A day trip to Oban!

Hello again boys.

 

I have had such a busy time since we last spoke. Wish you were all here to share it with me.

 

I told you that Lainey has 2 children, Craig and Heather, although they are older than you are. One day I went away for the day with them. We went with their Grandma and Grandpa. They call them Gran and Papa. They were very nice but sometimes they needed to turn their hearing aids up so they could hear better.  Heathers Papa liked to tell lots of stories.

 

First of all we went to a power station where they make electricity. They said they made electricity from water but I did not understand. How can you make water into electricity? We had to go through a big tunnel in a mountain called Ben Cruachan. I don't really know how to say it. A Ben is what they call a mountain or a hill in Scotland. In the middle of the mountain are a lot of machines. At the top of the mountain there is a reservoir. It is like a small lake. In Scotland they call it a Loch, not a lake. When they need to make electricity, they open doors between the reservoir and big pipes that run steeply down the mountain. The water runs very fast inside them. At the bottom of the pipes the water is going so fast that it turns the machines round and round quicker and quicker. The machines then make electricity that then travels down cables to houses and shops and factories. It was amazing.

 

Here is a website all about it.http://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/

 

We could not take photographs inside the mountain but we took some outside. There were beautiful views of another Loch at the bottom of the mountain. It is called Loch Awe. I know why they called it Loch Awe. It was AWEsome.

 

We then went to a famous town called Oban. Heather and Craig always kept me safe and comfortable in the car.

 

 

Oban is on the west coast of Scotland. Because Scotland is on an island it is never more than 2 or 3 hours drive from the coast wherever you are. There were fishing boats in the harbour and lots of small sailing boats and yachts. There is a hill overlooking the harbour and town which has a big tower thing on it. It is called a folly. Sometimes in the olden days, and sometimes even now, if someone is rich and wants to make a view look better, they build a folly. It is like pretend and meant to look like an old ruin. There are lots of beautiful big houses and gardens in Scotland and sometimes the owners hundreds of years ago would build a pretend ruin away in the distance from the house, just so that people and guests would talk about it and say it looked nice. The one in Oban is very big and impressive. I have a photo of it below.

 

We all went into a lovely tearoom or cafe for something to drink and a cake. Heathers Gran likes cakes and her Papa drinks lots of coffee. Here is a picture of Craig and his Gran. She is also called Auld Jean. That means old Jean.

 

 

 

 

I will say bye for now but will tell you soon about a visit i made to a beautiful castle called Culzean. It has a very interesting link with the U.S.A.

 

Missing you lots

Love

Ned the Gnome