Chronicle for 19 May 2012

We awoke this morning to a short bed, low ceilings, a tiny shower, however the sun is shining into our window and into our little room, so everything feels as if it is going to be alright.

As well as the tiny abodes that we are enjoying here at the George, they also have some well appointed opulent rooms on offer as well. Firstly we usually prefer to go budget and also the other rooms were booked out. It is obviously a popular place, perhaps it is the only place in this small town.

Being small however doesn't exclude this town from offering a castle and a historic jail. There isn't much more than that other than the hotel and an Indian restaurant. The castle is a permanent residence and so access is limited and the gardens are yet to meet their seasonal prime.

We are not too far away from where we started this journey in Stirling although that feels like such a long time ago. Looking back over the last couple of weeks it seems that we have complained a lot about our various accommodations. Perhaps we need to return to Europe and some of the dodgy places that we stayed in over there to remind us of just what the important things are. On the defensive side the accommodation on this side of the ditch is considerably more expensive than there and with that comes certain expectations.

After breakfast we commense a mosey around this little town and ended up wandering up towards the castle. It is a large building in the classic design that you would expect in a fairytale castle with a turret in each corner. It is built out of an interesting grey/green coloured stone. it really is impressive especially when you consider that it is someones private home.

On the way back we spotted some boys playing the local game of shinty. A game that we had explained to us as 'hockey for idiots'. From what we saw it is perfectly legal to raise you stick as high as you like and the ball can be hit the length of the pitch above everyone's heads. It seems like a recipe for smashed teeth and cheek bones.

We popped into the visitors centre and discovered that Inveraray was habitated by Clan Campbell and until 1743 all that it had to boast was a church, a tollbooth, a school, 43 taverns and over 300 herring skiffs.

Looking at the map we wondered where to explore today and we found a place just a stones throw from here that has a place name that just calls out to be visited, 'Rest and be Thankful'. It does make you wonder just how dire the diggs and offerings are there that even the town name tells you to stop complaining and enjoy it. So we headed in that direction.

We headed through 'Rest and be Thankful' without even realising it was there and perhaps we should be thankful for that. We then headed on through Tarbet and on down through Balloch travelling alongside Loch Lomond. This brought back memories of our trip up to Glasgow just before Christmas 2010. Whilst in Glasgow we took a train trip up to Balloch and a ferry ride out on Loch Lomond. At that time this whole place was under snow and ice. It was a rather different experience this time with the spring trees showing their spoils of fresh leaves.

We then stared heading towards Stirling where we began this journey, up towards Aberfoyle and through the Trossachs. A range of peaks that was visited by Sir Walter Scott and habituated by Rob Roy. The former instigated the beginning of tourism to Scotland. The later ... well history speaks for itself. He was the instigation of myths, legends, movies and hundreds of books and folklore.

We made a short detour to Loch Katrine. A very pretty loch and went for a two hour walk along it's length. there are various ferry rides from here as well as cycle rentals. We noticed that they also rent out the modern version of a PennyFarthing cycle. I would be tempted to give one of those a go. I suspect that they are more challenging then of a practical use.

From here we wound our way north and west through Lochearnhead, Crianlarich, Clifton, Dallmally, Cladich and home to Inveraray, all the while passing through glens, looking up at snow capped peaks, and passing along loch edges.

We are going to miss this country, we have loved it. We have loved getting back into hill country (something that we have missed so much), we have loved getting back to within sight and smelling distance of the sea, we have loved the lochs, the highlands, the colourful people that we have met and conversed with, we have loved the friendly and natural disposition of everyone and anyone that we have met. This is a wonderful place. We have been entertained by some of the experiences that we have had, and as with all of our journeys we have gleaned memories to last us for the rest of our lifetimes.

We will not forget the response of the woman in the Talisker Distillery when a very effeminate man wanted to take his little fluffy dog on the tour through the distillery with him, because the dogs name was Talisker. The look on the face of the rather staunch looking woman behind the desk said it all. She was thinking 'you have got to be kidding!'

Tomorrow we leave this fantastic part of the world and hope that we get to come back here soon.