Edinburgh Day 3

 May 29th. After good sleep woke early to a blueish sky and no rain!

We are trying to get laundry up to date which meant one load this morning and I have been up and down the infernal 16 stairs ten times before breakfast!   I’m so grateful my own little cottage is all one level!

It was a fine blue sky and Metservice said Loch Lomond would be good weather so we programmed Lady Satnav and set off.   Our route was a bypass of Glasgow and then up to Balloch.  My oh my, the roads through Glasgow.  Motorways up down and sideways.   

At one point there were a total of 14 lanes of traffic on three different motorways.  Once again I was most thankful that Little Sister was doing the driving.  We were both in awe of the skill of the Civil Engineers who design these roads as the flow of traffic was smooth and for us it was a case of keep right, keep right, keep right.

Once through the city we drove over Erskine Bridge, a lovely suspension bridge with views back to Glasgow. And then we turned left and followed alongside the River Clyde.   

It was a pretty drive and here that we first saw this sign.  Keeping safe distance has to date only been a sign in yellow on the digital overhead boards and seemed to be mostly ignored.   However today along this road drivers were relatively careful to maintain a safe distance.

At the little town of Balloch we drove past the Information Centre, over the bridge and found a carpark,  which as a bonus was free!   We strolled back to the Information Centre where the toilets were one of those self cleaning all bells and whistles variety.  Little Sister waited in a queue of three and received instruction in a good Scots brogue from the father of the family group ahead. Urgency is not accommodated,  each user sets in motion a cycle of up to 20 minutes for use and four minutes for self cleaning during which entry is prohibited.  When it was my turn to wait, a couple of East Asian ethnicity came and stood in front of me.  Little Sister bravely told them we were queuing and they’d need to line up.  However when Little Sister went into the Information Centre and left me alone, the East Asian lady came up to me and asked how it all worked. I told her I didn’t really  know as it was my first time here.  Next came The Great Surprise when she said, “can I come in with you so I can see what happens”. No Way Jose.  I bluntly told her I toileted alone and turned my back.  

Then we went to the office of Sweeney Cruises and booked ourselves a two hour cruise up and around Loch Lomond.   With a few minutes before boarding we went to the general store and bought fresh salad buns to take on board for lunch.   

The queue for the boat wasn’t long nor many in number unless one counted all the four footed friends.  Even after three weeks here I am still amazed that dogs, admittedly on leads, are allowed anywhere - buses, trams, restaurants, shops, boats, trains and in Carlisle Cathedral I noted a sign which said “Dogs are welcome to attend service”.   That is something different to home.

The cruise was brilliant.   Loch Lomond’s banks were truly bonny, and if I knew what a brae was I could probably tell you they also were bonnie.  It was lovely fine day, the water was calm, the outlook amazing, the clouds and sky so different to home and the commentary on board so informative.   Well worth the £25 fee.  

Along the western shore of the Loch are many large mansion like homes.  The first one we saw had been built in the 1700’s by a rich  Glasgow tobacco merchant as a display of his financial status.  Subsequent generations found the upkeep and employment of servants etc too onerous and it now belongs to an American gentleman who has added substantially to the building and converted it to a five star hotel.  There is even a landing jetty for seaplanes to fly guests in.

Robert the Bruce had his private hunting grounds on the shores of this loch and introduced game birds and fish also to add to his pleasure.   We saw horses and at one point a Scottish Highland cattle beast standing by the shoreline, unfortunately with his back to us.  The boat almost tipped over as people rushed to one side to get a photograph.  Little Sister was one of those.  This is her photo.

We passed the area where the MacGregors fought the Colquhons at which battle around 200 of the Colqhuhons were killed but only two MacGregors.  James VI of Scotland was so incensed by these Merciless MacGregors he killed the clan chief and ordered that the name MacGregor could not be used.   It was 172 years later that the ban was lifted.

At one point across the loch there is a string of small islands and these mark the High Boundary Fault Line which goes from Arran in the West to Stonehaven in the East and is a natural boundary preventing the migration of the grey squirrel north, so protecting the only Red Squirrel population in the Highlands.   

The largest island is Inchmurran which is only 1.5 miles long and 0.5 miles wide but has been occupied since the sixth century.  On Inchmurran are the ruins of the Lennox Castle built by a Duncan Lennox but now owned by a family aptly named Scott!   On Inchtavannach, St Kessog brought not only the Christian gospel but also a bell which the people believed to be the voice of God.   This bell is preserved to this day in Dumbarton. There are 23 islands in the loch and its greatest claim to fame, apart from the famous song, is the mighty Ben Lomond at the far end.   We had a superb view today and the commentary told us that as Scotsmen migrated to other countries they named mountains Ben Lomond to remind them of home.  So there are Ben Lomonds in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, America, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

On the return journey we passed a tiny island called Heather Island which was at one time used as a penal institution and drunken prisoners were sent there to ‘dry out’.  Apparently some spouses would send their disagreeable wives there for a couple of days of repentance and reflection.  Needless to say it is not used for this purpose nowadays.

We left Balloch at 3:30 for what we thought would be a boring journey home.  But in central Glasgow a work crew was making repairs on a bridge below the motorway on which we were travelling so two lanes were closed for around 500 yards for safety reasons.  But such is the volume of traffic that this squeezing of four lanes into two created a traffic jam of around 3 miles.   Once clear of that things were much better and we drove on home looking at the changing sky.   It grew darker and darker and looked so thunderous.   By the time we reached Edinburgh it was raining - good solid heavy rain.  How thankful we were for our fine day at Loch Lomond.

Then a miscalculation as to which lane we needed and a detour through Haymarket, tram lines, one way streets and commuter traffic.  Eventually we arrived at the carpark at 6pm.  What a long trip home!

One interesting fact about the carpark . It is in the basement of the Scottish Widows Building.  We didn’t know what that was but were intrigued as we passed it to always see two elderly gentlemen standing at the foot of the entrance stairs vetting any who entered.   I know I don’t look like a Scottish Widow so I didn’t even try to go in, but I did some research and found that back in 1815,  a number of prominent Scottish businessmen set up a  “General fund for securing provisions to widows, sisters and other female relatives of fund holders so that they should not be plunged into poverty on the death of the fund holder during the Napoleonic Wars”.   Interesting  that the stern Calvinists of my imagination should have had among them men who had such sympathy and foresight in care of women.   I walk past the building now with renewed interest and trust that Lloyds Bank, the current owners, are compelled by the Trust Deed to ensure the original intent remains.

Sainsbury’s provided the salad and falafel for dinner tonight and we are safely inside listening to the rain and trying to believe the forecast that tomorrow is fine weather.