I am have a really hard time on this trip finding time to settle down to writing my journal. This has been a very busy time so far. But today it is still pouring down with rain, gale force winds whistling past so I am sitting here at Nicky's computer, drinking tea and enjoying a nice quiet down day.
We arrived up here in Scotland about 9 p.m. last Thursday night and spent the night here at Nicky's. On Friday we went into Glasgow as Bob wanted to buy a new suit at the men's store he has purchased all his clothes at for years. We also wandered around St. Enoch's Mall, had lunch and then in the afternoon
Jenny, Bob and I drove to Kilcreagan, about 25 miles away to Joanne's house where we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
On Saturday we drove up to Clydebank, a bedroom community of Glasgow and Bob and Jenny took the children swimming while Nicky, Claire, Darren and I wandered around the shopping center there. Later we all drove back to Joanne's for dinner. On the way the kids were playing trivia with Bob to pass the time and Jade was telling him about a song that she knew but couldn't sing it to him because "Mummy says it's quite rude and has sweary words in it." Jarrell piped up from the corner of the back seat and said with a sigh " I quite like swear words actually, but we are not allowed to say them." Jenny and I immediately found something to look at out the window and Bob was driving down the road with his shoulders shaking from trying not to laugh. So you can see this was just a whole bunch of family visiting time and very little traditional tourist type sightseeing.
On Sunday we all drove over to Edinburgh and watched Nicky play rugby in the rain. It has rained almost the whole time I have been up here. I took quite a few pictures while were there but not many of the game it's self. Nicky asked me if I enjoyed it and I told her that I thought it was wonderful. Especially the part where someone kicked her in the face, and I really liked the part where someone else stomped on the back of her head. On one of the photo's I put up in my album you can see someone's footprint, complete with cleats on the side of her face. I'm afraid that Rugby is just not my game. I am proud of her and all that, but it's like Randy's racing. I'd just rather not watch.
Monday, Bob and Jenny and I met the girls and Darren at the Loch Inn in Luss for a very posh lunch. This is just about my favorite restaurant in all of Scotland and I always try to make sure that I get a chance to eat there at least once every time that I am over here.
Luss is a lovely little village on the western bank of Loch Lomand. It is the setting for the TV Soap "Take the High Road.� I think the reason it was chosen is because many of the cottages in Luss were originally erected to house workers in the cotton mill and slate quarries of the 18th and 19th centuries and have been fully restored. Luss has been designated a "Conservation Village.� There is also one of the prettiest churches in Scotland here and that is saying quite a bit in this country of beautiful churches.
The Gathering of the Clan Colquhoun (Calhoon) and the Luss Games are held every year in July and you can usually spot the local Laird, The Colquhoun of Luss making his way through the crowds, greeting people in dressed in his kilt. This is not one of the large Gatherings but I enjoy coming to them more than I do the Cowel Games in Dunoon. I like the smaller, friendlier atmosphere.
Afterwards Bob and Jenny left to go back down to Bristol and the rest of us drove, again in the pouring rain over the "Rest and Be Thankful" to Dunoon where Jim and I lived when we were here. The R&BT crossed a small mountain range and as you drive along you can see short stretches of the old road that gave that stretch its colorful name. It was very narrow and twisty and I'm sure that when you had to drive it you did need a rest and a moment to give thanks that you made it alive. It skirts Loch Lomand, then turns right over the mountains and goes along Loch Long, Loch Fine and Loch Eck before you finally reach Dunoon. I always remember that Scotland is beautiful, but it still takes my breath away at quite how beautiful it really is when I travel over that road
At the summit small stone marks the "Rest and Be Thankful" and dates the road as an old military track. The old military road can be seen winding down the Glen. Keats, the English poet, made pilgrimage over this old road early one morning, from Arrochar, and later wrote to his brother: "I expected to find an Inn at the hilltop, but found only stone to mark the summit, and had perforce to walk several miles before I had breakfast"
. The girls and I were on a little odyssey, remembering old times. Claire was quite young when we lived over here and I don't think she really has many memories, but she has certainly heard a lot about those times. We went down to the pier on the Holy Loch where we dumped Jim's ashes and said hello and then drove up to the cottage we lived in. I got out and took a couple of quick pictures but the rain was absolutely lashing down at that time so I didn't take much time to try to frame the pictures. I was very pleased with how they turned out though. My camera is doing a very nice job of taking pictures in the rain over here.
