A wee jaunt

With work during the day, Celeste and Tina hadn't had a chance to look around Glasgow, but being on the road to Loch Lomond it seemed a shame for them not to at least have a look at IT! After their presentation on the day I had been to the CRM house, we drove out along the A82, leaving the city behind, Tina singing "You take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland afo-o-re ye.....", till at last we passed Duck Bay marina at the south end of the loch. That's where we found some brambles for the girls to taste! Brambles are brambles in Scotland and blackberries elsewhere!! A few miles further on we reached the turn off for the village of Luss, a very picturesque village with rather unusual houses, right on the edge of the loch. This was our destination. Since the Scottish soap on TV, "Take the High Road", the village has become even more popular than before. A huge carpark at the edge of the village at least ensures the inhabitants of the village get SOME peace, but I think they MUST get fed up with all the summer visitors peering into all the nooks and crannies. Talk about living in a fish bowl!!!

Looking back up the village. There's quite a reek coming from a dirty lum up the top there!


There weren't many visitors around late on a September Monday afternoon, but the tourist shops were still open as we walked down through the villge towards the loch shore. Along the way the tiny strip of flowerbed in front of each cottage was still blooming with roses and bright coloured annuals, and hedges abounded with wild roses, the last stragglers of the season, before giving way to the large rose hips or seed pods.

At the end of the road is the pier with its sign for visitors arriving by water, announcing that this is LUSS. It's probably a Gaelic word but I don't think anyone knows for sure.

The pier office at the end of the pier

Strangely I never thought to walk out onto the pier to take photographs, but instead headed down onto the rough sandy beach where I took a photo of the girls with Ben Lomond in the background. Then we walked along the beach for a short way, and had a close encounter with a swan that came wandering up the beach looking for food! It wasn't too happy not to find any so hissed at Celeste!



Across the loch Ben Lomond hid its head in the mist, but the view all the same was a fine one. It is a good number of years since I climbed to the top of the Ben. It was in mist at the top that day too, so we hardly had any views to gasp over!

Slowly we wandered back into the village and turned left past the Coach House tearoom - closed - to look at the church. There are some fairly old tombstones in the churchyard, covered in moss, but some still readable, well, bits were readable! Then, instead of continuing round past the Manse to circle back to the carpark we retraced our steps to return the way we had come. We were getting hungry by now so decided it was time to head back to Glasgow to meet up with another of the girls' colleagues - who would have come with us but for being ready for a sleep instead - and have dinner! If ever you are around the Byres Road and feel a trifle peckish, look for the Bothy Restaurant, tucked into a lane not that far from the Great Western Road! That was a great meal we had! I left my car on the terrace outside C&T's hotel, having finally worked out the round about way to reach it, and walked the short way to my own hotel. The previous night had been quite warm, but with the unaccustomed noise from the road, I hadn't want to keep my window open too far. I don't think the traffic stopped all night! I slept fitfully and was aware of the traffic when I woke through the night, but after my day out I slept well and woke ready for my next little onslaught on the city - the city tour in the open top bus! My pictures yesterday showed you some of the views from the bus, and I still have one or two I forgot to add, so that's where I will leave you for now!

Left, Doulton fountain and the former Templeton's carpet factory on Glasgow Green

below, Glasgow University buildings

Goodness knows where I'll get to next! I may even be back in Glasgow soon because when I came home I had an email from Sally to say she and Andrew have settled in a flat near the Byres Road, and they've invited me to dinner! It will have to be after my trip to France next week though! That's come galloping along quickly too! Looking forward to that! I envisage sunshine and blue skies maybe with the odd fluffy white cloud. Well, we'll see! It's pouring down with rain here tonight, so tomorrow the river will be high and fast! If I can walk along the bank without getting soaked tomorrow, I'll take photos!

So, talk again soon.