Tag Archives: Corran ferry

Mingary Castle

24 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 8 Comments

After having all cobwebs unceremoniously removed at Arnamurchan Lighthouse we retraced our route back to Kilchoan and Mingary Castle. Returning on the same road (the only road) we felt the sheep looked even more indignant.

External view of Mingary Castle — Built in the 13th century as a MacDonald stronghold, Mingarry Castle, with its nine foot thick walls looks difficult to get into. That was the whole idea. One ship from the Spanish Armada laid siege to it for several days before giving up.

First impressions of Mingary can be slightly off putting. There doesn’t seem to be any windows and you have to walk round to the western end to find a small door. Once through the door, however, you come in to an inner courtyard and everything changes.

Internal courtyard at Mingary Castle — The inner courtyard

How do they do it?

Sheltered from the wind it is warm and cosy in the summer sunshine. We were staying over in the MacDonald suite which ranged over two floors under the roof to the left of the above picture. This place is almost impossibly remote yet recently it has been showered with awards … AA Hotel of the Year, and chef/owner Colin Nicholson, Chef of the Year. Incredible!

We had to be careful. Dinner in the evening meant that we had to have our afternoon tea early enough not to spoil our appetite. These are the problems with which sconeys like us have to wrestle. The young girl looking after us (she had a university degree in Gaelic) was fantastic. Firstly she brought us a delicious variety of sandwiches and later presented us with three tiers of goodies. Savouries on top, sweet things in the middle and fruit and plain scones on the bottom layer. All the while keeping us continuously supplied with fresh hot tea. What about the scones? You can probably guess by now that they were absolutely perfect. Just the way we like them. Accordingly, an easy topscone and another serious competitor for Fonab Castle’s title of “best scone in the world”.

Battlements at Mingary Castle — View from the battlements towards the Sound of Mull

The media

You do feel remote here and far away from the travails of the modern world. It’s an extraordinary place. Reluctantly we looked at the news and discovered that the wall to wall coverage of Kamala Harris had been replaced by news of Janet Jackson’s upcoming tour. How fickle is the media? Which is more exciting … Kamala or Janet?

Tomorrow we head back home via the Corran ferry that brought us here. That will complete a little circular tour of this fantastic part of Scotland.

PH36 4LH tel: 01972 614380 Mingary Castle

///isolating.reconnect.liberated

Scones, Top

Little Bespoke Bakery

21 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

After our previous post from Saffron in Poole we are now about 600 miles further north at the Little Bespoke Bakery on the Isle of Mull. We did spend a couple of days at home before setting off again on this mini adventure which has been planned for some time. In Scotland at this time of year you really have to book accommodation well in advance. Tobermory was to be our first overnight stop but we were getting there by a slightly unusual route. A wee map might help.

Map of Ardour and Morvern — Corran ferry and Lochaline ferry on way to the Little Bespoke Bakery

First we drove to the Corran ferry. It takes you across a narrow strip of water to Ardgour and Morvern. It only takes five minutes and the alternative is a one hour drive. This is probably the most isolated and deserted part of Scotland. There’s a lot of what many people would describe as “nothing”, just hills and empty moors. But for us that’s the attraction. The scenery is amazing. Today, however, we were just driving through on our way south to another ferry at Lochaline. It was going to take us to Fishnish on the Isle of Mull and eventually, the Little Bespoke Bakery.

Indignant sheep

This Bakery was not our intended destination but the route between the ferries was very much single track with passing places. Also lots of sheep that seem to enjoy just casually walking along the middle of the road, slightly indignant at our presence. Almost no traffic but by the time we had crossed over on the ferry and reached the village of Salen on Mull we were ready for a scone. It’s a busy place with people coming and going all the time. In the toilet there was a sign saying “Oh, Hello Gorgeous” … no idea how they knew I would use the facilities!

They make all their own bread and a range of delicious looking cakes. However, they say a warm welcome is their speciality and that is what we got. Our scone came with cream and jam and was deliciously fresh with a lovely texture. Maybe we were overexcited about being back on Mull but the decision was, topscone.

Eventually we took our leave and carried on our way to Tobermory via Calgary Bay.

