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Verne at Oban 1879

From: <ian.thompson~at~ges.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:23:03 -0000 (GMT)
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

In Scotland, residents over 60 years old are entitled to travel free of
cost by bus anywhere in the country. So last week, I decided to travel
north to Oban to look for traces of Verne. Almost half of the route
coincides with his own journeys.
The first part of the route follows the River Clyde to Dumbarton, the
route taken by Verne aboard the SS Columba on Thursday the 17th July 1879.
From Dumbarton the road travels north alongside Loch Lomond. Verne sailed
the length of Loch Lomond in both 1859 and 1879. The bus stops at Luss
where Verne sited Malcolm Castle, the castle of Lord Glenarvan in Les
Enfants du Capitaine Grant. Ben Lomond, much admired by Verne, had the
first snows of winter covering its summit.
After a three hour journey, my bus arrived at Oban where Verne spent the
nights of the 17th and 18th July 1879. I had expected to see immediately
the hotel where Verne and his companions stayed; the Caledonian Hotel. In
a previous posting, based on scrutiny of an old photograph, I stated that
this hotel was still standing although no longer a hotel. Sadly this was
misinformation as it was immediately obvious that the Caledonian Hotel had
been demolished. More seriously, in its place is an ugly two storey
building housing three shops and a café. The appalling architecture of
this building is typical of the 1960s and ruins the appearance of Oban's
seafront. At this time, the Caledonian Hotel would have been 130 years old
and probably prohibitively expensive to modernise (I am checking this out
with a local historian). So, the main physical representation of Verne's
visit no longer exists and the name pof the hotel was appropriated by the
Station Hotel, built after Verne's visit.
The North Pier,where he arrived aboard the "Chevalier" steamer and from
where he sailed aboard the "Pioneer" to visit Iona and Staffa, still
exists and has been extended and modernised. It is now mainly used by
smaller tourist boats and fishing vessels and is only usuable by larger
ships at high tide.The Caledonian Hotel was opposite the North Pier and I
timed the walk at three minutes...ideal for taking the 7am sailing round
Mull with the stops at Iona and Staffa the day after his arrival. The main
quay for the inter-island steamers is now Station Pier which was built
after the arrival of the railway in 1880. In his carnets de voyage, Verne
complains of difficulty changing money although at this time there were
four banks in Oban. However, having arrived at 6pm the banks would be
closed. It is likely that he changed his currency at the hotel.
The panorama of the seafront from the site of the Caledonian Hotel shows
that indeed the Bay of Oban is almost entirely enclosed by the island of
Kerrera, and beyond that by the mountains of the Isle of Mull. It is
obvious that Helena Campbell, in Le Rayon vert, could not possibly have
seen the green ray, not even from the top of the five floors of the
Caledonian Hotel nor by climbing the steep hillside behind the town.
One thing that might have interested Verne is that today all the
settlements in the area are signposted in both English and Gaelic....at
the time of his visit probably at least half of the population were
gaelic-speaking (Oban is An t-Oban..."the little bay").
The return journey to Glasgow initially follows the route taken by Verne
by coach to the railhead at Dalmally. This is a distance of 25 miles
including some steep sections and I marvelled at the strength and stamina
of the horses that hauled his royal mail coach. In his carnets Verne
delights in "the delicious pays of the glens and Highlands and the narrow
valleys".
This refers to the Pass of Brander and Loch Awe...indeed a spectacular route.
To clarify this posting a little, I will post tomorrow a map of Oban at
the time of Verne's visit and two photos. One photograph shows the
seafront at Oban and the disfigured site of the original Caledonian Hotel.
The second, taking from the site of the hotel, looks across Oban Bay to
Kerrera and the mountains of Mull are just discernable in the distance
(remember that at this latitude and on a cloudy day, it is almost dark by
3pm and the quality of my photograph is not good). It also shows the
position of the North Pier on the right of the photo.
My visit shows that when we try to reconstruct Verne's travels, it is
essential to "faire le terrain"..(go over the ground) Thus my error in
thinking that the Caledonian Hotel still existed whereas in fact it
probably disappeared approximately 50 years ago.
Ian Thompson.
Received on Tue 18 Dec 2007 - 17:23:32 IST

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