We originally planned to catch the train to Glasgow today, but the driver we had hired for a day for visiting the Western Highlands and Loch Lomond suggested that we use the day as a transfer day rather than giving up a day in Edinburgh.

This was a fantastic idea, and we had an amazing day with Grant from Scotland Day Tours.  See my separate review of them here: 

Grant picked us up at our Edinburgh hotel, loaded our luggage in the back and we set off for the Forth Bridge viewpoint.  Absolutely gorgeous views from here and some incredible bridges.  Grant was not only our driver, but also a very knowledgeable tour guide, giving us lots of history and information regarding the things we visited.

Next stop was a viewpoint with great views of Sterling Castle.  We could have organised to visit the castle as part of the tour, but we had explained to Grant that we had already visited it separately.  We then moved on to Doune Castle. As we had not been here we spent some time visiting.  While enjoyable, this castle wasn’t as good as Sterling because it was more of a ruin, but still interesting to see.  Apparently it was the scene for quite a few TV shows and movies.

We then had a good drive through some stunning highland scenery, stopping briefly at Loch Lubnaig, before ending up at Kilchurn Castle.  This is another ruined closed castle, but we were able to walk through the countryside to see it up close.

After this we headed for Inveraray, a lovely town on the shores of Loch Fyne.  We spent a bit of time here having a wander around the town, as well as sandwiches and a glass of wine at the Inveraray Inn.

The rest of our drive took us past the Rest and Be Thankful Viewpoint along with some other lochs and scenery.  Unfortunately, while the morning had been clear and sunny, the weather closed in in the afternoon, so we really couldn’t see anything from the Viewpoint.  We drove on through the increasingly murky weather, with a brief stops in Tarbet and Luss and a short walk around.

We decided at this point to keep heading to Glasgow as the weather was really getting too bad for any further sightseeing.

We checked into our Glasgow hotel, the Carlton George, which was decorated with a vivid tartan theme.  We had a room with Executive Lounge access so after a couple of wines in the lounge we ate in Windows restaurant in the hotel, with lovely rooftop views of Glasgow.

See my hotel review here: