Oysters in Oban and other Highland adventures...

After some deliberation about how to best use a day of adventuring Caledonia with the Oklahoma Sweeneys, we decided on driving through the bonnie Loch country of the Trossarchs and onto the coastal town of Oban then the magnificent Glen Coe of the Western Highlands. Though the drive was marvelously scenic, there were a few intense moments of culture shock along the way after hitting a handful of curbs on the left side of the road. “Why don’t they just make their roads wider?! It doesn’t make sense!” cried our chauffeur. An understandable frustration indeed, but after being here for nearing a year now, Matt and I have come to terms with inconvenience in favour of preserving cultural history. Needless to say, there were few dull moments throughout the day.

After passing the famous “Doune” castle (for all you Monty Python fans), we arrived at Oban just in time for the first few pains of lunch hunger. Our trusty (albeit 2007 ed.) Lonely Planet Guide led us to the McGillans Seafood stand which offered a special of the day of the most gorgeous plate of scallops with buttery slabs of bread and and rich cheddar coleslaw. Though Lori and I narrowly escaped a mistake of ordering crawdads as we had loftier impressions from the menu that read “sweet, small lobster plate”. Lori took one look while they lifted these “small lobsters” into the gutting sink and set our orders straight back to the special. A good call too as the scallops were fresh from that morning. Gorgeous they were!

While wandering the town, Matt and I happened upon yet another seafood stand that offered oysters for 75P a piece. We have always talked about trying them but never had the ambition to do it in the landlocked places where it has been an option nor the funds to pay at the restaurants that would serve them. We recognized a perfect (and poetically memorable) opportunity when we saw it. After handing over a 1.50 over the tower of cooked crabs, I asked the girl who started to pry our oysters open for us “I am not even sure how I would go about doing this. What do you recommend?” 

“Ya slide it oof the back reeght here,” pointing to the tail end of the shell where she had just busted the thing open. “Then give it a wee chew and the flavour will come. Maybe add a wee lemon or vinegar.”

Matt and I said cheers and tried it just as instructed, with a wee bit of lemon, a wee chew and the flavour came just as promised. A good sea flavour it was too!

After a good walk about in town, some Magnum bars and a brief visit to the local museum, we were back into our car bumping around those narrow roads once again. 

Matt called this part of the trip “the Highway 1 of Scotland”. Indeed the West Coast had much to offer. The sites became even more impressive on our way towards Glen Coe as we passed over some tidal waterfalls where the lochs meet the sea and the extraordinary Castle Stalker. Marvelous.

 Truly the best part of the day had to go to Glen Coe itself though. Nothing on my list of “seen it” in Scotland can rival the beauty that is the true Western highlands. Such a rich and incredible history attached with it too. Here are the famous “Three Sisters” hills.

While hiking up The Devil’s Staircase with Matt, I kept visualizing the different clans dragging their highland cattle around these austere hills 300 years ago. What a story to have in such a severely beautiful place.

Matt and I decided that our ascent up to the top of the staircase merited some “shouting into the highlands”. I even did a bit of yodeling since we were the solitary ones up that high. And somehow it felt fitting. 

Matt even worked up enough hunger by the end of the hike to fill up on the culturally rich “Cullen Skink” soup at the “Green Wellie” petrol stop on the way home. It was fishy delicious and perhaps the best end to a stellar day out in highland country – 2 things this country does best: scenic lochs in the highlands and oddly named fishy soup.