The last full day of the tour. Really a rather sad concept. We've really enjoyed this trip. It only made matters worse,when Roseanne, our guide, started talking about tonight's dinner. Contrary to what the itinerary on the GlobusGo app said, as well as our itinerary, the trip would end tonight. Tomorrow's breakfast would not be our farewell, but rather tonight's dinner. Thinking about it, it made sense. On the Germany trip, there were people whose flights were frightfully early. That was probably true here,too. So, tonight will be the last hurrah.
We got up at 6 and had the bags out at 6:45 for the last time for someone else to collect them. My husband K and I went off to breakfast at 6:53, but found that others had beaten the 7 am start time, too. We were on the bus at 7:55, which departed at 8:02.
At 8:10, we were waiting for the ferry to Oban. This was the first one for which we all had to disembark. At 8:20, we were waiting in line to board, when I had the chance to take this photo of the yawning opening of the MV Isle of Mull, into which Alistair would drive the bus.
We had to climb several flights of stairs to get up to the seating area. K and I found seats on an upper deck. We sailed at 8:37 and I went outside to take a few shots. I managed to catch a seaside view of our hotel in the upper part of this first photo and Duart Castle in the second. That was cool!
Inside, the Texas mother and two adult children were seated near us. I started talking to Katie, the daughter, about her upcoming wedding in December. It was a very nice chat. When I found out that she was having barbecue and that she'd planned no coverup for her white gown, I convinced her she absolutely had to have one. We batted around ideas and it looks like she'll have her mother make a kind of apron from fabric that is in the bridesmaids' dresses.
I made a trip down to the next floor to buy a postcard and use the restroom. The restroom was rather large, which was a surprise.
As we came up on Oban, I went out to take a few photos. I got a good view of McCaig's Tower, which looks like the Colosseum. McCaig started the structure in 1900 to build a memorial and employ the locals. He died before it was finished and it is unclear what he envisioned for it. It's what is known in Britain as a "folly", a quirky structure built by a colorful aristocrat.
When we disembarked at 9:20, we had a bit of a walk to the bus. One of the things we passed was this building. You just don't see a "fishmonger" in the states. Even though I am an avowed fish hater, I rather like this word.
We boarded the bus at 9:38 and were on the road in just two minutes. We traveled through the countryside on the A85. At 10:22, as we passed Loch Awe, we had this view of the Kilchurn Castle ruins. The castle had been a stronghold of the Clan Campbell, whose land we were traveling through and had been for days. The Duke of Argyll's holdings stretch pretty far!
Around the backside of the peninsula on which the castle sits, we'd switched to the A19. This quickly brought us at 10:45 to the Duke's town of Inveraray on Loch Fyne, which is another saltwater sea loch and the longest sea loch in Scotland. It was 71 degrees and sunny, which was great, because we had a relatively long break here. The bus parked behind the Inveraray Woollen Mill (their spelling), which had a nice big parking lot.
After finding restrooms, we debated our plan of action. Ever since we'd since we'd since a video at home on the Duke of Argyll and his castle, K had been quite taken by the place. I was interested in it, too, until I saw the hill that would need to be climbed to get to it. I was concerned about how much time that would eat up, due to the unreliability of my knees. I sent K off to see it, though, at 11:05. I would explore the town.
First, I went down to the loch to take photos and enjoy the view. The monument to at the lake is to those lost in WWI, as usual, I'm afraid. The fifth photo with the little stone bridge, showed where the river came down from the castle grounds. At the top of the tall hill is the "folly" on the castle grounds. I know this, because of the video. It was quite pleasant standing at the loch.
Since we're talking about the castle, now is as good a time as any to show some of the photos K took up there. The awning was put up for the visit of Queen Victoria. Wouldn't want her majesty to get wet. When the castle suffered a terrible fire in the '70s, the townspeople came rushing up there to save the artworks, weapons, etc. The current duke has made the place more of a business than his predecessors. He even comes out to pose with tour groups sometimes and has quite the gift shop.
Meanwhile, back in town, I'd turned inland. Rick Steves wrote in his book
Scotland, that the town is the geographic and demographic border between the Highlands and the Lowlands. So, church services were held in both Scots and Gaelic. Other than shops, I chose not to go in anything. The Jail was of no interest, nor did the restaurants appeal. The church is the rather plain building at the top of the road and its facade is slanted in the other photo. The white house behind the tree is the First House and dates to 1751.
