All Things Scottish, Day 6

With another dubious forecast at hand, Saturday was a bit of an open card as to what I would do, since I am staying for a third night at Kilmichael Glassary so don't really need to travel anywhere.

But while the earlier parts of the trip focus on the more "recent" history of Scotland (ha!) the local sites here in Argyll delve even further back. Today's journeys led me to prehistoric rock carvings, bronze age burial sites, medieval crosses, and 10th century slab carvings. Quite a range -- oh and a castle or two thrown in for good measure because, well, they're everywhere, and they were en route.

Today was a Saturday. And a Long Weekend in Scotland. So for the first time thus far, I experienced something novel -- traffic, and crowds, relatively speaking. Winding through the local tourist center of Oban, the traffic was essentially gridlock: I'd hate to think what it's like during *peak* tourist seasons!

More traffic... During the week, on the one-lane roads, I would often drive down 10-20 KM without encountering any oncoming traffic. Today, the pullouts were frequently used. The one-lane roads typically wind through scenic areas or around lochs, and here's where became evident the Scottish "free roaming" right that, while commonly accepted, was recently codified as law of the land.

Basically, anyone can walk, roam, camp, etc anywhere they want, including purported "private" land. So on this long weekend, basically any "flat-ish" area alongside lochs or scenic areas, has tents set up and cars pulled along the shoulder. As long as you're not "interfering" with the homeowner (and not directly intruding) you're free to do this. So wherever there's no real house nearby, this weekend there are a lot of campers.

Most interesting, people set up little campsite villages at key spots, for example across the river from a scenic castle I visited. On, and in many cases "flat" is merely a suggestion -- some tents were pitched on 10-15 degree slopes, sometimes mere feet from the water level. The loch levels are very high right now (is it wet EVERYWHERE in the world this spring?) but I suppose the locals know the upper limits on water/wave reach.

So, tomorrow will be a more active day... Off on the ferry to the Isle of Mull for the day, wandering over on the passenger ferry to Iona for the night. Considering a boat trip to Staffa Isle as well if the weather is good -- but that hasn't been my luck on this trip so far.