In Scotland we docked in Greenock the port for Glasgow. We did not go into Glasgow itself, but took the motorway to Loch Lomond. Beautiful green country side, they had a wet spring, but the weather they served up for us was very good. Forecast was for 25 degrees and sunshine. We got the sunshine and the temperature got up to 28 degrees. Very nice.
We have bee very lucky with the weather, it has been nice nearly the whole way. We had a shower or two in Mumbai and in Langkawi, but I think the rest has been fine.
Closer to the lake we turned onto some country roads that were narrower and a bit of a challenge for our driver, but he had no problem with the traffic. We saw lots of wild flowers. At the lake we boarded a ferry for a one hour cruise.
Loch Lomond is 37km long and 8km wide. It is Scotland's 3rd deepest lake at over 200m and is only 7 meters above sea level. The water temperature in August gets up to 12 degrees, - anyone for a swim?
Some of the old houses or castles were pointed out to us as we sailed past, they are now mostly taken over and turned into hotels or timeshare apartments for the holidays. Auchendennan House built in 1866 is now owned by The Scottish Youth Association and was at one time the largest Youth Hostel in Europe with room for 200 people.
Further up the lake was could see Ben Lomond, at 974meters high, it is the highest landfall from here all the way south to Lands End. Up to 4 500 million liters of water is fed into the watersupply for central Scotland including Glasgow and Edinburgh. 30cm depth of water from the lake = 22.500.000.000 liters. The rainfall in the area is 160cm per year, plenty of water for everybody. In the middle of the lake there are several islands, one of them Lady Arran introduced wallabies, presumably from Australia. There are now about 50 of them.
On the way back we stopped on a lookout with a view over the forestsand I saw 'røsslyng', (heather), for the first time since we were kids and went picking 'tyttebær', (cranberries). We also stopped at a Scottish Woolcentre where they had a demonstration of working Border Collie dogs. There was also a shop selling their products and coffee and icecream.
So we took the motorway back to Greenock and our ship. Next stop is Le Havre and Paris.
mums pics -
I have been wanting to go for corryvreckan cruises. The scenery is nice and I love nature. I have read a lot on the place. It has a wildlife that's worth checking out too.
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