Lake District

Bowness on Windermere to Ambleside

The weather is struggling to stay fine for us (or rather it's making no effort at all, according to John). While it's not exactly bright and sun-shiney at least we haven't had to use umbrellas today.

You couldn't come to the Lake District without taking a trip out on the water. This area is set up for water recreation of all kinds, with lots of row boats, small sailing boats or small dinky motor boats on offer for hire. We even saw some scuba divers. It was bitterly cold so either they were paying a lot of money for the pleasure, or they'd been very, very naughty and this was their punishment.

Eastbourne Guest House

John waiting for our boat

We chose to go on one of the beautiful old boats that carry up to five hundred passengers for our trip around the lake to Ambleside. It was a lovely sedate way to view the beautiful scenery in comfort. We saw the way lots of non-boating people were struggling with their hire craft. One dad was desperately trying to row his two small kids in a row boat facing backwards. He was going round in circles ... I do hope they made it to shore. Some in sail boats were becalmed in the middle of the lake. Maybe they were just stopped to admire the scenery, but both sails were up and they were stationary. We glided by happy to be snug and warm in our fully enclosed saloon with large glass windows.

Once disembarked at Ambleside we walked into town via a field which promised Roman ruins. We saw people ahead of us entering a field which had a small herd of cows grazing (bullocks Barb, bullocks). Barb baulked at entering the field. She was wearing red and was worried about being charged by an angry bull (nah, didn't see one of them). In fact the most danger she was in was from the fresh, steaming cow pats we had to dodge in the walk to the fenced area denoting the ruins.

Barb climbing over the fence

The ruins were just excavated outlines of what must once have been walls of houses. We read the plaques dotted about but it would take a lot of imagination to reconstruct in your mind's eye what must once have been from the  pile of stones you were actually looking at.

We crossed the field without a

The Roman ruins near Ambleside

ny encounters of the bull or cow pat kind, and headed into town. As we were walking by a grassy field with several grazing sheep we realised that a farmer was putting some of his working dogs through their paces for their sheep trialing skills. We watched the youngest dog display his excellent training and boundless energy herding the sheep to his masters shouts and whistled commands. Most impressive!

Ambleside

After a long walk around the town and back again to the pier, we caught a different boat back to Bowness-on-Windermere. This boat was much smaller and had the most irritatingly perky skipper ever, who insisted on giving us a running up-beat commentary on the sights that had already been pointed out on the trip over.

When we got back to shore we had an extended investigation of the charms of Bowness. It is very noticeable that this area takes its walking climbing and other active pursuits very seriously indeed. There are many (I think I counted at least eight) outdoor and camping stores in just this one small town. This might explain why most people were decked out as if they'd stepped from the pages of a Katmandu catalogue.

Also whereas at the castles in Scotland there were coachloads of much older crowds, here there are a lot of families and young people. Of course Barb HAD to go into the Beatrix Potter World shop. Who could resist? (John could .... he sat outside resignedly and read his ebook, brought for just such a contingency). Bronte has not been forgotten on this trip!

Barb outside Beatrix Potter Store

We've just come in after dining at a very nice little restaurant called "Fat Olives". It was packed in there, as were most of the other restaurants on the street. We were lucky to get a table with no prior booking. The pasta was good and John and I both agreed, as we wiped sauce off our chins, that it's not "first date" fare. There's just no way to eat it delicately.

Tomorrow we head for John's Uncle Walter, who lives between Southport and Liverpool, via Settle.  If you look at the map you'll note that we don't believe in direct routes!

off to the Lake District

Bye Bye Scotland ...... Haste Ye Back!

Thursday morning and by some miracle we managed to find the motorway and retreat from Glasgow with relative ease, despite it being peak hour.

Barb was determined that we must see Culzean Castle. Why? Because it's the only castle left on the "Castles of Scotland" tea towel she purchased in Tighnabruaich that's why. Makes perfect sense, and justifies the scary diversion to Tighnabruaich and back.

Culzean Castle situated on Scotland's west coast just south of Ayr turned out to be wonderful and well worth seeing. It is situated in very extensive grounds and we visited the castle gardens first. It took some time to walk around these magnificent gardens which include a greenhouse vinery and orchard as well as huge borders of flower beds.

The flower beds

The greenhouse vinery

Gorgeous gardens

the walled garden ablaze with colour

 There was also a deer park and swan pond, which recieved only a cursory glance due to time restrictions for our journey (not to mention absence of swans - they'd been relocated!). We walked instead up to see the castle. The main castle building had been redesigned by Robert Adam in the mid 1700s, but there was a gate house and tower dating much further back than that, possibly to the 1400s. The Kennedy family handed it over to the National Trust, so it is now open to the public and very well cared for.

