Wandering around Loch Lomond

I knew I was at Arrochar for 2 nights, so I knew I had choices to make about today.

The first choice I made was to have a sleep in, but it's a bit hard in a hotel when you have people moving around. But I slept in until 7.15am, so that wasn't bad.

After breakfast I spotted the Scottish paper, so I just sat down and read it for about 30 mins - sheer luxury!

This was my last full day with my little red car as I have to return it to Edinburgh Airport tomorrow, so I wanted to take advantage one more time of having wheels to go where I wanted to go.

Loch Lomond was only 2 miles away so that had to be part of the plan!!!

As the song says...
Ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond 
So, would I take the high road or the low road..... ?????
 
As I looked at Google Maps, I wanted to follow Loch Lomond north and I wanted to follow it south, so I devised a round trip! 

Today's journey

The plan was to  head south along Loch Lomond, then go to Stirling and perhaps see the Robbie Burns Statue, or the Stirling Castle, then head north to Crianlarich and complete the loop by following the Loch home.

The parts along the Loch were just beautiful..... as usual I will include a few pics of the magnificent scenery along the way...

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

As I drew closer to Stirling, the scenery changed. It became more pastoral, with big green rolling hills - a bit like Gippsland in Victoria, near Korumburra. The mountains were still there in the background, but the foreground was definitely farming country, with sheep and cows.

Countryside near Stirling

Once I got to Stirling, it was like being in a city again... which wasn't my idea of a good time. I just followed my nose going into the town, then I saw the sign for Stirling Castle. It went up a very big hill and when I got there, there was a queue to get into the car park. I waited for 15 mins, then chucked a U turn and got out of there quickly! Can't believe how many people there are around at these places. I found a car park in the city centre and bought some lunch at Subway.

Stirling Street

Stirling Street

Stirling Street

Stirling Railway Station

Couldn't get out of the place quick enough.... I'll have heaps of time in the bigger cities starting tomorrow but I just wanted a simple country drive today.

Took this pic of the castle as I was leaving town...

Stirling Castle

I followed the water for a lot of the way on the leg towards Crianlarich. Lovely little streams or lochs were in plentiful supply.
Again here's a few pics from the journey...

Scenes from the journey

Scenes from the journey

Scenes from the journey

There's still snow on some of the mountains, especially around Crianlarich...

Near Crianlarich

I just love the trees too..... they are obviously so different from our native flora in Perth Australia.
Everywhere here is so green...

Lovely trees.

Stopped for a coffee in Crianlarich pub. Had been there before on a previous journey so knew exactly where it was...

Crianlarich pub

Crianlarich town

So from there it was only 30 mins back to Arrochar, again following alongside Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

So, there were no major dramas to report today... a few hold ups with road works and getting stuck in Stirling, but nothing major. Just a pleasant drive through Scotland that I tried to etch onto my brain and into my memory bank. It is so beautiful, I don't think I will forget it easily.