On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Thursday 19th July

Beautiful blue skies for our trip up to Loch Lomond. We had planned to stop at Dumbarton Castle, not far out of Glasgow, but a lack of signs had us well past it before we realised we'd missed it. Not to worry, time for morning tea before boarding our cruise on the loch. It was a bit cool out on front of the boat so luckily we'd taken jackets. We were hoping to see some birdlife but only the usual seagulls, ducks and crows.

Blue skies as we set off on our cruise.

 

The last paddlesteamer on Loch Lomond.  Under restoration.

One of the fabulous castles around the loch
- and I guess you can fly in.

The Loch Lomond golf club - membership is a mere £100,000. 

And another huge home - not sure if this was the one with 27 bedrooms.

And another.

This dog was trying to catch swallows. 

It is obviously summer, and hot (about 22), as there were
a lot of people sunbaking and swimming. 

Odette likes cruising too. She is a lady of simple pleasures.

The town of Luss where the boat turned around.

Ben Lomond - qualifies as a mountain being 3000 feet high.
Not quite the same stature as the French,  Swiss  or Italian alps.

We then drove up to Loch Katrine, of sir Walter Scott fame. He wrote a book called Lady of the Lake, inspired by this loch. Along the way we passed the Scotland wool centre where they were just finishing a demonstration of a border collie herding ducks. Drat! We'll have to keep our eyes open for another opportunity to see the dogs working. The lady was telling us that the sheepdogs are really struggling with the heat at the moment and some of the farmers have been heading out to round up sheep at 3am so the dogs don't die of heat exhaustion. Apparently some farmers have lost dogs.

Her name is Swift - 11 years old.

The 15k road to Loch Katrine was a nightmare. Only one and a bit cars wide, tour buses, tractors, blind corners, pushbikes. Thankfully it was worth it when we got to the end. Far more beautiful and spectacular than Loch Lomond. Then the drive back the same way, though slightly improved with our first sighting of a deer in the wild!

Loch Katrine. Hard to capture in a photo but steeper and more rugged hills
than those around Loch Lomond. This also had a more peaceful and remote feel,
being off the major tourist trail.

The cruise/ferry boat runs from one end of Loch Katrine to the other.
A lot of backpackers were boarding the ferry after camping at the loch.

The ferry pier at Stronachlachar, the western end of the loch,
 after the nightmare road.