“Hey Google, play Glen Campbell”

One Twitter follower seems a little unimpressed by my coverage of the Argyll scenery so far,

and they make a very fair point. But there will be some shots of the gorgeous coast, once I get through this run of five pubs in 5 hours (thanks Mrs RM).

A mere 20 minutes from Kilmartin lies the Cuilfail, 20 minutes in which Mrs RM decided to instruct the hi-tech kit to play some jaunty music.

“Hey Google, play Glen Campbell” she shouted, waking me up.

“Redirecting your route to Gambell, Alaska” said a confused Google. Hey, isn’t Alaska like 40 degrees at the moment ?

I’ve no idea how we ended up with early Bee Gees when she asked for “Staying Alive“.

The route IS pretty spectacular, as you see from the aerial view, but hard to capture when going round corners at 60 mph.

The frontage of the National Heritage Cuilfail Hotel is pretty good, too,

but not a patch on the themed interior.

What Pub describes the “flooring of terrazzo and the Critall windows a short passage with dado panelling“,

but you want to know the sympathetic choice of soundtrack, don’t you ?

“Mambo Number 5” and “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” (not Madonna), of course. The other customers (it was 3.30pm on a Thursday to be fair) looked enthralled.

The Landlady seemed surprised to see me.

“Er, can I get a drink, please ?” . She definitely thought about it before acquiescing.

The Loch Lomond (the beer, not the loch) looks pretty good, doesn’t it ?

It really wasn’t*.

*But the pub is gorgeous and if they’d charged £2 just to LOOK at it to the accompaniment of “Mambo Number 5” I’d have been happy.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

12 thoughts on ““Hey Google, play Glen Campbell””

  1. Another one? I refer you to my comment posted July 2, 2021 at 12:52 am, on your post titled A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO PAY FOR A HALF. There’s no need to repeat your response.

    It’s a good job the scenery was so beautiful, otherwise you could have been excused for feeling a little dispirited at this point on your travels through Argyll. The scenery was beautiful, wasn’t it?

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  2. I’m trying to work out what that thing is on the floor?

    I assume it’s a dog toy but even the dogs owners are looking quizzically at it

    Great looking pub, shame the beer wasn’t up to scratch

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    1. Scottish cask is very rarely up to scratch, of course. I don’t think I saw another pint of cask beer pulled in any of the pubs on our 5 day trip. Honest. In contrast there must have been 200 pulled in the Fat Cat in Sheffield while I was there for 3 hours. The Scottish CAMRA branches say they get very few NBSS beer scores outside the known “ale houses” in the big cities which often have really excellent beer.

      Which is a long way of saying I’ve no idea what they’re looking at either !

      You really leave Fenton and Longton for Seattle ?

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      1. Burslem was my home town but worked out in Seattle for a few years so that’s where the ‘online’ name came from and I’ve stuck with it ever since. Decent beer and ‘bars’ out there, great city, stunning scenery …. but no oatcakes! Now living in Nantwich, so within easy’ish reach of my old drinking haunts of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle

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  3. I think your blog has always given due attention to the lovely scenery, but always while making sure it is balanced with shots of exemplary lacings and the distinctive frontage of the local Chinese takeaway. 😉

    This really does look like a lovely pub, inside and out. As for “Mambo Number 5,” I always figure if you’re going to be a one hit wonder, you could do worse than a fun-loving track like that one. It’s the bands whose one hit has largely been forgotten that I feel a bit sorry for.

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    1. Thanks for sticking up for me, Mark ! Like Duncan I do try to capture the setting as well as the pub, but confess I was on pub autopilot on that afternoon and Mrs RM wasn’t doing any walking !

      Your support for Mambo Number 5 only reinforces my respect for your musical taste. ;-0

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