Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

482
OBAN TO SKYE.
The Skye steamers sail from Glasgow twice a week, viz.,
on Thursday and Monday. * They both take the long route
round the Mull of Cantire, and do not arrive at Oban till
the next morning between six and eight o’clock. As this in¬
volves sleeping one night on board and exposure to a rough
sea, it is advisable rather to take the quick steamer, which
sails every morning from Glasgow to Ardrishaig, from which
the tourist is conveyed through the Crinan Canal to Oban.
In this way Oban is reached in time to rest comfortably at
the inn, and to start the next morning.
Leaving Oban in one of the steamers that, starting from
Glasgow, navigate the western shores of Scotland, we proceed
by the Sound of Mull in the same way as already described in
the route from Oban to Staffa (pp. 457'to 461), until we start
on the second stage of our journey from Tobermory, where
the steamer generally arrives about 12 noon. Crossing the
mouth of Loch Sunart, which extends twenty miles among the
hills to the eastward, the steamer leaves the Sound of Mull,
and begins to double Ardnamurchan Point, where the heaviest
sea throughout the voyage is experienced, and where a stiff
breeze from the westward is apt to poison the pleasures of the
picturesque. The long-shaped low-looking islands of Coll and
Tiree, seen here towards the west, are left behind, when the
more picturesque heights of Muck and Rum start into view.
Rum is a series of high sharp-peaked mountains, of which
Ben More rises to the height of 2320 feet. The steamer then
touches at Faskadle, and afterwards passes the mouth of Loch
Moidart, into which the fresh waters of Loch Shiel discharge
themselves by the river of the same name. On a rocky pro-
* In case of change, it is necessary to verify this by consulting the proprie¬
tors’ advertisements; or the tourist may write to the steamboat office, Oban, for a
hill of the sailings some days before.
Skye may he approached by land if the tourist have an aversion to the sea. In
this case he has the choice of various routes during the summer months, two of
which have been already mentioned. The third is by Dingwall, twelve miles north
of Inverness, from which the Skye mail-coach proceeds thrice every week, through
the southern part of Ross-shire, a country abounding in a variety of picturesque
Highland scenery.