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:
2023-09-27