GLASGOW 2

 Full blown tour today, 8.75 hours with lunch. A big circular tour, out over Erskine bridge over the Clyde(left turn Clyde!), along the banks of Loch Lomond, stopping at the pretty village of Luss, then over the mountains with a stop at "rest & be thankful" viewing point over the lochs. Finally at Inveraray and the Duke of Argyle's seat at Inveraray Castle. We returned on a different route, this time taking a small vehicle ferry from Dunoon to Gourock. We needed to be thankful & get a rest after all that.

Luss & Loch Lomond.

Rest & be thankful.

Inveraray Castle. Could have spent longer here and less time in the village. The Campbell family live here, 2 of their ancestors were beheaded for being on the wrong side. Downton Abbey filmed here. Lerner & Lowe visited and wrote My Fair Lady at one of the Campbell's pianos. The current Duke's granddad's 3rd wife was pretty scandalous, many photos circulating with her having sex with MPs and other strangers. They made a film about it "A Very British Scandal". The producer told the current Duke he was going to make the film despite any attempts to stop it. The Duke said fine, how about filming it here - and made money out of it himself.

One of the old Duke's wives was a former wife of the Duke of Hamilton - she's known as the double duchess.

Our ferry across the Clyde. Saw 5 lochs, can't remember their names.

2 DAYS IN GLASGOW

 We were docked in Greenock which is actually 25 miles outside the city centre. Rain was worse these days and we werebonly off the ship for a short while. Went to the fire museum and spent an hour with retired fireman, Gordon. Really interesting guy.

Fire dog, Gordon told us that despite all the hi-tech stuff, the dogs were better at finding the accelerant source in arson fire investigations.

This engine was a film star.1940's vintage it was in the film Battle of Britain.

In the evening we had a Scottish singing & dancing night. The girls were terrific with their flings, unlike the Irish they know what to do with the arms. It took me right back to Andy Stewart and the White Heather Club - Donald where's your Trousers. We even had to show the Dutch how to do Auld Lang's Syne.

Greenock

GREENCASTLE

 Derry, or Londonderry to you, depending on your persuasion. Took a walking guided tour around the city. There is a lot of focus on "the troubles" army shootings, hunger strikers, peace marches but mostly from the Catholic viewpoint.

After Derry, we visited a hilltop fort, terrific parking muddle with all the coaches in the little car park. The fort was a healthy & safety nightmare, no hand rails, uneven slippery steps and old decrepit people with walking sticks trying to manage the steps.

Weather has been pretty grim, warm but raining on & off all day. The result was two pots of gold.

KILLYBEGS

Weather's turning bad, rain & wind is up, sea bumpy, but we did see wildlife - a pod of dolphins and a seal was inspecting us in the harbour. We were supposed to see Sliabh Liag which at 201 metres is one of the highest cliffs in Europe. Couldn't do it as the sea was too rough.

Nice harbour tour, raining on & off. Boat was a family business, Dad, captain, Wife does all the organising, son & nephew are the crew. Really nice people, chatted about football, one was a gooner, free drink included, I had a local distillery Irish whiskey, mum a local G&T.

IN A MESS

Not sure really, what do you expect to see on Muck? Or Rum or Eigg. These are small islands in the Scottish Western Isles. We were originally supposed to visit Isle of Skye, but it was cancelled as the port was having major rework done. Instead a cruise by M, R and E - not much to see as you can tell by the pictures.

LERWICK

Fog bound, ships horn sounding mournfully through the night. Arrived in Lerwick in the Shetlands - no ponies on show.

This was the view and hour later.

Weather forecast was terrible but turned out very warm, overdressed, especially for Linda climbing the town slopes.

The Vikings & then Norway used to run this place until relatively recently. 

We had an Irish singer on doing show tunes, really lively and funny. Apparently he's on YouTube where he was busking on Covent Garden when approached by a member of the public to sing a duet. He tried to reject her, but it turns out she was the lead playing Christine in Phantom. His name is Stephen Barry.

ORKNEYS

 We are in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands just off the north coast of Scotland. Bit easier today as we are docked & no immigration to deal with. Small town with a sprinkling of shops, mostly touristy with hand knitted jumpers at £150 a pop. We wandered about town, took in a museum that revealed to us that this was an important place 5000 BC with developed buildings & settlements. Scara Brae is nearby. This was before Stonehenge was built.

This is a garden building of am important island dignatory - it is built from the recovered ballast from a pirate ship.

In wartime, both WW1 & WW2, this was the main home waters base of the Royal Navy with several hundred ships based here. After WW1, 52 ships of the German navy were brought here. As the Versailles treaty was being completely the Germans scuttled the whole fleet. Most of the ships were cut up for scrap and even today this is still going on and you can buy bits on eBay.