Chronicles from the Castle

Today was a glorious sun-filled day here on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. We took advantage of the great weather and boarded the ferry as pedestrians across the Sound of Mull, to the Isle of Mull and Tobermory. This is a beautiful little fishing village with all of the storefronts painted in bright colours much like a lot of Newfoundland. There are a lot of different shops and restaurants and a couple of bars in Tobermory that cater pretty much exclusively to the tourist trade. Very few vehicles take advantage of the ferry but instead it is primarily used by pedestrians and cyclists, and of course, the dogs. 

The fishing village of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull 

A fishing trawler 

The Brits and their beloved dogs. They are everywhere! We hadn't realized how beloved the dogs were here. They are allowed in many of the restaurants, bowls of water can be found outside shops, and they are all different sizes. On this particular peninsula there seem to be quite a few more like the Irish Wolf Hound but there were lots of different kinds and sizes of dogs on the ferry. 

View from the ferry on the way back to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula

View of the Castle from the Sound of Mull

Relaxing with a drink in the lounge/drawing room so we can take advantage of the wifi hook-up here at the castle. Not sure what will be on the menu for dinner tonight. Last night the chef cooked up a white asparagus concoction on the grill that was quite delicious as an appetizer, the main course was chicken with roasted new potatoes and broccoli (with the leaves of course) all served on a plain looking sauce of peas meal which was really delicious. Dessert was quite heavenly healthy - an apple crumble made with hazelnuts and compressed apples made with pine oil and Douglas fir oil. We are certainly getting our share of  new food experiences this vacation. For breakfast today, Sir IF had Eggs and Weeds, which was fried eggs cooked in rapeseed oil with an assortment of seaweed and all of the herb greens they had in their kitchen. Meg opted for the boring eggs. Last night's homemade sourdough bread leftovers were sliced ultra-thin and toasted in the oven and were quite yummy. 

Sarah the castle manager has been filling us in on the history of this castle and some of its former occupants. She has been in the hospitality industry for quite a few years and lived all over the world, including some time in Vancouver and British Columbia so she is quite aware of the differences between here and our home. She keeps setting the background music for whichever room we're in so we're getting a nice eclectic batch of music and radio stations including the British Gaelic channel, some Selkirk, Scotland music for last night much like our east coast musicians, and this afternoon she seems to have selected western music, a tribute to her time in BC.