Dear Readers,
Thank you to those of you who sent good weather vibes our way. It worked fairly well. It rained on & off today, but lucky for us it rained primarily when we were inside. I’ll explain as we go along.
Our first stop today was Loch Lomond. I’m sure you all remember the song. We were scheduled to go on a 10:30 AM cruise on the lake (loch). It’s about an hour north of Glasgow. Luckily, I left a lot of time for our journey because the GPS sent us to the wrong spot. We got to the right place & still had 15 minutes to spare.
On the way there it poured on & off. Here’s a rainbow we saw.
As we were boarding the boat for our one hour cruise up & down the loch, it poured so hard my ticket was still wet 7 hours later. So everyone crammed into the inside part of the boat. A few minutes into the ride, the rain stopped & we were able to sit outside. After a while, it again started raining so back inside we went. You can see from my photos how the sky changed.
Here’s the boat we were on.
The tour guide told us all about Loch Lomond including the story behind the song which he played for us. Marty, of course, has been “singing” the song all week.
There was a little surprise for me: a water fall! Do notice the rain drops.
From there we went to our other stop today — Stirling to see the castle. It was about an hour east of Loch Lomond. It rained on & off as we drove & the sun came out as we walked around the castle. What timing; what luck!
Stirling is like a small Edinburgh & its castle dominates the landscape. Stirling’s strategic position was appreciated by the Stuart kings & they spent a lot of time at the castle which has lead some Scottish nationalists to declare that Stirling, not Edinburgh, should be the capital city.
The castle is entered through its outer defenses. The most conspicuous feature is the palace built by King James V around 1540. Here are some photos of the outside.
Here’s the view:
There are wonderful decorative figures on the ornately worked outer walls.
And here are some photos from inside the palace.
Surprise at the Castle: There are replicas of the Unicorn tapestries in the queen’s inner hall. For those of you who don’t know, the originals are at the Cloisters in Ft. Tryon Park. I have, of course, seen them many times.
The medieval part of the town of Stirling outside the castle.
And here’s the sky on our hour’s drive back to Glasgow.
Our last dinner in Scotland did NOT disappoint. It was a Scottish “fine dining” establishment. Interestingly, it looked quite casual, but it was a 3 course exceptional meal with a delicious St. Emilion wine. (Marty had a wine from Hungary with which he was delighted). FYI: It didn’t rain in the evening!
This ends a perfect day in Scotland and also ends our sojourn here. We’ve had a fun time & I hope you enjoyed traveling with us.
Our next few trips are relaxing ones; lying by a pool in the sun & enjoying good food and wine. Our next longer sightseeing trip won’t be till May 2026. See you then. (But do feel free to respond to this edition!😀)
❤️
Irene