Oyster Inn

The Oyster Inn has been trading on this spot since the 18th century, when it was the Ferryman's Inn and its custom came off the boat that carried passengers over the mouth of Loch Etive to North Lorn. The ferry lost its job to the Connel Bridge, the 1903 cantilever that now looms over the water a short walk away, but the inn kept its trade and gathered a couple of good stories along the way. The bar is called the Gluepot, on account of the blacksmith who once worked at the rear, boiling glue from shaved horse hooves, and locals have never called it anything else. And in the days when Scottish licensing law banned Sunday drinking in pubs but allowed it for "bona fide travellers" at inns, a trip out from Oban to Connel became a popular Sabbath excursion. The law changed. The habit more or less didn't.

The inn now runs as a small hotel, restaurant and pub. There are 19 en-suite rooms from economy up to sea view, and the ones facing the water get sunsets over the loch that guests go on about at length in the reviews. The kitchen leans on Scottish produce and local seafood, oysters and mussels naturally included, with the Cullen skink earning regular praise. Food is served in the Gluepot from noon to 8pm and in the Oyster Restaurant from 5pm, and the bar keeps local ales, a house Oyster Inn draught, whisky, gin and an open fire for the colder half of the year. Dogs are welcome in the bar.

Then there's what's outside the front door. The Falls of Lora, the tidal rapids that pour beneath the bridge when the sea drops below the level of the loch, are minutes away, and the walkway on the bridge itself gives the best view down onto the white water. Time it for a strong ebb tide. On a weak one there's nothing to see, and you'll wonder what the fuss was about.