The morning dawned clear and sunny. What a treat. The sun was shining
all day and it was warm...Just what we ordered for our adventure.
We had a walk in a lovely arboretum within walking distance of the hotel
after a very large breakfast,not only do they party well,they eat well
too. We needed to walk off a few calories before heading away in our
panda car.
We passed a local church-very beautiful and well preserved and then entered the arboretum.
Such
a lovely place it was-Ardkinglas Woodland garden, famous for its mature
champion trees including the tallest tree in Britain and the mightiest
conifer in Europe. It was said to have red squirrels but we did not
sight them.we did see some lovely rhodos and enjoyed the walks through
towering trees and spectacular landscapes visible through the trees.
Time to go so we loaded up and drove down the Cowell Peninsula towards
the Strath Lachlan family seat. This was new territory for us both so
very exciting as we passed through St Catherines (my grandmother's
name-coincidence?or not!) , a small town on the edge of the loch and a
holiday destination for locals.True!
After that settlement we came a bit further along the loch until we
entered the valley signposted as Strath Lachlan. The first sign of our
destination came with a church and then a hall,the road got smaller and
smaller and windier-Lou did a great job driving us safely around. It was
very narrow in places and limited passing bays but made it we did.
The unexpected happens and in this case it was coming upon the Chapel
containing the remains of the chiefs and the burial ground of the
McLaughlan clan.
We could not believe our luck as we had no idea such a place existed.
The original site had been restored and conserved and a lady putting
flowers on her husband's grave was happy to talk to us about the place.
We even found a headstone with our spelling! We had a great time
exploring the historic site and imagining times of the Jacobites and all
the famous Scottish history associated with the clansmen swirling
around our ancestral site. How boring are we!
Next stop was the end of the road.We came across Inver Cottage, a cafe
for lunch as it transpired and run by the McLaughlan trust so naturally
we had our lunch there after braving the cold water to cross over to
the ruins of the castle.
We could see the ruins from the cottage but did not spot the scaffolding
until we arrived at the site. We could also see the new castle from
there but signs on the track indicated the colonials were not welcome.
we did not feel we could risk arest by satisfying our curiosity so
another time.
The best attempts are being made to conserve this historic site but
there were no barriers to us exploring the site,inside or out. We found
our way inside after some tricky manoeuvrings and stood where the
clansmen would eat and sleep,where they would meet their grisly end at
the hands of the Campbell clan so many years ago.The castle remains as
it was raided so many years ago.Just as well some escaped-where would we
be?
The old and the new.....
It is a lovely area and we were able to visit on a beautiful day which all added to the enjoyment of the day.
After our exploration of the castle we had to paddle back to the other
side of the river.The bridge had been washed out during winter storms so
it may be a long time before it is restored. We finished our visit with
lunch at Iver Cottage, sitting in the sun and enjoying the day.Very
special.
Lou and I made our way back to Glasgow that evening via Balloch, a town
at the foot of Ben Lomond. We were hoping to see the final of Andy
Murray's tennis match at Wimbledon but TV reception was too slow so we
walked in the grounds of a magnificent public park
and then enjoyed a drink at the hotel by the water before heading back
to stay at a glamorous hotel right on the railway site. It had just been
done up and restored,including some amazing lighting effects, to its
previous best so we had a elegant end to our trip.
Monday was for shopping and exploring the town. we packed a lot into
our four days away even if the locals thought it was a 'heatwave'.
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