Day 25 August 5th Oban to Fort William.

Day 25 August 5th Oban to Fort William.
After breakfast we set off for a 45 mile drive to Fort William. After 11 miles we stopped at the Scottish Sea life Sanctuary. Inside a building we saw many fish species in small and large tanks including the rear and almost extinct NZ seahorse. At 10am we rushed to the North American otter’s enclosure for their daily feed. They were cute and performed well for their food. They differed from the Sea Otters we saw in Alaska two years previously.
We continued on towards Fort William. A wanted to climb Ben Nevis and I want to ride the antique train to Mallaig; we both missed out, the train was booked out for the rest of the month and Ben Nevis was hiding behind a mantle of thick cloud, so we drove past fort William to a spectacular valley enclosed on both sides by tall mountains disappearing into the clouds; many people were walking along tracks in the valley.
We then sought out our B&B Ard Daraich an old stone building set amongst many Rhododendrons and other shrubs; the Rhodos had all finished flowering for the season and were covered with new growth. We were promised to be shown around the garden the next day but rain intervened. After settling in we went for a short walk before driving several miles to a hotel for drinks before dinner. The hotel overlooked a tidal estuary; instead of the usual mud or sand the shore was covered with small rocks covered with gold coloured seaweed up to the green grass covered shore. It was truly scenic in the evening sun. A couple of miles further on we found our restaurant hidden away up a country lane over looking green fields sloping down and away towards a large hill covered with soft green Scottish pine trees. Back in NZ we would describe the place as the whop whops. The food was certainly not from the whops; it was Devine!