Stardate: 2 May 2019 - On the bonny, bonny banks of....

....Loch Lomond!  (Or 'Loch Laomainn' if I was Scottish and speaking Gaelic 150 years ago.)

And what a beauty she is - apparently the largest in the UK, although I think this boast is a bit like Australia's pressing need to say that various of our geographical wonders, monuments, shopping centres etc are the largest in the southern hemisphere.  Nevertheless it's very impressive - 21 miles long and 200 metres deep at the northern end.  And so steeped in history!

As usual, we arrived at our destination with only 90 minutes to spare before our boat trip and after after a leisurely stroll along the marina we sauntered down to the wharf in good time.  We found ourselves a suitable viewing possy on board and with 10 minutes to go, congratulated ourselves that this would be a quiet trip with only us and a handful of others as passengers.

But suddenly two tour buses appeared on the wharf, each decanting about 50 noisy Europeans onto our ferry.  Ah well.  Tourism is now clearly the lifeblood of Scotland and many little towns and villages are thriving because of it. Our own, for example.

Glen Fruin

In the distance is Glen Fruin, also known as the Glen of Sorrow - the site of a very gruesome battle in 1603 between the clans Colquhoun and MacGregor. Although outnumbered, the MacGregors massacred the Colquhouns, including the women who were tending their wounded. King James VI was so appalled that he had the MacGregor clan chiefs executed and decreed that the MacGregor name was to be abolished, with the death penalty applied to anyone who called themselves by that name.  It was another 172 years before this decree was repealed.

Typical robber baron Mcmansion.

A number of 18th and early 19th century robber barons built themselves enormous homes on the edges of Loch Lomond.

While some were shipbuilders, others were 'tobacco merchants'.  I don't know about anyone else, but to me it seems likely they got rich on the labour of enslaved Africans.

Ben Lomond - the original!  There are mountains named Ben Lomond in Tassie, New Zealand, California and Utah.  This one's a squirt but still comes in at over 3000 feet. We also learned today that any Scottish mountain over 3000 feet high is called a 'munro' and those over 2000 feet but less than 3000 are called 'corbetts'

An finally from me, I do hope Mr S. Pants will forgive me for elbowing in on his territory - this arvo's activities.  But it's just for this one item!

On our boat trip there was mention of a tiny village called Luss (located on the bonny, bonny banks etc) and its wealth of ancient bibs and bobs. We went there and found this - a Viking hogback stone from around 1260 AD.

I'll see myself out.

***

Just a note of clarification as to why we were 90 minutes early.  We needed to refuel the Vovo for the first time.  Shouldn't be a problem, should it?  But when you open the filler you see not one, but two possible holes to put the nozzle in.  I won't bore you all witless with further detail, but I decided I needed some specialist advice as to how the fork to navigate this, without pouring diesel into the engine oil reservoir (or something).  The first servo was so useless it doesn't bear describing, and in any case she told me my foreign credit card wouldn't work, so there was no point at all in proceeding further.  Unbelievably fortunately, when we got to Balloch (where we were to board our boat) we found another servo where the experience was the reverse.  Not only was host Hamish happy to accept my credit card, he was able to tell me which hole to use, and that the other one was in fact for a fuel additive that hopefully will never be needed. Phew ...

Yes, Loch Lomond is pretty special.  Here's the MV Astina that conveyed us around in considerable style, complete with commentary from historian and archaeologist Neil Oliver (recorded, not in person ... drat!).  And the rear corner closest to the camera was the spot commandeered by Hortense, and subsequently defended to the death against other patrons who coveted it.

A great outing was had by all.  As already confessed by Anne, she has trespassed on this arvo's activities, but I'm going to forgive her just this once.

The village of Luss is about 15 minutes from Balloch, and a beautiful spot it is.  Here's a typical village residence.  I think the owner should charge to have photos taken meself.

Oh, and we got to have a modest but pleasant lunch at the Loch Lomond Inn at Luss, as distinct from the Loch Lomond Inn at [every other village withing 20 miles of Loch Lomond].




The real attraction for us was a church graveyard that boasted of graves from the 6th century.

The church itself is 19th century, having been built to replace an earlier edition that had been destroyed.  But still a lovely, peaceful spot.

We don't know whether we found any of the 6th century graves, as many of the headstones were illegible.  The more illegible the better, I say.  But this was one we specially liked.

Last cemetery photo, I promise.  Whether these are among the oldest we don't know, but they look particularly cosy, don't you think?  As though the occupants were best friends.











OK, I can see I've overdone it with the photos (again!), so I won't press my luck.  Another great day!

[Just a note of clarification from Hortense:  Our hired Vovo is brand new and very helpfully does not contain a driver's manual, nor even a cobbled together 'helpful hints' sheet on how to lock the car, open the fuel tank, which hole to use in the double-holed fuel tank, how to turn off the incessant radio (which we now have tuned to low static) and possibly many other foibles we have yet to experience.  Google has been of marginal assistance. By way of example, we learned that to lock the car, we have to perform an interpretative dance, whistle three times and stroke the driver's door handle. Think I'm joking?  Mostly, but not about the last bit, which also applies to opening the fuel tank. And no forking instructions!!!]   

l