Our first location was only thirty minutes away, in Balloch, of Loch Lomod. I chose this place because of its closeness to Glasgow, while still having a place of interest, a nearby gorge. They allowed us to check in before noon, which was great. We ate lunch on a nearby refurbished steamship that overlooked the lake. Then, we left for the Finnich Glen. After only a fifteen minute drive, we parked the car and walked toward the gorge. It took us a while to find the correct entrance, so after a false start, we were on our way. We passed other visitors, who told us about an easy way and a harder way to get down to the level of the water.
First, we took the easier way, which essentially took us to where the gorge begins. We walked along the sides and climbed on rocks until we were no longer able to continue forward without getting wet.
We walked back up to the tops and decided to try the harder way, which led down some narrow steps. As it had been a dry day, the steps actually weren't very hard at all. There was a tiny section where we had to go in the dirt, because the stairs alongside it were a little wacky, but it was no big deal. Now we were more in the center of the gorge, within sight of the main attraction, called The Devil's Pulpit. It was a little precarious to get to, without getting wet, but we made it. Stephanie actually found an easier way than Miles and I took, so we used her way when we left.
The whole area was absolutely beautiful, which made it super disappointing that we found litter throughout the area. Bottles and cans were just lodged in between rocks or floating in the water. Absolutely disgusting. How can anyone leave things behind like that, especially in such a place? Anyhow, we took the stairs out, it began to drizzle, and we headed home. Stephanie reinformed me, back in the room, that Outlander filmed a scene in the gorge.
We went to sleep at 8 PM and woke up at 8:30 AM. We ate the breakfast at the bed and breakfast. Apparently, the areas we were going in Scotland did not have many hotels. We packed our luggage tightly into the trunk, with only one small bag left for the floor of the back seat, covered that with some jackets, and off we went.
Our first stop was at Inveraray Castle, about an hour away. We had first attempted to see a castle that was still lived in, about 10 minutes from Inveraray, but the front gates were closed. We parked the car, which was in a lot with someone manning the gate, and went into the castle.
 |
| This view was opposite the castle entrance. We would later take the path up to the tower on the mountain. |
As we entered, someone welcomed us and handed Miles a quiz. There were about 14 questions, with three possible answers each. He had to scratch out his choice with a coin. If he got them all right, he would get a prize at the gift shop at the end. It was a furnished castle, on two floors, but I didn't find anything impressive. I much prefer the outside of furnished castles to the stuffy interiors. One thing we did learn by helping Miles with the quiz, was that five ghosts supposedly haunted the castle. Miles picked up his prize pencil with "Inveraray Castle" on it, and left for the gardens.
The gardens were of decent size. It was pleasant enough.
I told Miles that we would be doing a two hour walk near to the castle, and he asked for water. We all decided to pick up water. This turned out to be a very good idea.
I had read that it was a mild walk, so I expected it to be not very steep. Of course, I did not see the elevation of that tower when I did my reading online. It was also the second day in a row with sun, in the mid to high 70s. I was in jeans as well. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant hike. The views from the top were very nice.
On the way down, it became cloudy, and i tied my hat, with the velcro, into one of my belt loops. About 15 minutes later, I looked down, and my hat was nowhere to be seen. I turned around and walked back up. Luckily, it was only half of the distance back to the top. As we were walking down, we heard the "baas" of nearby sheep. It began drizzling just before we reached the castle. We stopped in and had a very lovely lunch.
The next attraction was a 25 minute drive away, at Kinchurn Castle. The castle was free to visit. It was not too big, but you were free to explore, which is our preferred type of castle. It was raining, so we had our rain jackets with us. The castle overlooked a lake, and on the far side of the castle were a few highland cows, which are an excellent variant of cow. They walked just near us, and eventually, a limping sheep came round as well.
Finally, we had an hour drive to our next bed and breakfast, in Ballachulish, near Glencoe. We stopped at numerous pull over areas along the way. This first one was a field that was filled with large rocks. It is hard to see in the picture, but it was a very unusual sight. This is the best I could do, with only one pull over area alongside it.
The other pull over areas showed off the mountains.
About ten minutes from our bed and breakfast was a three part waterfall.
We arrived at the bed and breakfast, brought in our stuff, and walked to a nearby coop. We picked up food and brought it back, so we could relax for the night. On the way to the coop we found a slug and a snail. Here is the snail.
We are staying here for three nights and have been attempting to determine our itinerary for tomorrow. There is a tourist center in town, that we will be going to first thing tomorrow morning, to ask them a few questions about two nearby islands.
No comments:
Post a Comment