Ye Take the High Road...

Let's try this one as primarily a photo blog, with the pictures doing most of the talking and me trying my damndest to keep out of their way.

This was Saturday. Neil picked us up at our place about 11am. We clambered into his Mini, and off we went. Suzanne was not joining us as she had some other things to take care of in the morning and was looking forward to a Saturday afternoon with the flat to herself.

So off we went, first along the bonnie bonnie banks of Lock Lomond.

Along the way we encountered delays in the traffic that eventually turned out to be because they are widening the road. But that meant that a road barely wide enough for two cars to pass one another had been reduced to a single lane for a bit of a stretch, so we were all queuing up, waiting our turn.

This allowed me to get a picture of a wall.

Lots of walls like this stretching along the roadsides. Nothing super special about them I suppose. No idea how old they are. They generally don't have mortar holding them together, so are just really well placed stones.  But what I find amazing about it is that it was built. Just the idea of people doing it. Getting the rocks, fitting them together, and just going and going and going. I really do think that civil engineering is one of my favourites. Yes, it's amazing what is happening at a micro level, but I am constantly amazed by what has happened at the macro level too. Stop and look at power lines sometime and think of what goes in to designing that layout across the country. Or roadways. Or that there was cable laid across the Altantic ocean. The sheer scale of some of these projects is staggering, and yet they are the most common place things that we see without seeing on a daily basis. Go look at a telephone pole and think about it for a bit.

Right, I was going to remain relatively quiet.

Neil then continued us on to Hidden Valley, or what we think was Hidden Valley. This particular day trip we were on is one of Neil and Suzanne's favourites, and during a previous one they wandered up a valley near by that they thought was Hidden Valley, but after coming to this one, Neil thought, based upon the number of hikers coming in and out, that this might actually be it. Maybe not such a good name.

Either way, it was gorgeous.

See, Scotland. This is what I was hoping for from Scotland.

We only walked along it for a little ways, and then turned ourselves around and kept on going. Our target was a fish 'n chip shop that Neil and Suzanne like. The traffic delays and the stopping to wander around though made it so we weren't going to arrive there before we started chewing on each others arms, so instead we stopped in Oban for a bite to eat.

I am constantly looking at the sky, and more specifically the clouds. I don't know if it's just how Scotland always is or if it is a result of Bertha. Whatever the case, the sky is incredibly active. You can see why Turner loved to paint it so much.

We came across St. Conan's Kirk.

Kirk means church. Oh, and glen = valley, ben = mountain, and river = river, but they put it before the name instead of after.

Anyway, having now told you all something you probably already knew, I'll let you in on something you likely didn't.

St. Conan's is pretty new. It may look kinda old, but it was built in the late 19th century. So no, not old. At least, not for Scotland. It's cute, and it's kinda odd. And if you know Casa Loma in Toronto, and how it's a hodge podge or neo-whatever styles, then just think of St Conan's as the same sort of thing.

As we were driving along we noticed a castle sticking out into the loch we were driving along. Right loch = lake. And not any special kinda of lake like how we were talking about the difference between bays and fjords in Iceland. Just a lake, or a loch.

Anyway, this is Kilchurn Castle, and it is on Loch Awe.

The guys enjoyed climbing.

This is a view of Loch Awe from the top of Kilchurn.

See, they like climbing.

This is the inner courtyard.

Like many castles Kilchurn has had several lives, several owners and a number of remodellings over the hundreds of years that it has stood, guarding Loch Awe. Now days it is kept and maintained by the National Trust of Scotland. I think I mentioned the English Heritage pass. Well, Scotland has got one too. Check it out if you're coming and wanting to see lots of castles, abbey's, and loads of other cool places.

Eventually though, they do stop climbing.

But then they want to be carried. And for some reason this is something that I say yes to. Remember that Noah is now officially taller than I am. Hardly seems fair.

This is Kilchurn on our way out.

This is how Turner saw it.

Turner wins.

And then it was time to start making our way back to Glasgow.

Back in Glasgow we went over to Neil and Suzanne's for some pizza and a bit of a visit. Suzanne settled in to some spinning. Wool that is, not dervish. She has three wheels, though we only saw the two out, and spins her own wool thread to knit with. Neil, aside from being a fellow IT geek like Steve and I, paints. Painting paints. He is also a huge Turner fan and is the one who pointed me to the one included above. Their flat is a lovely one, not far from where we were staying, and it was a nice place to relax, talk, and end our day.

And it was a great day, and the three of us are very thankful to Neil for taking time to take us about for the day, and to Suzanne for giving him up to do so, and to the both of them for being so wonderful. It's not a day we could have had without them making it happen. Like I keep saying, I very much want this trip to be about meeting people and making friends as we bumble our way around. So while Glasgow itself may have been pretty low key for us in many respects, and while we may not have hit all of the tourist highlights, we did make a couple of new friends. And for that I am very, very thankful.