Pat at Calgary Bay — Pat dipping her toe in the water at the Calgary Bay beach

The last time we were here there was a wedding on the beach. The wedding party waiting on the beach as the bride magnificently arrived by boat. Now, that’s the way to make an entrance.

The Oath

What have we missed in the news … the State Opening of Parliament. A pointless display of obscene wealth as Charles does an Andy Murray delivery of what “his” new government intends to do for us. While taking ‘the Oath’ one new MP announced he was doing so under protest. Swearing allegiance to the King but missing out the words “and his heirs and successors“. Eventually after various threats he had to say the whole thing. About time Westminster dragged itself into the 21st century.

Great to be back in Tobermory. In the evening we went to the Mishnish, a pub with many happy memories from previous visits. This was no exception as we befriended a lovely couple from Vienna. What are the chances? When we leave here it will be on yet another ferry.

PA72 6JE tel: 01680 300200 Little Bespoke Bakery

///tomato.barstool.dogs

Ordinary, Scones

Onich Tearoom

8 July 2017 billpaterson1@me.com

We were heading north for a few days but were caught up in some sort of cycling event. For the first one hundred miles of our journey there was a cyclist every two hundred yards. With a queue of traffic waiting to overtake each one, it made for a very slow journey indeed. Having finally shaken them off at Ballachulish we thought a congratulatory scone was called for.

Onich Hotel at the Corran Ferry was our destination of choice since neither of us had ever been there in spite of having passed it many many times in days gone by. It was sconeless! The girl we spoke to, in her broken English, only seemed to have the vaguest idea of what a scone actually was … aarrgghh! In high dudgeon we set off for Fort William but no sooner had we started than we came on this place, Onich Tearoom … just the ticket!

K4s and K6s

The eagle eyed amongst you will have immediately spotted a K6 red telephone box. It is currently used to store baby seats for the tearoom. We couldn’t get access to the manufacturer’s label but it would almost certainly have been made in Kirkintilloch.

K6 telephone box in Buenes Aires — K6 in Buenos Aires

We say “almost certainly” because our indomitable Trossachs correspondents, on return from their K6 experience in St Kitts & Nevis, remembered a similar experience in Buenos Aires a couple of years back. What are they like? When they looked out the photos, however, they were surprised to see that it was made by the Carron Company in Falkirk and thought it might be a fake. Definitely not a fake. A few K6s were indeed made in Falkirk but the vast majority were made in Kirkintilloch. On the other hand all K4s (the ones incorporating a post box) were made in Falkirk. First to send a picture of one of these wins a prize!

Internal view of Onich tearoom with K2 souvenir telephone box — Onich tearoom with K2 souvenir telephone box

Definitive guide

To confuse things even further they had K2s for sale inside the tearoom … almost certainly all made in China. Sconey purists are probably thinking that we are getting carried away with telephone boxes rather than concentrating on the day job. Apologies but we do keep coming across them and they do raise a lot of comment. For the allaboutthescones definitive guide to telephone boxes click here.

Anyway, enough of that for the moment, back to the job in hand! We ordered two fruit scones to go with our tea. Our friendly helpful host brought them with a generous portion of jam and a pat of Irish butter. Although freshly baked that morning by his wife, we felt that there was just something missing in the taste department. Couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Enjoyable enough but no topscone!

Onich, lies on the shores of Loch Linnhe just short of Fort William and its name in Gaelic means ‘frothy bay’. At one time it was considered to be one of the prettiest villages in Scotland. On our visit however it was a wee bit dreich (raining) so we didn’t see it at its best.

Whose fault?

Nothing dreich about Scotland’s economy according to the latest figures. It is both bewildering and amusing to see the media’s treatment of the news that Scotland’s economy is doing four times better than the rest of the UK. And that’s after ten years of SNP government. After years of delightedly reporting that Scotland’s economy was on its knees they are still trying to spin this into a bad news story. The government’s spokesman, Rupert Murdoch, eventually resorted to saying in The Times, that it was all down to the influence of London. We hope they remember that when Scotland’s economy is not doing so well. Then, of course, it is all the Scottish government’s fault.

View from Onich Tearoom — View from Onich tearoom towards Ardgour and Ardnamurchan

PH33 6RY tel: 01855 821230 Onich Tearoom TA

Scones, history and a dollop of politics