Blogs from Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Got up early and met with Lori & Nigel and headed off to the town of Balloch for their famous Highland Games. OOOOOOOPPPPPssss someone forgot to update their website and tell the rest of the world that they had cancelled their Games! Rescheduled for Sept if you are interested. At visitor info we learned that there was another Highland Games 1 hour up the road in Alva. Away we go! Found a central seat and enjoyed simultaneaously... the heavies (caber tossing, Hammer throw etc), Highland dancing, races both foot & cycling, pipe bands and the high point was the hill climbing race. Now pictures this - a cross country race, thru the mud around the track across the golf course and up the hill. Hill!!! are you kidding me thats not a hill its a mountain. ... read more

Oh it was a creepy day to go to this monsters home! It was rainy and the fog was so thick you could only see about 3 feet in front of you when you were on the lake. This didn't prevent us from taking a ton of pictures near the lake hoping to catch a glimpse of Nessie. Unfortunately she didn't make an appearance and doesn't that often. We walked around the little town a bit and there were tons of quaint cottages that were so lovely. Although I don't know if I would want to live next to a lake with a monster in it. Because it was such bad weather and drizzling when we traveled to the lake we headed back early and had a chance to squeeze in tea time at one of ... read more

cool guy fact: the song "Loch Lomond" was written by a follower of Bonnie Prince Charles (who was the old Scottish equivalent of an epic fail militarily lol) while he was imprisoned (after being captured when their side got it handed to them). If you follow the lyrics, it's very clear that this song is the man's lament that he will never see his lover again. "The high road" is the actual physical surface of the world, and "the low road" is the Underworld, through which the man's soul would travel faster than any man could over land, so he reaches Scotland "afore" the audience. "Me and my true love will never meet again"...couldn't be much clearer. He does hint that he hopes she'll find love again, but he's more or less made peace with his ... read more

Can't be positive, but we think we had a bagpiper ghost in our bathroom because we heard bagpipes all night. We asked everyone else but nobody else heard it. At breakfast Colleen made us all try black pudding (blood pudding) and haggis. Haggis is made from sheep organs mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet and salt. Neeps and tatties mixed with stock and simmered in the animals stomach for 3 hours..GROSS!! Today we followed the River Clyde down to Loch Ness where we spotted Nessy! We even got a picture of him. Then we saw more water, water, water, lochs, firths ... it got a little confusing for everyone. We saw our first castle at Uraquat. Beautiful. We just arrived at Charlie Chaplin's summer hotel in Nairn Scotland to spend the night. Very swanky! We just had ... read more

Dag 3, amai, we zullen het geweten hemme ... serieus wa kilometers in de bene (alleh, bande) en tegelijk natuurlijk veel afgezien. Onder schitterende zonnestralen! For starters : Loch ness (alleen het Loch, dieje Nessie da s maar bedrog peizen we), Glen Afric; een heeeeeeeeeeeeeel schoon (volgens de greutva toch) reservaat van natuur. Onder de zonnestralen. Schoon kleurkes van grauwe bomen (in alle tonaties), begroeid mos, her en der de gaspeldoorn in den bloei, veel (en koud) water-van-de-highlands, nen hoop gebeeste etc etc. Next; kasteel Urquhart (of zoiet), maar dan wel vanop nen afstand. We waren immers de vallei van Glen Afric in gegaan, die we helemaal terug moesten en ni tegen 120 per uur zene, in die kronkelwegeskes en links rijjen. Nog altijd gin Nessie gezien. Richting Eilan Donan-castle dan maar. Ook een vallei in, ... read more

Found this in paper - ideal outing with parents. Coach trip to see the Falkirk Wheel, ride on The Waverley paddle steamer on the Clyde, the Jacobite Lord of the Isles steam engine pulling the train between Fort William - Mallaig and the Sir Walter Scott steam boat on Loch Katrine. Perfect viewing weather. Fawlty Towers base at Arrachar Hotel on Loch Long (sadly in amongst RAF mountain rescue clearing debris from that awful jet tragedy). Food was fine though. DJ on Wednesday night never got past the 1950s. Several ail biting coach rides along loch roads. V interesting and hilarious blue badge guide on coach (convinced she was related to my friend Sandra Johnston). Driver was entertaining too. Met some real characters in coach party. Nice four days on the west coast and only four ... read more