the Falls of Foyers. This is where Lord Lovat hid
after the battle of Culloden. Another Scottish defeat at the hands of the
English.
Wandering a little
further along the loch, we actually found a Clan Cemetery. Here were many graves
of the Scottish ancestors whose kin emigrated to Victoria. Upstanding men of commerce
and agriculture and the wives and daughters of them. Eleven kids having 11 children each themselves and you can see how a clan can build! We saw graves of the McGilverarys, McTavish, MacPhersons and the like. We did also meet Duncan and
Allan. Two older chaps who were reconditioning headstones of their ancestors.
And a very good job they were doing too. They were lovely chaps, very helpful
and up for a chat.
After that, we did
have those ice creams and a sausage roll before heading back to Fort Augustus
for a gin and tonic in the guest’s lounge.
Dinner was a
challenge. The pub on the corner was not graded well, about one star and a list
of stinking reviews. Here’s an example. Wish I read the reviews before
eating here. The staff was pretty friendly but that doesn’t make up for the
abysmal food. This has got to be the sorriest excuses for a burger😂 for sure a frozen one and so was the fries
(of course).
It’s always bad when places like McDonald’s actually serve better burgers than
a restaurant. Several people left their food, paid and walked away.
To be fair, there were
some better reviews, but we looked elsewhere. All seem to have the same menu.
Fish and chips and burgers feature prominently. All struggle for consistently good reviews. In the end, on the
recommendation of another guest at our hotel, we went to the second pub in
town, the Loch Inn and shared a gigantic serve of battered haddock and chips.
Pretty good too. Back to the bar for some nips of the local stuff before bed.
Saturday 23 August
2025
A good four drive
from Fort Augustus to Greenock via Oban and longer with a stop at Loch Lomond. As you must, a double nip of 14 yr old
Oban in the waterside pub - in Oban, felt the right thing to do if you wanted to use their
loo. Then on to Greenock, just outside of Glasgow in heavy traffic all the way. It's a Bank Holiday weekend. Greenock a port town. Couldn’t say much more, really. Except that we did find a very busy and pretty
good restaurant for dinner not far from our pub and right on the firth. At last, clean, unfried (mostly) seafood and fresh salads.
Our pub here is the
OYO Gin House Hotel. So appropriate. OYO Hotels (On Your Own) is an Indian
multinational hospitality company that acts as an online marketplace and
operator for non affiliated, budget accommodations, including hotels, homes,
and living spaces. It’s basic but clean. On arrival we got a token for a free welcome
drink and advice that the live band will be playing in the lounge next door tonight.
We sneak in to have a
look and step through a time portal to 1969. Purple lights. Probably a disco
ball somewhere. A very large space and yes, there are three guitars and a drum
kit set up. Luckily the 60 yr+ crowd was small, the building well insulated and
they played from 5 pm to 10 pm only. We did recognise most of the songs while
sipping on our gins in the ladies lounge next door, but the singer was a bit
off key. Funny when you think about it. Live bands in pubs. Who would've thought of that?
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