The Svalbard Triangle – Day 3 – Oban

Have I mentioned lately how much I loathe transatlatlantic flights? Oh, just every single post? Well, allow me to say it louder for the people in the back: I hate transatlantic flights.

This one wasn’t even that terrible, in the grand scheme of it all. Lie-flats on the way over, and a smooth-ish drive to Oban. I even managed to get eight hours of sleep last night. True, I was awake from 11:30 pm to 2:30 am – but on either end of that wakeful window I was thoroughly unconscious.

I’ve heard that our lowest ebb is at 3 am and 3 pm. That would explain why a six hour time shift is so painful – we have moved our lowest ebb as far as we can move it before it starts to shorten up on the other end. And going eastbound is the worst. Falling asleep a few hours later than normal? Falling asleep earlier than usual? Much more difficult.

Anyway, enough grousing. We’re in Oban! And breakfast is included. So off to Oban Brasserie for breakfast:

Photo Credit: Perle Oban / Oban Brasserie

The breakfast menu:

My wife gets the avocado toast:

I get the eggs Benedict:

And the kids each have the pancakes:

They’re a bit busy at the start – due largely to a spill at one of the tables – but the food comes out mere minutes after we put in our order. Very tasty, too!

There’s also a contintental breakfast option for those so inclined:

I use that as an opportunity to round the meal off with some dried fruit and yoghurt.

With breakfast out of the way, it was time to figure out our plan for the day. The main point of this extra night in Oban was to act as a buffer in case our flight was delayed, but since it wasn’t our schedule is open.

We decide to start with a hike to McCaig’s Tower, which sits on a hill overlooking Oban:

Narrowly escaping the ‘man trap’ (local brewery) along the way:

It’s only a brief walk up ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ to reach the tower, but still scenic:

We soon reach the tower itself:

I’ll borrow the words of Mhairi Ross, who authored the text on the sign at the Tower:

John McCaig was born on 7th July 1823 at Taychlachan, Lismore, the second son to farmer Malcolm McCaig and his wife, Margaret Stuart. The couple had nine children, eight of whom survived into adulthood and none of whom married. By 1855, he and his family were owners of many properties in Oban and grazing rights around the town, including lands at Muckairn and Soroba.

[John’s brother] Duncan and John were partners in D.&J. McCaig builders, merchants and tobacco manufacturers and both became bank agents and property developers. By the 1870s, John had acquired the property beside the newly-built Regent Hotel on Charles Street and that became his home.

John was a Burgh Councillor for twenty years until 1880 and Chief Magistrate from 1871-75. He also performed the roles of Inspector of Poor for over fifty years and Secretary/Treasurer of Lorn Combination Poor House at Dalintart.

He bought the North Pier in 1873 and built the Columba Hotel on it, flouting the established practice of not building on the seaward side of the road. He sold the pier to the Town Council is 1895 and used the £16,500 to start building the circular tower on Battery Hill.

Oban, as the 19th century ended, had a plentiful supply of stone masons who could find work in the summer months but struggled in the winter. As well as intending his tower to be a memorial to his family, McCaig used the construction of it to employ otherwise out of work masons.

His plan envisaged two tiers of pointed arches, forty-four on ground level and fifty above with a 100 ft. central tower as an observatory. Built of Bonawe granite, the plan was to erect statues of his family in the archways. He died on 29th June, 1902 before his dreams could be realised and his remaining sibling, Catherine, revoked his will and the tower remained as we see it today. It was never considered a “folly’ by locals and remains to this day the crown on Oban’s skyline.

While McCaig’s original dream of a 100 foot tower may have gone unfulfilled, it is a lovely, peaceful garden and a beautiful place from which to obseve Oban – at once deeply connected and removed from the town below. It reminds me that one can miss ones ultimate goal, and yet still create something memorable and lasting.

As lovely an outing as this has been, however, it’s been less than an hour since we first set out – so I pull up AllTrails to see what else might be in the area.

Hmm… what do we have here?

Off to Oban Hill! It’s not at all clearly signed, and for a brief moment we wonder if we might be walking onto someone’s property.

But, no – just a lovely series of thickly forested trails.

And a surprise castle:

I guess that’s what you find wandering in Scotland – the stuff of faerie tales.

