Day 11 from Holy Loch to Glasgow (for Suzanne) and back to Holy Loch (for Wendy)

Our B&B at Holy Loch has turned out to be a real find - great room, comfy beds, beautiful view over the Loch, helpful host and a lovely dog to top it off!  What more could you ask for?

When we opened the blind this morning we realised that the day didn't look very cheerful – there was so much mist or fog (I am still not sure which is which so maybe we should go with the Scottish “haar”) that we couldn't see the loch on the other side of the road.  After a “full Scottish breakfast” we decided that we would visit Inchmahome Priory in the Lake of Menteith (on the advice of my friend Andrea). Our thinking was that the weather couldn't be worse there and maybe it might be better.  

I managed to get my Inches (Islands) mixed up and thought that we were going to visit an island in the southern section of Loch Lomond –I did wonder why a part of Loch Lomond was called Lake of Menteith but put it down to an idiosyncrasy of the Scots and thought no more about it.  I looked it up on iMaps and decided that the roughly  1½  hour drive there and back was manageable and worth it so after Suzanne packed up her gear we set off.  The plan was to drop her off on the return journey somewhere that she had an easy commute into Glasgow.  

Had I checked more carefully I would have realised that it is Inchmurrin in Loch Lomond and the drive to Lake of Menteith was actually 2 hours each way. Probably a good thing that I didn't as we might have decided against it and missed a truly beautiful place.  

The haar didn't lift as we drove back up Loch Eck and down beside Loch Lomond.  I am sure that Loch Lomond would have been beautiful if only we could have seen it.  I began to be concerned when we travelled around the southern shore of Loch Lomond and headed towards Stirling but (trusting the SatNav) we kept going and eventually arrived at Port of Menteith.  We made our way down to the end of the pier and turned the board so that the white side faced the island to signal to the ferryman that we wanted to cross to the island.  

As we waited I picked up a brochure and realised that in fact, Lake of Menteith is not Loch Lomond by another name but a completely separate body of water much further to the east.  Anyway we had arrived so none of that mattered.  

The Lake of Menteith is a popular fishing spot with rainbow and brown trout as well as pike and another fish that I have forgotten. The lake is regularly restocked with fish which are raised in farms around the edges of the lake.  Fishing is only permitted from boats - not from the shore. 

The ferry trip was short and we arrived to discover we were the only visitors on the island (an advantage of visiting when the sun isn’t shining).  

We checked out the ruins of the Priory part of which date back to 1238,

the chapter house, 

the walled garden visited by Mary Queen of Scots, 

saw the gnarled old sweet chestnut trees 

and the old pier.  

There were Canada Geese nesting and one male became a bit concerned about me getting too close to his mate sitting on her nest so he challenged me. 

There was much hissing and a bit of wing flapping on his part and a bit of stern talking from me, but eventually he backed down and I was then brave enough to turn away and walk off.  (I didn't want to give him the advantage in the staring match so couldn't take a photo.)

There was also a mute swan sitting on her nest and we gave her a wide berth as Suzanne warned me that they are even more aggressive than the geese!

The drive back towards Glasgow was uncomplicated (I don't believe that they actually have motorways in Scotland, or if they do then they are in a different part of the country than the more than 1200 miles we have covered so far).  The great thing about using SatNav is that the roads that the unit suggests are often not the major highways so we often found ourselves off the main roads and travelling down minor roads with beautiful forests, surprise waterfalls and streams, and estates with moss covered stone walls.  

Bearsden seemed to be a convenient place from which Suzanne could get a bus to Glasgow and on seeing a few people at a bus stop we found that a bus to Glasgow was due “now” so we hurriedly unloaded her (now many) bags from the car and said a quick goodbye with not even a minute to spare.  The bus took her to the Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow and after a short cab ride she was back at the Alexander Thompson Hotel from where we started 10 days ago. 

I continued on to Gourock from where I was expecting to get a ferry across the Firth of Clyde and back to Dunoon.  I arrived at the ferry terminal only to find that it was passengers only (no vehicles). I was a bit concerned as, when I had tried to put Dunoon into the SatNav it had insisted that it was 77 miles with no option to go straight across on a ferry.  I checked with a local and they directed me to the other ferry terminal and arrived just as they were loading the last few cars (one of the me) on lovely shiny new ferry, so after a 20 minute trip and a short ½ mile or so drive I was back at the B&B.  Another great day!

BTW you may be relieved to know that I have only shared a small fraction of the more than 800 photos I have taken so far - and I have only been gone 2 weeks!