The old clock tower

the castle battlements

an imposing position by the sea

The Robert Adam designed castle

The castle entrance gates

We headed further south towards Girvan and as we rounded a corner Ailsa Craig loomed into view. Barb became very excited by this. Her childhood friend Ailsa Craig was named for this island, and as a child she was very impressed that Ailsa had her very own island named after her (not thinking it could possibly be the other way around!). Unfortunately there was nowhere to safely pull over for the all-important photo and Barb managed to achieve a very fetching close-up of John's nostril as she tried to take a photo out the drivers side window over the top of him. We did eventually find somewhere to pull over. Photo achieved!

Ailsa Craig island

Driving further along towards Dumfries we diverted briefly in to see Carsluith castle. Barb who is by now somewhat a connoisseur of castles deemed it unworthy of close inspection, so we jumped back in the car until we saw a sign for Threave Castle just outside Castle Douglas.

Carsluith Castle

We should've smelled a rat when the single lane road into the castle became even smaller. We were confronted with two cars coming from the opposite direction and we were forced to back up some distance to let them pass. Some lunatic had parked their car in the only possible passing space. Grrrr.
In the end we didn't even see the castle as it was not in view anywhere near the visitor centre. We quickly lost interest and drove off again.

We finally re-joined the motorway at Gretna Green, that place of historic novel fame where the young and willful girl elopes with her unsuitable lover to get married without daddy's permission.

It was a very fast drive on the motorway down to Penrith where we turned off towards Keswick and our destination of Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District.

The views of Lake Windermere are breathtaking. This is a very high-density tourist area, with not only the attractions of the lake and nearby moutains for walking, but this is also Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter territory. We stopped at a pub on the lake to have an early dinner as we seemed to have missed lunch. It was good pub food too. Barb almost fell into Lake Windermere in her haste to take photos afterwards of the lovely views.

yachts on Lake Windermere

We finally found Eastbourne Guest House by following a town map cheerfully supplied for free by one of the girls in a local shop. Susan says the GPS has finally arrived at her place. Oh good!

Glasgow

16500 steps around Glasgow

Today was supposed to be a quiet day. A rest day. We'll leave the car in the carpark and just take a stroll around Glasgow, we thought. 16500 steps later we are back in our hotel room utterly exhausted from our day on the hoof.

John in an open mall in Glasgow

Barb shopping

Our only real focus for sightseeing today was Glasgow Cathedral and the adjoining Necropolis. Although John had lived here (Glasgow, not the the Cathedral or the Necropolis) for a few years back in the 70s he'd never been to see either, so we set off in what we thought was the general direction. The Cathedral and Necropolis were beyond the bounds of the city centre map supplied at the hotel desk, but we found street signs directing us to the Cathedral so we trudged ever onward until we eventually came upon it.

The necropolis

Barb on the bridge to Necropolis

Glascow Cathedral

It was hard to miss once the spire was visible amongst the highrise. The Cathedral is one of the few Church of Scotland cathedrals to survive the Reformation. It was originally built around 1200 and added to over the years. Although the exterior sandstone is blackened by years of pollution it is still a lovely old building.

We walked all the way up the hill to see the Necropolis. This collection of gravestones dates back to the early 1800s. The rich merchants of the time treated themselves and their relatives to some very grand and imposing tombs for their final resting place. The views all over Glasgow are wonderful.

John walking up to the Necropolis

After having a wander around here we headed down the hill again in search of the Peoples Palace Museum, Glasgow Green and the Winter gardens. So we trudged still further ever onward.

The Green is undergoing extensive renovation so we had to walk a long way around tall green hoardings before we found an entrance to the Museum and Winter Garden. Feeling rather tired and parched we stopped off first for lunch at a WEST brewery and bistro which was housed in a lovely old building nearby.

This building turned out to have once been a big carpet manufacturing establishment. The terracotta brickwork of the building facade was elaborately decorated in a vaguely middle eastern style, or as Wikipedia, that font of all knowledge, explains: After repeated design proposals had been rejected by Glasgow Corporation, James Templeton hired the architect William Leiper to produce a design that would be so grand it could not possibly be rejected, so Leiper modelled the building on the Doge's Palace in Venice. NIMBYs the lot of 'em! It is rather grand, though.

The carpet place

or is that carpet palace?

The Peoples Palace was also a lovely old building. In the forecourt stands a fountain donated by the Doulton family which is one of the largest terracotta fountains in the world. The large glasshouse attached to the museum houses the winter gardens and a peaceful sitting area for the general public to enjoy. It must be a very appealing haven when winter truly sets in with its temperate climate inside the glass dome and its lush greenery.

The Peoples Palace and winter garden

Barb in the garden dome

The dome is massive

The Doulton fountain

We kept walking and found ourselves beside the River Clyde watching some geese and swans resting in the midday sun. It was actually quite warm.

walking bridge over the Clyde

Fat geese in the sun

Eventually we came upon the Enoch Centre which is the largest indoor mall in Glasgow. John got quite excited because nearby was an HMV record/CD store, and he grabbed the opportunity to go browsing. Such stores are thin on the ground with the advent of downloaded music, and the store was really rather sad though not unique. Whereas in the past classical music might have commanded an entire floor to itself it was now relegated to a single shelf stack of just one recording label.

