Biografien & Erinnerungen
Luing 2009 - A trip to the innermost beauty of Scotland

Saturday, 23rd May. From Lucker to the Western Hebridians.

After getting up at stupid o’clock Friday night (3.30 a.m. precisley) we started our nice little trip around 5. I slept all the way from Lucker to Sterling. I still have the voice of the satnav in my head “Attention! Shitty camera!” – hell knows why it sounds like ‘shitty’ instead of ‘savety’ but meh.

Although the day started nicely in Lucker (well, what you could see from the day) the weather in Sterling was grey and windy. A warm Costa coffee helped to survive the route to Calender – a lovely, sleepy little place with touristic shops, which (of course) were not open at around 8ish in the morning. Next stop was Oban to get supplies from Tesco. It was raining, so we postponed the touristic visit to Oban to next week. We headed to the House of Trousers (Tigh-an-Truish Inn). A wonderful little rural pub run by an Austrian couple. It’s THE image of a rural Scottish inn – dating back to the 17-hundreds with most of its original interior. This place alone is worth a trip to Scotland! Leading to the inn is the Bridge over the Atlantic. A 200-odd year old stone bridge, steep as hell, connecting two pieces of lands only about 700 yards apart, and floating inbetween is the Atlantic. Well, part of it anyway, but the people here are proud of the fact that it is actually the Atlantic. It was raining when we arrived at the House of Trousers, so we jumped inside and had a lovely lunch with chips and fried scampi – yummy! By then it was about 11.45 and we had to wait for the ferry in Cuan to bring us to Luing. As it is still winter in Scottish minds it was not the normal ferry running, but a sheep ferry. Three cars max on board, and off we were from the mainland Scotland to the little Western Hebridian island Luing. A sheep ferry is an interesting idea but I would not recommend it for any distances longer than 2 minutes...

Luing is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It’s surrounded by green hills and dark waters. From the living room window we can see sheep and cows on the hills over the water, and a little farer away are the ruins of an old castle. Our caravan is about 5 yards away from the water (one caravan had been blown into the sea one winter…), the shore is full of black slate-rocks and sea weed. It’s miraculous. Although it’s been hoying down most of Saturday it is still breath-takingly beautiful. That’s something you cannot say about every place on this planet: shitty weather and still beautiful! I’d been told there are all kinds of wild animals around and on the first day I already saw three seals, an otter, and all kinds of birds. When I saw the first seal I actually thought it was a dog swimming in the water and was surprised to see it so far off the land! What can I say, I had never seen a seal in real life and my brain was not working properly.

Sunday, 24th. Windy!

Woke up to a great Engish fry-up – yummy! That’s something I only have on a holiday or after a very alcoholic night out. The weather is rough today, but still it cannot lower my spirits. It seems the light around here changes with every second. And always it’s mystical and breath-taking. I wonder why they went all the way to New Zealand to shoot LotR? Well, maybe because of the weather - hehe! We plan on going for a walk later on, if the wind is less nasty. Until then we are sat here with cups of tea and watch the boats and ships passing our window and wave at the divers who dare to dive down into these cold and dark Scottish seas. I wonder if I see the dolphins today? They are supposed to show up at least once a week, so we might be lucky!

Tomorrow we are off on the sheep ferry to Oban – that if we want to get off this great yet tiny island. M. is curled up on the sofa looking out over the water, P.’s under the shower now and I am thinking about having yet another cuppa. Holiday!!!

Did not go for a walk, but ended up watching telly. Went over to O. and N. for three or four night caps and observed an otter! He was sat on the rocks eating a fish but disappeared after more and more people showed up to see this rare little visitor.

