Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
home to the interesting
Easdale Folk Museum
, near the main square, which has
surprisingly expansive collections covering, not just the local slate industry, but the
island's social and military associations. It also sells a useful historical map of the island
and you can buy some interesting slate souvenirs in the shop.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
ISLE OF EASDALE
By ferry
The ferry from Ellenabeich to the Isle of
Easdale runs more or less on demand (press the buttons
in the ferry shed or phone
T
01852 300559).
6
EATING AND DRINKING
Puffer Bar
200 metres from the Folk Museum
T
01852
300022,
W
pufferbar.com.
Should you wish to hang
about, then you could do worse than visit the terrific
Puffer
restaurant and bar; the former serves the best of the day's
fresh catch, while the latter is a convivial spot for a drink.
Mon-Sat 11am-1am, Sun 12.30-11pm.
Arduaine Garden
A816, 10 miles north Kilmartin • Daily 9.30am-dusk • £6; NTS •
T
0844 493 2216
A great spot at which to stop and have a picnic on the A816 from Oban to
Lochgilphead is
Arduaine Garden
, overlooking Asknish Bay and the islands
of Shuna, Luing, Scarba and Jura. he gardens, whose original foundations
were laid in 1898, are stupendous, particularly in May and June, and have the feel
of an intimate private garden, with immaculately mown lawns, lily-strewn ponds,
mature woods and spectacular rhododendrons and azaleas. You can follow several
pathways through the gardens, one of which is the woodland walk, which leads
down to the lakeshore, where there's a good chance of spotting otters, sea eagles and
hen harriers.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
ARDUAINE GARDEN
Ì
Loch Melfort Hotel
Adjacent to Arduaine Garden
T
01852 200233,
W
lochmelfort.co.uk.
This fine,
privately-run country house hotel overlooking Asknish Bay
offers a selection of beautifully appointed rooms, each with
its own private patio or balcony; best of all, though, are the
views, which are unquestionably some of the finest in
Scotland. The hotel's sparky
Chartroom Bistro
offers
similarly outstanding views, and the food isn't half bad
either; their west coast langoustines and mussels (£11.99)
rate highly in these parts, though there's plenty more on
the menu, including home-made bur
gers
and a choice of
scrummy pizzas.
Daily 11am-10pm.
£160
Kilmartin Glen and around
he chief sight on the road from Oban to Lochgilphead is
KILMARTIN GLEN
, the most
important prehistoric site on the Scottish mainland. he most remarkable relic is the
linear cemetery
, where several cairns are aligned for more than two miles to the south
of the village of Kilmartin. hese are thought to represent the successive burials of a
ruling family or chieftains, but nobody can be sure. he best view of the cemetery's
configuration is from the Bronze Age
Mid-Cairn
, but the Neolithic
South Cairn
, dating
from around 3000 BC, is by far the oldest and the most impressive, with its large
chambered tomb roofed by giant slabs.
Close to the South Cairn, the two
Temple Wood stone circles
appear to have been the
architectural focus of burials in the area from Neolithic times to the Bronze Age.
Visible to the south are the impressively cup-marked
Nether Largie standing stones
(no
public access), the largest of which looms over 10ft high.
Cup- and ring-marked rocks
are a recurrent feature of prehistoric sites in Kilmartin
Glen and elsewhere in Argyll. here are many theories as to their origin: some see them
as Pictish symbols, others as primitive solar calendars. he most extensive markings in
the entire country are at
Achnabreck
, off the A816 towards Lochgilphead.