After that photo at the top of the street in front of the church, I turned to a side street, but found nothing of interest. I kept walking in the direction of the water and, after cutting through a hospital parking lot, found myself back at the Woollen Mill. It was the blacksmith shop and granary, when built by the Fifth Duke of Argyll in 1772. I looked around and found a sale on short-sleeved tops. I hadn't brought any and the weather for tomorrow promised to be warm. So, I found the three I needed to get the sale, as well as a pair of gloves. K showed up about then. He'd decided not to pay to go into the castle or to eat at the café there. So, we went upstairs to eat in the Mill. For just Ł 12.30 we got a chicken, bacon and mayo sandwich, a ploughman's sandwich, a scone and 2 Coke Zeros. It was a delicious meal!
At 1, we were on the road again. As we traveled the A83, we entered the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. It was truly lovely scenery, such as this small waterfall. We also saw the Rest and Be Thankful Road, which was engineered by General Wade during the subjugation of Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion, that we've learned so much about on this trip. The highest point of the A83 is here and at 803 feet divides Glen Kinglas from Glen Croe. Travelers would stop here to rest after that climb and be grateful they'd reached the top. We reached his spot at 1:23.
I noticed that my roses were doing quite well in their "vases" on the back of the seat in front of us.
We turned down the A82 and it didn't take more than 35 minutes to get to the southernmost area of Loch Lomond. Roseanne was surprised to see watercraft on the lake, as water sports are banned Monday through Friday in the national park. We took advantage of this photo op for great photos of the loch and some selfies. The loch is incredibly clear. Oh, and it started the song up in my head with a vengeance.
An interesting sight popped up at the Stoneymollan roundabout- a sculpture of geese (ducks?) flying around the circle, just as vehicles drove around it. It is where the A82 and the A811 intersect in Balloch and there is actually a campaign page on Facebook to remove it! Some people just don't like public art.
2:30 found us crossing the River Clyde. And just 30 minutes later, we were driving around George Square. Roseanne pointed out the statue of Robert Peel, the founder of modern policing in Britain. They had been called "Peelers", but, eventually, they became "bobbies" from the nickname for Robert. Fun fact.
Before arriving at the Radisson blu on Argyle Street at 3:05, Roseanne gave us our end-of-tour surveys. She asked us to be kind, as this was Alistair's and her livelihood. We were given room 556, which was a good-sized room with a central console that had the desk, tv, and mini fridge. It was strange to be around so many modern features after the hotels of the Highlands and islands. We did note that there was no outlet at the bed, so K called down for an extension cord-twice. One finally came.
We had plenty of time before dinner. So, K went downstairs to turn in our vouchers to stay tomorrow night as our one-day extension of the trip. He also went off to check on the train for our excursion to Edinburgh tomorrow. He came back by 4 with two roundtrip tickets for Ł26.50. We then finished up the surveys.
At 6, we met the others in the Grahamston (named for a village now buried under the Central Train Station) for a last drink. It was not a very big bar to hold all of us and we were soon sent into the dining room next door. Before dinner, though, we did a group photo. It is really hard to get a group that size gathered around a table with low lamps and be able to get everyone clearly in one shot. I did not turn over a camera for this venture, but Katie came around and shared photos to various phones. So, I have them.
I had a delicious goat cheese and onion tart inside of a Caesar salad, because I can get the latter at home any time. K enjoyed his butternut squash soup. My Daube of Beef was quite good, as was his Smoked Haddock. For dessert, we split the Lime & Lemongrass Panna Cote and the Baked Vanilla Cheesecake, and liked them both.
We took some time to say good-bye to folks before going to our room at 8:30. It will be weird to travel without them tomorrow. They were a great tour group, although we realized that there were several we didn't really talk to much. For instance, the family from South Dakota never split up and sat with others at a meal. Oh, well.
It's a good thing that this was a rather easy day, because tomorrow will be busy.
The phone says I walked 1.8 miles in 5,443 steps. I guess the floor I climbed was up to the café in Inveraray.
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