Monday, 25th. Rainy Oban

Yesterday’s weather forecast said we’re supposed to have overcast skies with the sun breaking through ocassionally. Well, it was quite obvious the weather gods haven’t heard that as it was pouring down when we woke up this morning. Still we set over to the mainland and drove to Oban – oh, all these single track rural roads are treacherous, especially when the school bus came opposite us and we had to reverse until we found a way to let it pass. At one point I thought we might end up in this Loch, where the ancient Celtic house-construct is still visible after all these centuries! Next time Top Gear is looking for the “greatest European drive” I suggest the way between Luing and Oban! Oban is a beautiful little town with a big harbour and tuns of touristic shops. We did not go into the distillerie which is a shame. I wonder if we do that on Wednesday or Thursday? It was still hoying down but it could not spoil the view over the old harbour, nor the little streets and shops. It was quite calm in Oban though and I expect it to be heaving with tourists once the suns out.

We went back to the sheepferry but this time parked the car on the mainland, packed the few shopping bags, and went on the ferry as pedestrians. It’s quite an experience. It’s like standing on a bus, holding yourself to whatever available, only here it’s water under your feet and rain coming from above. It’s actually lovely! I would not mind going on N.’s boat and have a drive with him but I don’t have a life-vest and I don’t know if I would be sea-sick. So now we’re back here in this palace of a caravan (I could live in here – honestly!), had some Scottish Pies and our trousers are steamingly drying over the gas-fire. Let’s see what’s on for tonight. Somehow I do not see the BBQ’s going to happen, but maybe it’ll just be postponed not cancelled. I still hope the weather improves. Let’s stay optimistic!

Tuesday, 26th. Sunshine!

It must be a miracle – we actually woke up to the brightest sunshine. Everyone was already out and about as if woken from hibernation. Sun or not, I don’t see the point in getting up at 8 on my holidays. Getting up at 5 every day is a good excuse to sleep in on Luing.

As P. was “too relaxed” (his words) to go anywhere – I think he was just lazy! – M. and I went on a two hour walk around this tiny island. It’s only 5 miles long, so it’s possible to walk from one end to the other. Well, we did not. We walked through the greenest hills I’ve ever seen in my entire life – passing slate-rocks and moor, swamp and the most beautiful wild flowers. It’s a paradise here – it really is. We saw douzens of cows (a special breed: Luing cattle, which can only be found here) and sheep, which run freely on this piece of land. Why put them behind fences? Where could they go after all? P. only advised us to walk backwards slowly and then run if a bull crossed our way. Well, we did not see a bull directly on the path. But we came towards two cows and three calves, which stood on the main path and would not move. I would not dare to pass a cow with her baby, so we stood there for about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to make them leave the road. Three cars passed but still they would not move far enough to offer as a safe way. Silly moos! Only after the big, red post-bus drove up they fled into the greens. Thanks postman!  We actually did pass two bulls (gigantic meat-bulls) but they were behind an electric fence and fast asleep, so it was alright. On our way back we passed a young cow, but she was alright. She sniffed at us to check if we were dangerous but then continued eating.

The view into the bay from the top of the hills is magnificent. I have never seen water so blue! Especially in contrast to the juicy green of the mountains. We fed two swans earlier that day, which had a little fight over bread with two greedy seagulls – too cute! Well, if we only saw the dolphins now it’d be perfect. And yeah, if the weather stayed like that. But the forecast predicted heavy rain for tomorrow. Well, you cannot have everything.

Wednesday, 27th. Burned!

Gee, we look like lobsters today! It’s so bad we actually jumped into Boots to get some Savlon. It’s not been raining, so after setting off for Oban where we actually wanted to attend a guided tour through a whiskey distillerie (it was full, so we go tomorrow) we had a nice little stroll through Oban. This time without the rain gods spitting on us. It’s a lovely little town, but nothing to spend a whole day in. You could though, if you visited every tourist shop, every fashion shop and all the restaurants. We had lovely lunch in a little tea house right at the harbour. So nice. Old-fashioned and rustic with loads of Scottish atmosphere.

Afterwards we headed for Easdale, a dreamy little village close to the Cuan ferry. This place is where the ancient slate mountains almost drift into the water. On the left hand it’s the Atlantic and on the right hand it’s a mountain range – almost touching each other. It’s amazing. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few million years the mountains would melt right into the sea. Standing at the harbour, there’s only some slate rocks lying in the water, rusty old ships and then – there’s nothing. Water water water until you might finally reach the Western shores of the USA (if you’re a good swimmer that said). Well and if you’re smarter than Columbus anyway!

