Still in Oban

Things that go bump in the night
Animals, wild and tame, don’t seem to be able to see our tent in the dark so we have been regularly woken up by deer and sheep walking past our tent with every one of their four legs tripping over all three guy lines. Inside it feels like an earthquake. The other night it was the neighbouring campers’ Alaskan something dog which looks like a husky or a wolf. We’d met it earlier and it was friendly. However, at 2.30 am our tent started shuddering alarmingly so Nigel bravely looked out. “Oh, it’s next door’s dog but its eyes are bright green and it’s coming straight for me,” he said and dived back in. Apparently, from us the dog went on to the ladies’ loos where it came face-to-face with a woman and her little dog. She ran off in terror to the warden and the husky-type dog was placed under arrest until morning.

We are being spoilt by magnificent scenery. We are not being spoilt by weather. We listen religiously to the shipping forecast at 8.10 each morning and have got used to its very specific use of language. In particular, we hear a lot of “an area of low pressure over north-west Scotland will head off towards Norway before losing its identity”. It makes you feel positively sorry for it! However, we grabbed a glorious day yesterday to paddle out from Port Appin round Shuna Island and North Lismore then back to Castle Stalker (8 miles). This is where Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Kidnapped” is set. We saw seals and a mink. Apparently you tell the difference between common and grey seals by the way common seals lie on rocks with their heads and tails in the air like bananas; grey seals have Roman noses. Mink are responsible for making water voles become almost extinct.



Nigel’s camping tips:
A good way to start the day is with a wholesome and filling breakfast: best so far is “French toast” or eggy bread and fruit. This is 2 slices of white sliced bread, buttered lightly and filled with fresh fruit; raspberries or blueberries work really well. The fruit sandwich is then compressed and soaked in egg with a little milk. The whole thing is then lightly fried on the Trangia until golden brown and then eaten with maple syrup … delicious.