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

Friday 15 June 2018 - 12 miles (13.41 actual); Awoke at 7am to ominously dark room - was expecting torrential rain when I opened curtains but no just blackout curtains! Dark skies but no rain as was forecast! After a nice continental breakfast & a couple of muffins smuggled out for later, we happily abandoned our monstrous suitcase to the care of Ginger Routes & made our way to official start point of the walk. The first few miles were dry then we had a couple of showers - nothing too heavy, mainly drizzle but enough to keep my hood up to avoid the dreaded hair frizz. Stopped after 7 miles at lovely cafe/restaurant, Beech Tree, for much needed pee & scone! This place must be mobbed in summertime - fantastic place & so accommodating for ... read more

I'm not sure if we took the high road or the low road, but we enjoyed a lovely day out on the banks of Loch Lomond. It wasn't too far to drive from Glasgow, but many, many people had the same idea so the traffic was pretty bad in places. Our first stop was the lovely village of Luss. There is a visitor centre where you can get all sorts of maps, leaflets and information. It is also a lovely place to stop for a picnic which is exactly what we did - and then we got soaked by a passing shower! The village itself is very pretty and the church is worth seeking out if only to amble around its ancient graveyard. Following a path at the back of the church we found ourselves on ... read more

Neue Woche, neues Glück. Nachdem letzte Woche so voller Katastrophen war, war diese Woche richtig ruhig, ja fast schon langweilig. Letzten Endes haben wir natürlich für alles eine Lösung gefunden und es hat sich alles geklärt. Und jetzt weiß ich, dass ich auch in Extremsituationen einen kühlen Kopf bewahren kann. Da nächste Woche Susans letzte Tage auf Arbeit sind, habe ich mal mit meiner Abteilungsleiterin geredet - ich war doch etwas besorgt wie es weitergehen sollte, immerhin war ich sowas wie Susans Arbeitspartnerin und ich kann ja schlecht alles alleine machen. Wie es aussieht gibt es auch immer noch keinen Nachfolger, stattdessen wird ein Großteil der Arbeit an das Büro in Dublin abgegeben. Dann wird es für mich wohl eher langweilig... Am Freitag hatten wir mittags einen Feueralarm. Normalerweise ist immer mittwochs Probealarm (bei dem ich ... read more

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

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