The Enoch Centre

By this time Barb's knee was playing up and we hailed a cab outide Central train station. It only cost three pounds forty to get back to our hotel! Barb would happily have paid twenty just not to have to walk any more.

A restful day ..... not. Back on the road tomorrow, no walking except for the occasional castle to inspect.

and on to Glasgow

Five castles in one day!!

Waking early this morning I looked out from our window and was disappointed that it appeared very foggy and overcast. On closer inspection John (no inspection on my part, I was in bed with my eyes closed, I merely guessed what Barb was seeing) pointed out that what I was actually looking at were the hills on the other side of the loch rising out of a low mist, with moored yachts bathed in a bright but misty light. It was rather ethereal (not unlike Sloten in Holand, for our regular readers - do pay attention), and over the next hour it gradually lifted to reveal a beautiful sunny blue sky. Yay!!

The view from our bedroom window at Loch Linnhe

The yachts gradually appearing

The mist all gone now

Driving south from Fort William along Loch Linnhe our first destination (for destination read castle) for the day was Dunstaffnage Castle near Dunbeg. Castle 1. This castle was originally built in the 1200s to protect the Scots from invading Vikings. It was extended in the 1800s to include accommodation in the East Tower. Most of the castle and nearby chapel are in ruins, but they are still impressive to tour around.

Dunstaffnage castle

Dunstaffnage chapel

We drove on into the ferry port of Oban and stopped here to have a walk around. We didn't climb to the top of McCaig's tower, but did walk all the way around to where the large ferries from the Isle of Mull dock. (John: it was full of b***** tourists. Grrr!)

Oban

The ferry from Mull

McCaig's tower at Oban

On our way out of Oban we saw a sign to Dunollie Castle (for saw a sign read John navigated with skill and finesse) and quickly diverted down that road. Castle 2.

Dunollie Castle near Oban

The gate house at Dunollie

Just a quick walk around the outside for this one then we jumped back in the car to head off to Inverary Castle. Pam our hostess at the B&B from last night had advised us not to miss this lovely castle, ancestral home of the Duke of Argyll and the castle used by Downton Abbey as the Scottish home of the Aunt. On the way there we happened upon Kilchurn Castle which is set on a little Island all of its own in Loch Awe. Castle 3.

Kilchurn Castle

Inverary Castle was indeed worth the visit. Castle 4. Thank you Pam! The castle is just like a fairytale castle belonging to a Disney Princess and the interior was open to the puplic. The rooms were all very richly decorated and furnished, the original artwork alone must be worth a fortune. Then the gardens surrounding the building .... well they were amazing too. I feel I'm starting to run out of superlatives to describe it all. I was excited to be able to get a copy of the Abernethy family crest here too.

Barb at Inverary Castle

The dining room at Inverary Castle

A grand hallway

Drawing room

Sitting room

The old kitchens

Moat

Gardens at Inverary

John was very keen to go and visit Tighnabruaich in the Kyles of Bute. He had worked here some 38 years ago (OMG. I'm old. Why did no one tell me?) during the summer vacations from Glasgow University days. He remembered that the views were stunning, especially from a particular vantage point looking down over the harbour where he used to teach sailing.

The view over Tighnabruaich

John at Tighnabruaich

Barb tried to keep her fear of edges under control to enjoy the winding drive up the moutain to the promised view (John: yep, it was more scary than I remembered. Sorry Barb). Yes it was magnificent! We went down into Tighnabruaich itself and it was rather sad to see it looking a bit tired and rundown. The sailing school where John used to work has moved out of town and taken a lot of the visitors with it.

Driving back towards Glendaruel we were able to find the Dunan Castle we'd briefly glimpsed on the journey up. Castle 5. We turned into the driveway and were delighted to see a 50 foot arched bridge, very high, leading across a small burn to a lovely castle. This (the bridge) was built by Thomas Telford (the Thomas Telford) in the early 1800's and while very impressive must rate as one of his minor works! The Castle is actually fairly recently built (1800s) on family land that has belonged to the clan for many hundreds of years.



Telford's bridge

Dunan Castle

The drive to Loch Lomond through the Argyll Forest park is stunning too. The road runs between towering peaks and then drops down to the loch at Tarbet where we joined the A82 for a quick run into Glasgow. John reckons it's one of the more stunning scenes we've seen in a week studded with them. No photos - Barb's jaw was busy hanging open.

Once we'd reached Glasgow John diverted off the main road to have a look at where he used to live in the Halls of Residence in Uni days. The actual building no longer exists. In its stead stands a modern multi-storey replacement.

Google Maps guided us safely the rest of the way to the Premier Inn at Charing Cross, unusually telling us where to turn before rather than after the turning. This is where we'll be staying for the next couple of nights. After five castles in one day even Barb is a little castled out. Apparently there are more when we head south to the border.