We are taking the ferry from Locboisdale to Oban on a Wed morning. I was going to take the ferry Oban to Port Askaig in the afternoon but now I am thinking about driving from Oban to Kennacraig and then taking the 6 pm ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen. Is there anything interesting along this drive? It would be a nice break from the whole day on ferry. Mac

Bad idea. (and now I've typed that, I'm challenging myself)

OK. If the weather's fine, it'll be two lovely trips. BUT, there is a big skelp of the journey from Lochboisdale which has nothing in it, so I guess you might get bored. The bit down the Sound of Mull is spectacular as is the run from Oban to Port Askaig.

The drive will take about 1 1/2 hrs and you need to check in half an hour before, so you have an hour and a half to play with. The big plus in the car, is Kilmartin Glen with its standing stones and stone circles. And there is nice scenery, pretty gardens, nice villages, Dunadd, the Moine Mhor, too. But, only an hour and a half?.....

Tough call. I'd go with the ferry, but each to his own

Kilmartin Glen is a wonderful area with many sites of ancient stones scattered throughout, as well as a visitor center and museum with an interesting introductory video and bookshop where you can pick up a map of the sites.

From first hand experience, I can tell you not to expect to find anywhere to buy lunch between Kilmartin and Kennacraig until you get to the town just before Kennacraig.

Interesting you should mention about lunch. The last time KR and I made this trip lunches were one of my mistakes. We always stayed in B and B's so left in the morning with a stomach full. Didn't get hungry til 1 - 2 pm and then could never find anything open in remote area of hebrides where we were. Either wasted 90 min sitting in a dingy pub eating bad food or got grumpy because hungry. This time I plan to pack two small collapsible coolers and ice packs we can freeze overnight at BandB. Then we can carry meat, cheese fruit and crackers, buy drinks and make our own lunches whereever we are when we get hungry and then have a nice dinner. Currently looking at little burner that would even allow us to make tea. I still have my dollar store shower curtain which we used as a picnic blanket all over Paris and Normandy. Of course in the outer hebrides there will be days we will have to use it as an umbrella!! Mac

We would have welcomed even a dingy pub that afternoon. Should have eaten at the Kilmartin visitors' center. That's probably why it was so crowded (that and the pouring rain). And I'm not sure where we would have bought the things to bring with us, even if we had been smart enough to have the idea.