Exploring the Scottish Connection-Glasgow to Loch Fyne and beyond!

Louise and I embarked on our adventure to explore our heritage with a great train ride to Glasgow on Virgin Trains service-fast and comfortable with plenty of distractions along the way.Lovely scenery to gaze at  as you  through the window,the verdant green fields of England comes alive as you progress up the centre of the island and see the copses, fields and crops flash past until you notice a change in landscape and you are entering the higher terrain of the Lakes District with its distinctive skyline and change in housing.We cross the border and the cottages and farms become more familiar and we anticipate our arrival into Glasgow.
Glasgow is a mix of grand buildings reminiscent of an era of prosperity following the tobacco trade,slavery and commercial success but it has a dark side too with much social housing of a poor standard and poor health outcomes for many of its citizens.Kersal   works in the city and deals with the aftermath of some of the social problems arising from alcohol and drug use.
 We were more focused on the elegant side of the city and we had a small walk to our hotel close by the railway station with time to explore the inner city and find a cafe Lou knew of. We dined at a Russian restaurant which served the most delicious mushroom St Petersberg blietses, so good we went back for more when we returned on Sunday. The ambiance was inviting and a lovely atmosphere too so maybe St Petersberg is a place to go on my next visit.
After a good nights sleep we headed out to the airport to pick up our rental car which Lou drove brilliantly out of town and off to the adventure-finding our castle!
We stopped in Luss, an historic township on the banks of Loch Ben Lomond for brunch.

It is a gem full of ,little stone cottages with lovely cottage gardens and heaps of  atmosphere. Our luck was with us as just by chance it was the day of the Luss Highland Games so we decided to join in and soak up the atmosphere-along with all the locals.It was just like our A and P show days but the accents were real and the swirl of the bagpipes and Scottish country dancing seemed to take on another dimension.

We watched the caber throwing and  tossing the sheaf   but had to move on before the tug of war and pillow throwing events-full of men in kilts and lasses supporting!

We wandered around the town looking at the loch and admiring the lovely cottages  before we went to an art exhibition and watched a man painting in wax with an iron! He was very interesting to talk to and he gave us an example of his art.
We finally set off for Loch Fyne just as the weather deteriorated and storm clouds began to gather-what would the highlands look like without a cloud or two!
We drove up towards Oban but turned off towards the Cowell Peninsula and crossed a pass called  'Rest and be Thankful' before we drove down to sea level and had our first sight of Loch Fyne (home of oysters and whiskey, how appropriate is that for a southern women). Love the names around here.
We arrived at Cairndow, a little village at the head of Loch Fyne later in the afternoon and found our hotel,a whitewashed stone building overlooking the loch known as Stage Coach Inn. A pretty setting and an outdoor space for drinks beside the water- today the weather had other ideas!
After unpacking we headed off to explore the local  area.Today we decided to drive to Inveraray on the opposite side of the loch and a charming town,typical of the highland area. This was the stamping ground of our ancestors so I was eagerly anticipating what was ahead of us .Lou had been here before and knew the  area well. The George,a pub in Inveraray is her all time  favourite -well for now so we had a visit there once the weather unleashed its bad mood upon us. Perfect place as it had low ceilings and stone flagged floors with big fires all designed to keep you snug and warm in wintery blasts.We had explored the town and enjoyed the old stone architecture-quintessential heritage buildings based around the shore of the loch and very much a tourist destination. We visited the cashmere factory and bought a memento each -I have had lots of wear  from mine since arriving home.

Inveraray is the ancestral home of our enemies as it turned out.The Clan Campbell  reside here and live in the majestic castle dominating the township-we did intend a visit but ran out of time and weather. Legend has it that they were not all murderous neighbours, apparently some tried to warn the McLaughlan clan on the other side of the loch of their raid but the end result was they succeeded in murdering their enemy and ransacking the castle.Today it is still in ruins.
That night I dined on sea bass and listened to live music into the early hours of the morning.They know how to have a good night out in these parts.