We recently took a trip to the Western Isles and after our tour of Mull, Staffa and Iona we had a little time to explore Oban. So with only and hour of two where should we go? We decided to head to Oban’s most prominent landmark – McCaig’s Tower.
The evening before we stayed in the lovely Oban Backpackers Plus which was pretty comfy and we had slept well after our long day out on the islands. We had also treated ourselves to the traditional seaside dinner of fish and chips though we brought it back to the hostel rather than wander about in the rain.
With only the following morning to see a little more of Oban we opted to visit McCaig’s Tower which sits high on a hill overlooking the town and out to the islands.
After initially getting a little lost finding the road to the tower we parked at the base of the short walk and read some of the tower’s interesting history.
Built in 1897, the tower ‘s not so much of a tower as an arched wall structure, designed and commissioned by local man John Stuart McCaig. At the time of construction the area was experiencing a bit of an economic downturn and so McCaig came up with the tower in a philanthropic gesture to provide work for local stonemasons oh, and of course, provide a lasting monument to the McCaig family. Not sure if that takes away from the whole charitable thing.
From the tower itself, is sat on Battery Hill, the views over Oban and the Western Isles are pretty spectacular even on the rather damp and overcast day that we visited.
Through the pretty arch windows and in particular the outer balcony you can see out over Mull and back towards yesterday’s excursion site on our Three Isles Tour trip. The dark skies and low mist over the islands add to the atmosphere and make a perfect Scottish landscape view.
Despite the weather, it also seem to be a popular place with a few other couples wandering around McCaig’s Tower. With only an hour or two to explore Oban I think we chose well!