So now we’re back in the caravan. No news about the planned BBQ. Let’s see what happens. P.’s painting a picture with his newly bought oil paints and keeps on complaining how shite’s going to look. But meh, art’s in the viewer’s eye, is it not. I’m off to rename all the photos I’ve taken. More than 150 by now. Might keep me busy for the rest of the night.

Thursday, 28th. Whisky!

We went to the Oban whisky distillery. It’s very small with only nine men working there 24 hours a day, but still it produces 1 mio bottles of finest whisky every year. It’s in the core of the town, which is unusal. When the distilllery started their business Oban as it is today did not exist and was built around the distillery over the past centuries. It’s nice to see how much the Scottish love their whisky, they even move to the distillery. However, the distillery being caught in the core cannot expand. Which is not too bad after all as it makes their products rare and precious. Oban whisky is only sold in Scottland and in very exquisite liquor shops throughout GB and in the USA. So if you are here, remember to get a bottle! So at 11 o’clock we went on this lovely guided tour through the peculiar smells of fermenting, malting, and so on and got a sip of a 13 year old whisky straight from the cask at 56%. Nice, but it burned! At the end of the tour around 12ish we got a well-poured 2,5 cl of 14 year old Oban whisky. That one was lovely indeed! They are generous in their gifts! Not only was it a big amount of whisky (at 12! After few slices of toast at 8.30!) but we were also allowed to keep the glasses, each at a value of 6 quid.

It’s not a surprise we felt the urge to eat something after this tour. So we went to a little Chinese place – which was good value for the price… and it was cheap… do you get it?!

Back at Luing M. and I went for a long walk through the slate hills down to the shore – I am so glad I invested in my Wellis LOL! We observed lazy sheep, old miners’ house-ruins, two quarrels at 30 metres depth filled with water, old slate transport gaps into the Atlantic and a huge old cave. We did not dare to go in, mind. And we saw an eagle! Flying over the mountains! I guess now I have seen/heard every animal I’ve been told I could come across here. I have not seen the dolphins yet, but last night we heard them pass by. So exciting! Although the weather was not too great today, we had our BBQ!

I cannot believe it’s our last day tomorrow…

Friday, 29th. Cemetary and beach

The last day on this beautful island and the weather is wonderful. It’s supposed to be even better tomorrow. Sod’s law! We went to the old cemetary on Luing. The graves date back to the 1700s. I can only vaguely imagine how hard the life must have been here bak in those days. One grave inhabits 7 people – 5 of them children and none got older than 11 years of age. This can only be an idea of how harsh life must have been. There is a cursed grave here, too. The headstone has cleany been cut off, which in the old belief was a way to curse the person in it beyond his death. The man sleeping there has called out his own church back in the day and I assume the cutting off the headstone has been a revenge by faithful Christians. However nobody on the official side would agree on this damage to the grave. The officials claim it’s been a storm that damaged the grave. It is quite obvious this was not a storm. It is cleanly cut not broken. Another headstone speaks out a curse to everybody who tries to disturb the silence of this grave. Quite ghastly.

Afterwards we drove to the few houses on Luing, a village called Cullipool. It inhabits about 200 people, but most of them only live on the island when it’s warm and sunny. Cynical voices would say: never. Cullipool has the only shop on the island and it’s only open two hours a day. It’s laid on a most beautiful slate beach with peaces of slate being so fine, you could almost mistake it for black sand. Very remote and paradise-like.

So, tomorrow, it’s us going home. I cannot believe this week passed so quickly. I must not forget to write something into the caravan-diary!

Saturday, 30th .Home

Got up at 7.30 and cleaned the caravan. Everybody is silent and frustrated. We wish we could stay or at least come back, but not without winning the lottery. We could come back next year. Mike and Rosy, the owners, would even give us a special price, but we are planning on going to Greece or Malta for a fortnight next year. We cannot afford both holidays…

Good-bye, most beautiful Luing, and thanks for sharing your beauty with us.