After Aimi had been reminding me for days, leading up to the trip, I still hadn’t gotten any new waterproof walking trousers. We had made a special trip to Hathersage, and been to GoOutdoors twice, but still not found any I liked or fit properly. I wasn’t in a mad rush, I sort of remembered owning a cheap pair of plastic over trousers that may or may not have been stored in the overhead locker in the van. Well this afternoon it was due to rain, and we had just walked 3.5 miles into Oban to take a look around
Barely had we arrived at the port town and reached the waters edge, than it started to rain. We knew it was imminent because we could see the misty edge approaching, swallowing up the small islands just off shore. There was no escaping it, so we just carried on. Trudging up the hill in the strengthening rain, we checked out Mc Caig’s tower, which overlooks the town. It’s an amphitheatre looking circular thing that tops a steep hill pretty much in the centre of town. Its even more bizzaar that it contains absolutely nothing, bar a few trees, and seems to serve no function, apart from looking imposing. Certainly, these things usually have some sort of plaque or information board giving some history, but there was nothing. Maybe a yoooth nicked it?
So I have to rely on Wikipedia to tell me…
Well now we were getting thoroughly wet legs, our jackets doing a good job of directing all the water onto our thighs. And it was roughly midday, so we figured lunch and some time to dry off would hopefully give the weather some time to pass. But we also have a small, wet and miserable dog called Kayo with us which meant a lot of restaurants weren’t open to us. They are happy to let small kids in, who scream and throw food and throw up and run around everywhere, parents bellowing at them, but a small well behaved dog… I digress…
Luckily we found a nice little place called Gelatoburger ( which will be getting a 5 Star review when I have signal again) They said we and our dog were welcome, even as I stood by the counter, rain pooling at my feet. It’s themed as an Italian Ice Cream shop / American burger diner and basically offers just that.
Ronseal: Does what it says on the tin.
Gelatoburger: Burgers for main course and ice cream for dessert
What more do you want?
By the time we had finished eating we were mostly dry, thanks to ultra thin modern walking trousers. We got ready to face the driving rain and I pulled out the cheap waterproof trousers I had found in the van before setting off. They had been in there for probably 2 years, unused, but now became the most valuable bit of kit I owned. Aimi, on the other hand, after nagging me to get a pair, buying a nice set for herself a week ago, checking the weather report this morning and confirming that we would indeed be walking home in the rain, decided to leave her waterproof trousers behind. There was no sympathy given, one of us was walking home with wet legs and she made her choice.
By the time we got home, Aimi’s boots were full of water, her legs raw and wet and my grin on form factor SMUG. I didn’t escape unscathed, my chest was wet probably from where my beard absorbed and then dripped water into my jacket and across the back of my neck too. I don’t know why that part leaked, but my jacket is 5 years old now, so it’s probably about time to replace it. I did feel a bit bad, so I made up for it by snuggling up to her on the couch for the afternoon and cooking dinner. There is no signal to be useful up here so we were off the net and watched a DVD we found; Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy