The old and the new

We waved a regretful farewell to sunny Edinburgh and headed west to a mystery destination, an intriguing stop off planned by John in West Lothian, the Five Sisters. The “sisters” are five shale bings, a memorial to the shale-oil industry which helped to fuel Britain during the Second World War and right up until 1962. For some time they were perceived to be a blot on the landscape but gradually affection grew for them and now they are a symbol of West Lothian. Because they are under private ownership and are designated a Scheduled Monument with access discouraged, we were unable to get any closer, but it was quite something to view these pieces of landscape art with an interesting geological history.
After tramping through a muddy field to get this view, we had worked up an appetite so we had a break near Stirling from some lunch. However, we cut it a bit fine to complete the last land longest leg of our journey to Oban. Fortunately, nothing held us up and we arrived with ten minutes to spare. It was a bit of a squeeze on the car deck of the tiny Loch Frisa and rather a bumpy sail back to Mull. But we were rewarded with a very affectionate welcome from Bertie who made us feel that it was good to be back home.