You take the high road...

We left the Isle of Man on Tuesday, July 31, taking leave of my dear, dear friend, from whom I was loath to part. We flew to Glasgow, Scotland, taking the good weather with us, for a bit, anyway. Our rental car was upgraded at no extra cost from a Ford Mondeo to an Audi which had so many electronic bells and whistles that we ended up sitting in the parking lot for a half hour poring over the owner’s manual just trying to figure out how the thing worked. Then we followed directions to the flat of a friend of ours, a former colleague who taught for one year in our department before moving to take the job he now has at Glasgow University, and were treated to a brisk walking tour of the city before stopping at a pub, the Ben Nevis, to wait for Dave’s girlfriend to join us. After several pints, we proceeded to a Thai restaurant where we had a superb meal, and then took a cab back to our friends’ place, where we drank until no one could stay awake.

Glasgow

self explanatory photograph

The next day we drove to Oban, a town on the west coast of Scotland with a port from whence many of the ferries make their way to Skye and the other islands. En route we stopped at Balloch to view the castle and to take photographs of the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Balloch Castle

Loch Lomond, east bank

Loch Lomond, west bank

The next day we toured the Oban whiskey distillery, one of the smallest in Scotland. Our guide was very pretty and extremely informative, and I learned all about scotch making. We were treated to a tasting at the end of the tour, and came away with three different bottles of single malt. Well, actually, the night before my husband had purchased one which he cracked open in our B&B, and we sipped it gradually throughout the rest of the trip.

Oban

Oban whiskey distillery

From Oban we drove along the coast towards Lochaber, the ancestral stomping grounds of my husband’s ancestors, stopping along the way to see Castle Stalker, a ruin on an island which is only accessible at low tide. It certainly was photogenic.

Castle Stalker

In Glencoe Village we visited the monument raised in memory of the massacre of the MacDonalds by the MacIntoshes. It was a very grim reminder of how the English pitted clan against clan to divide and conquer.

Monument at Glencoe

We also took a drive down the Glen Coe, an incredibly beautiful valley popular with hikers, just to admire the views.

Glen Coe

We stayed that night in Spean Bridge under the heights of Ben Nevis. The mountains were wreathed in fog and it was very eerie.

Ben Nevis

The next day we drove to Ft. William to visit the museum. I had an unfortunate experience with a pastry for lunch, buying something from the bakery which I thought, from its name, was meatless, a bean and potato pie. The first bite revealed that underneath the beans and potato was a layer of ground pork, which I ended up feeding to the pigeons in the square in front of the museum, eating the rest of the pastry. I was not amused. The pigeons didn’t seem to mind, however.

Pork-fed pigeon in Ft. William

There was a fine drizzle all that day which made us all a little damp and uncomfortable. We wandered through the ruins of Inverlochy Castle where I somehow managed to bang my head on a low lintel, something I had avoided previously, but which I didn’t see because of the brim of my cap. One minute I was walking towards the doorway, the next I was on the ground checking to make sure I hadn’t broken my front teeth when I clenched them. Luckily, I didn’t even raise a bump or bruise. I did scare my menfolk, though.

Inverlochy Castle

The mist didn’t deter us as we drove back to Spean Bridge and then up Glen Roy to Bohuntine and beyond, enjoying the spectacular scenery wrought by glaciation. We had to avoid sheep and goat droppings wherever we went, as well as the largest slugs I have ever seen.

Glen Roy

Foxglove

Quite the slug

Baa

That night we stayed in Torlundy, near Ft. William. It absolutely poured while we slept, and then again while we breakfasted. When it stopped, we continued on our way and paid our respects at the Commando Monument raised in the memory of the special forces Churchill instated during WW II.

Commando Monument

The weather cleared up and when we return, we will travel the Great Glen Way from west coast to east. Don’t miss out!

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