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Lots of stuff including Art

Lots of stuff including Art
Newport lad from Crindau, and Ceredigion resident for 27 years: former firefighter Roger Bennett

2 September 2009

Dining in Connel



We stayed at aGuest House in Connel for two nights. The first of which was spent in the pleasant company of a young couple away for the weekend. Well, that’s what young couples do isn’t it? But when you get older your stamina increases and you make the break last a week. They were a lovely couple. She a nurse and he a rich farmer, he denied the richness of course, but we all know that you rarely meet a poor farmer. Well his recent holiday across Canada says it all. We met in the restaurant at the Oyster Inn Hotel in Connel near Oban. And we followed on from the excellent meal with a drink in the Ferryman’s Bar next door. Address: The Oyster Inn, Connel, by Oban, Argyll, SatNav Postcode: PA37 1PJ. Telephone: 01631 710666

It was a lovely evening. The food and service was excellent and the view was to die for. They sat Pauline and I side by side with a joint view through the extensive glazing out onto the Loch as the sun set. A perfect setting for dining, complete with excellent food, and for only the cost of a few pennies. We began with their Haggis Tricolour consisting of Layered Haggis, Neaps and Tatties served with a Whisky Cream and then parted on the main course via Pauline’s Chargrilled Scottish Rib-eye steak served with chips, mushrooms, onion rings and tomato. While I went for the ‘catch of the day’ consisting of a fillet of Haddock in an exquisite sauce containing butter, lemon and lime. My meal was superb, simply superb. But what we didn’t know at the time; was that this meal would be trumped later in the week. This was surprising really; as I would place the Oyster Inn at Connel, amongst my all time favourite dining experiences. And one that I would recommend to anyone heading to the West Coast of Scotland. It's touch and go whether or not the fish at the Oyster Inn was as good as the fish served by Jeffers and Tamara or the one that we had on the coast that hot, hot evening back in Ghana.

Connel? No Bennett… Roger Bennett


The journey between Loch Lomond and Connel was not without incident. The weather was atrocious with apparently a mini hurricane loitering around that part of Scotland. At one point driving the Volvo S60 D5, I thought that I was James Bond… for the duration of the 007 theme music pumping in my head, ‘da da dra da dra, da da daa, da da daaaaa… the Volvo aquaplaned.

‘Slow down’ shouts Pauline, I can’t I explain, none of the wheels are touching the ground. Thankfully for us, it was a straight line on a straight road with no oncoming traffic or sheep. It had to be 200 yards if it was a foot. Wow, film making must be really exciting!

We went to Scotland looking forward to seeing the many falls. No one explained that the waterfalls would appear at the side of the road as we drove through the evening to our first overnight destination. We spotted the bridge in the distance and pulled effortlessly onto the Guest House drive. The owner flashed us a glance and greeted me as I got out of the car. ‘Mr. Bond?’ she said, ‘no’ I replied, ‘Bennett, Roger Bennett’.
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