Loch Lomond is just as pretty at a higher speed

---

---

With it being Easter weekend, Adam's parents decided to come up from Harrogate to a cottage they visit regularly in the little village of Glendaruel. Living in Glasgow, we were going to drive around, as it only takes about an hour, and stay for the night. It's a lovely part of Scotland, near Bute and the western highlands, and it's a drive that I'd love to do more regularly, except for one minor sticking point - Tourists!

Now I know we were tourists this weekend too, but our route takes us up the western shores of Loch Lomond, an incredibly picturesque area about 20 minutes from our front door by car, and a single lane road. This road, especially at holiday times of the year, is swarming with both the deadly Scottish midge, and the dreaded tourists, who drive 20mph below the speed limit, veering all over the road whilst looking everywhere except the direction they're driving in. It adds to the holiday fun, but they do nothing for my nerves.

When we arrived, the first thing was to get the fire started, as the best thing about the cottage is the real coal fire - it makes everything so nice and cosy. Fire started (by Adam's dad, as we're both rubbish men who don't know how to start a fire), we decided to go out for food. There are lots of great restaurants in the area, serving lots of local produce. Off season, these are great, quiet little places to enjoy the evening. Peak season, they're all full by 6pm. We did have an incredibly scenic drive hunting for food though, and the road between Glendaruel and Tighnabruaich has the best view of the Kyles of Bute and the surrounding area, even down as far as Holy Loch, which used to house the US Polaris nuclear submarines until the 90s. The whole area still has links with the Subs, due to the presence of the nearby Faslane Naval base. After an hour of driving round, and taking in the scenery, the idea of a restaurant with a table was abandoned in favour of a meal at the cottage, and a relatively early night

The next day was spend on a true adventure - the search of a "fishing lodge". Located close to the river in "the field just over there", we trudged for half an hour through increasingly quagmire-like conditions in completely unsuitable shoes. We crossed rivers, explored sheds and looked at waterfalls, but the fishing lodge was no-where to be found. We gave up and went home for lunch, only to discover that we'd been looking in the wrong field. Lunch in the cottage was followed by a sad need to leave so suddenly as Adam had work the next day. We were planning on seeing one last thing on our way home, the Kilmodan Carved Stones. As we wanted to miss the tourist-rush (to Glasgow, not the stones) we decided that as their location wasn't blantantly obvious, we'd give them a miss and see them next time we're in town. That way my disappointment at finding gravestones rather than a Holy Stone of Clonrichert proportions (cos Bishops love Sci-Fi, Ted!) was put off.

Now all that was left of our crap adventure was to drive home...

---

Photos

The Cottage
Home farm, Glendaruel. That's real smoke in the chimney!

Waterfall
Right at the back of the cottage. Fell asleep at night listening to this. Lovely

Grey skies over Loch Fyne
This was taken from the car window, as we were driving along. If it's blurry, I'm sorry