Sammie Travels: Highlands: Day 1 (Glasgow to Glen Nevis)

NOTE: These tour posts were originally written in a notebook as everything was happening. So they'll seem kind of random, jumping from one thing to another. There was a lot of information and places to cover! Thank goodness I did because I never would have remembered it all! Since it was two very busy days I think I'll break them into 4 posts to make them a little more manageable!

So this is Day 1, Part 1!
Monday, Feb 11

I managed to get to George Square early & sighted the bus, so I took a few pictures of the square. Then I made my way to the bus. They were waiting for me actually. Apparently I was the only one departing from Glasgow. Our light-hearted tour guide, Dave introduced himself and gave me my miniature of whiskey that was included in the tour (despite already getting one from another passenger). Our first destination is Loch Lomond & the town of Luss. Along the motorway, we saw the stadiums of the 2 Glasgow football teams (soccer), the Celtic and the Rangers. We also passed Paisley, the origin of the pattern. Dave recommended the Abbey there but laughed about the "Lagoon Centre" advertised on the sign. Apparently it's just a disappointing wave pool. We then passed Dumbarton which has a large volcanic rock and castle. Dumbarton is the capital of the Clyde , the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Mary, Queen of Scots was kept there before being raised in France to keep the monarchy Catholic. The Highland clearances changed the landscape of Scotland forever. The landlords raised the rent on tenant farmers because it was more profitable to raise sheep. The farmers moved to the New World and Scottish cities. In a sad case of irony, most sheep are actually raised in the south of Scotland now.

Loch Lomond was the first Scottish national park, primarily because so many tourists were already visiting it. Luss is a slate town where the slate was excavated for roof shingles. Luss was a town in ruins that was actually reconstructed and now most of the buildings are private residences (particularly holiday homes). We also passed the statue known as "Wee Peter", a Peter Pan figure on a pedestal in the water of the loch. We got off the bus and walked around the quaint town a bit. I walked to the dock, it was all so lovely but so cold!

The excursion in Luss

Next was Ben Lomond, the mountain from which the Loch gets its name ("Ben" is the English version of a Gaelic word for hill/mountain). After passing Ben Lomond, we enter the Highlands, passing the fault line. Rob Roy MacGregor causes a lot of tourism in the area. The MacGregors were a violent clan & were outlawed by James VI. If you killed a MacGregor, you got their land. They were known as "Children of the Mist" and "the Clan with No Name". Rob Roy took the name Campbell, the children of the MacGregors took the clan names of their mothers. Glen Falloch has some waterfalls & a cute little historical inn from the 1700s, the Drovers Inn. Our guide is actually staying there in a few weeks. We passed Ben Moore ("Big Hill") and Crianlarich. Here the signs are in Gaelic THEN English! Dalrigh is where the MacDougalls defeated Robert the Bruce.

Glimpses from the bus window

We stopped at The Green Welly for lunch. It's this nice little rest stop with a restaurant-cafeteria and gift shops in Tyndrum. Our next sightseeing stop was Glen Coe, beautiful but with the macabre history of being where the Campbells massacred the MacDonalds. The scenery is beautiful, it's hard to imagine a gorgeous place could be the scene of such violence. We utilized a pull-off overlooking the Black Mount Estate. The ground everywhere here is brown with heather, not turning purple until April or so. We see the start of Glen Coe Mountains around Rannoch Moor.

Near Black Mount Estate and Rannoch Moor

We got out to walk around once we reached Glen Coe. After the quick and beautiful hike, we passed through the village of Glen Coe. Apparently a sign outside the pub in town says, "Absolutely no hill walking shoes. No Campbells allowed on the premise." Haha I guess you can forgive but it's in your best interest never to forget! Dave pointed out the local youth hostel which he says is quite nice. Oh and our hike through Glen Coe wasn't particularly peaceful, a guy with a power tool was working on the stone barricade of the parking lot. So the pictures are actually a lot more serene than the actual experience!

Views from the brief hike around Glen Coe

We passed Loch Leven and the small island within it Eilean Munde. The island is also known as "the Isle of the Dead" and is where the victims of the massacre are buried. We also passed a standing stone circa 500 which marks where St. Colombo crossed into the mainland. Dave also mentioned Iona, the island where the Scottish kings are buried. I'm feeling sick from the winding roads and have lost my lens cap. :( Our major destination is Fort William. Fort William was originally known as Inverlochy & Gordon's Town. We passed Ben Nevis, the highest summit in Britain. The Jacobite Express, which was used as the Hogwarts Express is here, so lots of Harry Potter fans come up to this area. 1/4 of the population speaks Gaelic here and a lot of these are folks who came from the Isle of Skye to find work.

Marker for the landing of St. Colombo

We made a detour in Glen Nevis where a bit of Braveheart was filmed. We found some grassy knolls to climb for a better view of the glen but it was terrifyingly windy! First time in my life I actually feared the wind would knock me off my feet! (I should have learned from history that grassy knolls tend to be dangerous.) So needless to say I didn't appreciate the view as much as I would have liked. The Wishing Stone is off the side of road as we make our way back to our charted course. Legend is that it levitated and rotates 360 degrees before it settles back down. If you see it you get a wish that comes true.