It was a miserable morning. After having a couple of reasonable days hiking I had been looking forward to ending the year with a good days hike through oban but with rain pouring from the heavens I began to dread the hike ahead.
Having spotted a public toilet next to the castle the evening before I headed over leaving the comfort of the tarp and the warmth of the sleeping bag. A sign beside the entrance stated the facilities were for paying customers only. Well, I thought, if anyone was to question me about buying tickets to enter the castle I'd explain that my only alternative would be to go in the woods and leave the rest to the imagination.
With the weather threatening to turn sour I packed up camp as quickly as possible and headed through the woods down to a stony beach following a muddy footpath hopping over large puddles then up to small grassy footpath round in front of the cliffs on the far side.
Making my way along the cliff face path was relatively easy although in places I had to scramble up slippery rocks while pushing fallen branches out of my way. I'd almost made it all the way along when I came across a small problem. A naturally formed dyke had formed and the footpath was no longer continuous but had in fact collapsed into the sea below.
Determined to continue along the path I'd been following and so close to the end with gallanach in sight I took a good look at possible ways to step across the ominous gap and climb the slippery rock face the other side to rejoin the footpath. Climbing into a couple of different positions and evaluating the potential of success I eventually decided against attempting the climb in favour of heading back and finding a way over the cliffs above.
It was a gutting decision to make but it was the safest. It didn't take me long to make my way back along the path and find a way over the top and down towards the small community I was heading towards. As I descended from the hill the rain began to fall heavily. From ganavan I was able to follow the road into oban. As I drew closer the winds increased and the rain drove hard. Walking along the prom I began feeling hungry and had an overwhelming urge for a full breakfast. Bacon, eggs, beans and toast. I only knew of one place I knew I'd be able to satisfy my cravings, Carolyns cafe.
On my way to the cafe I'd popped into before my interview with the oban times a week or so earlier I met iain once again. He'd been down to the oban times offices to get latest copy of the newspaper.
After my late breakfast/lunch i headed south from the town and camped in wooded area next to the road ready to see the new year in.
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