Dunoon is the largest town in Argyll, and was popular as a holiday resort in the nineteenth century. There is a lovely Victorian Pier and a four-mile promenade along the Clyde lined with graceful Victorian villas. Facing the pier is Castle Hill, where there is a statute of Highland Mary, the girlfriend of the poet Robert Burns and the inspiration for his poems Highland Mary, Afton Water, and Mary in Heaven. Highland Mary was in reality Mary Campbell and was born at Auchamore Farm in Dunoon.
. During the second world war the Holy Loch was a submarine base, served by the depot ship HMS Forth. I am unclear on the history of how the Americans ended up having a submarine base in Dunoon but there had been several ships based there before Jim was sent to the U.S. Holland in August of 1978. Someday I would like to look up the Detailer who gave him this assignment and let him know how a simple administrative decision on his part turned into such good fortune on our part. I have so many fond memories of the two years we lived in Dunoon. Pictures from the Holy Loch Reunion Web Site.
We then drove down to the High Street and Darren and I jumped out and ran into the pottery shop and I bought seven cups. There is a small pottery in Dunoon that has been turning out lovely pottery for years. They even sell the cups on the QEII for 15 pounds each. I always buy a couple of their commeritive cups when I am over. I am starting to acquire quite a collection.
Nicky's car started making funny noises so instead
of driving back over the Rest and Be Thankful we decided to take the ferry back across the Clyde. In retrospect that was a very bad decision, but at the time it felt like the reasonable thing to do. The rain had been so heavy all day that the roads in Greenock had flooded. One would think that with as much rain as they get in Scotland that they would have figured out a way to deal with flooding but apparently rain still comes as a surprise to some of the communities. We got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic that didn't even move for over an hour. Then they "diverted" us, that's what you do over here instead of detouring, up a hill and then down another one in traffic that
moved about one car length at a time. Oh well....
Tomorrow Nicky and I are off to Inverness and the Kyle of Loch Alsch. on a more traditional sight seeing adventure and I will be able to post a journal that is more interesting. I am enjoying myself very much but it's not been exactly a travel journal type trip up too now. But I still have a month left.
On Saturday we drove up to Clydebank, a bedroom community of Glasgow and Bob and Jenny took the children swimming while Nicky, Claire, Darren and I wandered around the shopping center there. Later we all drove back to Joanne's for dinner. On the way the kids were playing trivia with Bob to pass the time and Jade was telling him about a song that she knew but couldn't sing it to him because "Mummy says it's quite rude and has sweary words in it." Jarrell piped up from the corner of the back seat and said with a sigh " I quite like swear words actually, but we are not allowed to say them." Jenny and I immediately found something to look at out the window and Bob was driving down the road with his shoulders shaking from trying not to laugh. So you can see this was just a whole bunch of family visiting time and very little traditional tourist type sightseeing. 
On Sunday we all drove over to Edinburgh and watched Nicky play rugby in the rain. It has rained almost the whole time I have been up here. I took quite a few pictures while were there but not many of the game it's self. Nicky asked me if I enjoyed it and I told her that I thought it was wonderful. Especially the part where someone kicked her in the face, and I really liked the part where someone else stomped on the back of her head. On one of the photo's I put up in my album you can see someone's footprint, complete with cleats on the side of her face. I'm afraid that Rugby is just not my game. I am proud of her and all that, but it's like Randy's racing. I'd just rather not watch.
Monday, Bob and Jenny and I met the girls and Darren at the Loch Inn in Luss for a very posh lunch. This is just about my favorite restaurant in all of Scotland and I always try to make sure that I get a chance to eat there at least once every time that I am over here.
Afterwards Bob and Jenny left to go back down to Bristol and the rest of us drove, again in the pouring rain over the "Rest and Be Thankful" to Dunoon where Jim and I lived when we were here. The R&BT crossed a small mountain range and as you drive along you can see short stretches of the old road that gave that stretch its colorful name. It was very narrow and twisty and I'm sure that when you had to drive it you did need a rest and a moment to give thanks that you made it alive. It skirts Loch Lomand, then turns right over the mountains and goes along Loch Long, Loch Fine and Loch Eck before you finally reach Dunoon. I always remember that Scotland is beautiful, but it still takes my breath away at quite how beautiful it really is when I travel over that road
Nicky's car started making funny noises so instead
of driving back over the Rest and Be Thankful we decided to take the ferry back across the Clyde. In retrospect that was a very bad decision, but at the time it felt like the reasonable thing to do. The rain had been so heavy all day that the roads in Greenock had flooded. One would think that with as much rain as they get in Scotland that they would have figured out a way to deal with flooding but apparently rain still comes as a surprise to some of the communities. We got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic that didn't even move for over an hour. Then they "diverted" us, that's what you do over here instead of detouring, up a hill and then down another one in traffic that
moved about one car length at a time. Oh well....
