Blogs from Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

Geo: 56.4104, -5.46972Glasgow to ObanPicked up a rental car in Glasgow. Aaacckk! Driving on the left side of the road! It seems strange sitting in the passenger side of the car on the left. Charlie's still getting used to driving on that side, and Mary is white-knuckled.We're on our way to Oban, where we'll attend some "Highland Games.” Oban is on the west coast of Scotland – in the Highlands. It was a lovely drive there with many stops (Loch Lomond) and a long detour when a road was closed. Actually, the detour turned out to be beautiful – through moors, past Ben Nevis – the highest mountain in Great Britain. Highland Games are like a fair, but with lots of competitions. If you've seen Braveheart, you might remember when Wallace came back to his home ... read more

crowded house sing the lyrics, “everywhere u go, always take the weather with u”.. such lyrics have never been sung in a more pertinent context than during a 6 day hike along the west highland way in the northern scottish highlands. our mostly chipper party of 4 familiarised themselves with all the colours of the climactic + atmospheric conditions, sometimes even within the same day! the weather ranged from harsh stones of hail, battering rain + thrashing wind to days of placid stillness + glowing, shimmering sunshine. the team consisting of maRKie mark + sanna townsend + the kangakilts started the 154km (96miles) route at milngavie (near glasgow). we then passed through mugdock country park, followed the shores of loch lomond, passing ben lomond, through glen falloch + strathfillan, crossing rannoch moor, past buachaille etive mor ... read more

Following on from Killin we carried on heading West this time, through the top of the National Park on the way to the West Coast to a seaside town called Oban. Once again the scenery was amazing and the roads followed different Lochs around, through amazing bush, complete with waterfalls again, very similar to the West Coast in NZ......but the West Coast doesn't have Castles through the mist as you look across the Loch! We were following the road and came across a Loch called Loch Awe - aptly named I think as, as I mentioned, it had an actual ruin of a castle, that had been struck my lightning a few hundred years ago, sitting what looked like on a island in the middle of the Loch. I had to use all of my strength ... read more

Our last day on the isles was spent in a very lazy fashion, I think our engines had switched off because every hill we rode up seemed like Everest. However we managed to ride two laps of the island, a whopping 20 miles. On our first lap we saw two chough's flying across us and on our second lap we saw two corncrakes having a bit of a barney on the road. We managed to take some good photos of these. The bays were in great form with the sun being warm and luxurious. The sand was golden and the sea turquoise with craggy rock outcrops making a spectacle. It was the first time we have really been able to relax and we took advantage of being able to lie down listening to the gentle waves ... read more

This weather is suiting us fine and could not be bettered on a good summer's day. We set off for Iona and were in Fionnphort by 9am ready for the Calmac ferry at 9.45. We only had 3/4hr so rode up to the Abbey and had a quick look around this ancient building and burial ground old Scottish Kings before heading off for our 40'th island Erraid. We went 3 miles down a rough road which turned into a track and then worse with boulders and sand etc. Bill gave up part way and walked whilst I persevered with the odd tumble when my cleats would not release from my pedals. We then had to walk across the sands to the island since there is no road, or bridge, and the only access is to walk ... read more