Monday, April 30, Loch Lomond

After departing Stirling Castle, we headed towards the Trossachs and Loch Lomond.    The beauty of the Trossachs was recounted in Sir Walter Scott's poem The Lady in the Lake.  

The road through the Trossachs, enroute to Loch Lomond is pretty twisty, so it was very kind of our driver Glen (yes, you heard me, a Scotsman named Glen) found a pretty spot to pull over, so we could take a few pictures and get our legs back under us.  Mom was pretty shivery and Jeff was asking Glen if the cool weather was typical (it was about 35 degrees).  Glen indicated that the warm weather is pretty short-lived in Soctland, as he recalled last year Summer fell on a Thursday.

We boarded the bus again and headed for Loch Lomond.  Loch Lomond is the largest loch (lake) in the UK; to be fair, Loch Ness is deeper and holds more water but Loch Lomond covers more surface area.    

Glen also made sure we took note of Doune Castle where they filmed Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  I wasn't quick enough on the trigger to catch a photograph of it, but I'm sure you can rent the movie and see Doune Castle for yourself. 

We stopped for a nice lunch at the Oak Tree Inn in Loch Lomond.  As we approached the restaurant, we were greeted with a sign that indicated that (gasp!) dogs were not welcome.  I'll show you a picture of the sign, but you have to promise NOT to tell Cluny, because he might take it personally.

For lunch, I was pretty lucky and scored a bowl of  Cullen Skink, a traditional fish chowder ... it was dellish!  The restaurant was cozy and inviting and situated right next to the Loch.  Whilst we were inside having lunch, the sun finally(!) came out ... it was beautiful!

After lunch and Loch, our last stop of the day was the Glengoyne Distillery.  Glengoyne has been in operation since 1833.  The distillery is uniquely situated so that the stills are in the Highlands and the maturing casks are in the Lowlands .. the division between Highlands and Lowlands is the road that runs between the two sites.