This is actually the Oban Hills Hydropathic Sanatorium – part of the Victorian enthusiasm for hydropathic resorts. It was originally conceived as a 137 room resort:

Advertisements announced ‘Turkish, Russian, Spray, Douche, Vapour, Electric and other appliances, with large Salt-Water swimming baths for ladies and gentlemen’; as well as an indoor gymnasium and outdoor spaces for croquet, tennis, lawn bowls, archery and woodland and garden walks.

The luxurious facilities, expected by affluent clientele, were to include: a ‘grand’ dining room, drawing rooms and private parlours; reading and writing rooms; ladies’ rooms; billiard, chess and smoking rooms, for men; a concert hall; a large winter garden and the ubiquitous Victorian fernery. By 1896, the modernity of the hydro was underlined: it
was to be ‘fitted with the perfect heating, ventilation and sanitary appliances’ and would have bicycles for hire with lessons offered. The building was to be serviced by its own gas and sewage works, laundry, workshops and stables.

Source: Canmore Archaeology InSights

The promoters dramatically underestimated the size of the project. They ran out of money, and it was never finished.

We continue our tromp through the woods:

It’s a little on the lush side:

Should have brought our pith helmets…

We then head to the Oban Hill viewpoint – which has a scenic view of some of Oban’s many car parks:

But also a nice view of the town itself:

Time to head back. We pass a treehouse along the way:

Bet that’s a lovely place to sit out in the evening with a wee dram

Along the way back to town, we spot some sort of pirate-themed charity event. We’re vaguely tempted to check it out, but want to swing by the Clipper: Round the World sailing group first.

It’s at this point we discover that we could have toured the Clipper ships – yesterday. The vessels will depart tomorrow, and so no visits are possible today.

We try to ask if we might even get down to the docks for a closer look – please, sir, for the children? But no such luck. Worth a shot!

Just about time for lunch – except that our original choice, Julie’s Coffee House, is closed for a much deserved break. Ah, well.

But there is a market at the Oban Distillery, so we check that out instead:

We find a Ukranian food truck:

And some delicious hot dogs:

There’s time to pick up a few odds and sundry for our upcoming sailing trip – mostly travel-sized soaps and toiletries – and then it’s time for our tour of the Oban Distillery:

We didn’t book this until yesterday, and managed to snag the last time slot. While browsing the front shop, several groups come in to inquire about same-day tickets – and all are turned away. So I strongly recommend gettting tickets in advance.

The distillery isn’t operating at the moment, as it’s undergoing maintenance. They had shut it down in January in the hopes that it would be up and running again in February – but discovered some structural issues that are taking longer than expected to resolve. Not too surprising, considering that it’s one of the oldest working distilleries in Scotland – founded in 1794, making it over 230 years old.

There’s still plenty to see, however. Our guide Meghan teaches us about the distilling process. Barley is sprouted, and then kiln dried with peat – only lightly, letting other taste notes like orange peel and seasalt come out. The barley is ground to make grist, which is then mixed with hot water to extract the sugars.

We learn about the sprouting, drying, and grinding in the first room – where we also enjoy our first dram of 14 year old Oban:

The mixture of grist and hot water is known as mort. After being mixed in the mash tun:

It then goes to the wooden washbacks for fermentation:

Here they ferment it to make the ‘world’s worst beer.’ The timing of the fermentation is carefully limited to 110 hours. Too short and the whisky will taste nutty, too long and the taste becomes too tropical. Oban is one of the few distilleries to still use a traditional mash tun.

Next up we move to the still room:

The still is made with copper, and it’s unique shape helps to influence the flavour of the whisky. The curves are part of why Oban has that distinct ‘orange peel’ taste. (No, they do not add oranges. Yes, they have been asked that many times.)

While many distilleries have switched to condensors, Oban still uses a ‘worm tub’ of spiralling copper tubes – located up on the roof – to condense the vapour back into liquid.

Distilling the whiskey produces a head, heart and tail – the head is the first volatile compounds to come off the still, the heart is the prime whiskey, and the tail is again where quality starts to drop and volatiles creep in once more. Only the heart is taken off for whisky, while the head and tail are put back in to be re-distilled.

Oban has been a major economic force in the area, and indeed the city has grown up around the distillery. That said, there are only seven operators who now work in the distillery, and they have been kept on while the distillery is undergoing renovations – though some of the staff have gone to Talisker in the meantime.

We then head back through the market and over to the warehouse, where we enjoy the second dram of our tour – the Oban Distiller’s Edition, which is finished in a sherry cask.

Oban had looked to expand the warehouse at one point, but discovered a set of caves that contained 6,000 year old human remains – some of the oldest remains ever discovered in Scotland. This put an end to any potential expansion of the Oban distillery, though some of their whiskey is stored offsite. The barrels are rolled along wooden planks when they need to be moved.

The writing on the barrels has since been replaced by bar code. One participant notes that they prefer the lettering, and Meghan wholly agrees. She encourages everyone to join ‘Team Anti-Barcode’.

To be considered whiskey, an alcohol must be at least 40% grain alcohol, be distilled in Scotland, and stored in oak for at least 3 years and 1 day. And the temperature inside the warehouse? A very scientific “cold”, according to the distillers.

Fire is a significant risk at the distillery, and – while they do not have an integrated fire suppression system – they do have the fastest response time from the fire department by a very wide margin. They had a fire alarm last week, to which our guide remarks: “To say I shat myself is an understatement.” Thankfully, it proved a false alarm.

Our guide further notes that roughly 1-2% of the alcohol content evaporates every year, a portion known as the Angel’s Share. This is different from America, where the evaporation comes from water as opposed to alcohol. This is apparently due to the relative humidity level of the Gulf Stream. Fascinating!

We then head to the tasting room for our final dram, which is the distillery-specific edition of Oban.

They also have some flavour notes, but Meghan is careful to point out that taste is subjective, and we shouldn’t always expect to taste almonds or toffee or what have you.

It’s more important to simply discover the whiskey for ourselves.

There are also some other bottles available for purchase, including one aged in a rum barrel – the Little Curiosities bottle – which also contains a picture of Punchy the robin, who lives in the distillery and who “has a lot of attitude for his size” according to Meghan.

The final bottle available for sale – and which is expected to sell out shortly – is the MacLean edition, the brainchild of Old Teddy, Young Teddy and Derek. (Not Baby Teddy, as some participants had guessed.)

I do manage to inveigle glasses of the Curiosity and the MacLean edition. Both are excellent – and the MacLean edition is the best of the lot, in my opinion. But we ultimately opt to buy a bottle of the distillery-specific Oban for while we’re in Scotland. I just couldn’t justify the extra 100 GBP for the MacLean edition.

The kids have been extremely patient for all of this, so we take them out for ice cream to show our appreciation – and to enjoy the view.

We then take another wander along the water front before retiring to Perle Oban for our favourite of activities – repacking all of our gear!

But this isn’t any re-packing – we must decide what to bring for our five nights on Zuza, and what we should leave behind.

Not a lot of extra room for non-essentials (Photo Credit: VentureSail)

Ultimately I settle on 6 changes of clothes, a bug hat, sailing shoes, sailing gloves, buff, parka, rain suit, wet suit, snorkel gear, deck shoes, sandals, swim suits, laptop, GoPro, and my full camera roller bag.

(Zuza specifically asks that you not bring rigid suitcases – but we have paid for full rooms for each of the kids, and those rooms notionally could hold two persons apiece. So we’re going to roll up and seek forgiveness rather than permission.)

But even with this bit of cheekiness, we still barely manage to fit it all in the four duffle bags, a carry-on suitcase and 4 backpacks – and the whole kit weighs 182.3 lb combined. Which means we’re managing to leave more than 115 pounds behind but still works out to over 9 pounds of luggage per person per night. Still a ways off from travelling carry-on only, methinks.

With all of this splayed before us, there is a brief moment of panic as we realize that not all of our luggage will fit in a standard taxi. Thankfully, Oban Taxi – with whom we booked tomorrows’ two-and-a-half hour drive to Mallaig – soon confirms that they have a Hyundai Tucson available. That should be plenty of space.

Off to dinner! We spotted a lovely Italian restaurant called Kaina during yesterdays’ wanders, so decide to opt for that. It’ll be a while yet before the kids get another chance to order pizza, so we figure we’ll indulge them.

We start with an order of garlic bread, and I enjoy a Fyne Ales Highlander:

Our kids each get a pepperoni pizza:

I get the shrimp risotto:

And my wife has the spinach ravioli:

All very tasty. You can really tell that they make their own pizza sauce.

On to dessert. Our son has the tiramisu:

Our daughter gets the ice cream mixture:

And my wife and I split a piece of the lemon cheesecake:

It’s the best lemon cheesecake I’ve ever had. Light and fluffy, but with a lovely tart taste to it.

Then back to Perle Oban for one last nightcap, and to head off to bed. Big day tomorrow as we prepare to board Zuza, so here’s hoping we can all manage to sleep through the night.