West Scotland; Largs - Loch Ness

This next section is from the small town of Largs, along the Firth of Clyde to the north side of Loch Ness, on our way to stay at Muir of Ord.

Large cities usually lead to confusion getting to the other side and as we had no desire to travese Glasgow a more westerly route was found that required two short ferry crossings.  Here the companion ferry over the Firth of Clyde from near Gourock to a the small town of Dunoon.

The route took us northward along the shores of Loch Eck and around the north end of Loch Fyne to the town of Inveraray.  In town centre beside the Loch is this sign.  The house built in 1753 and is now a B&B.

Nearby this street scene.  We did not dally and proceeded north up Glen Aray toward Loch Awe.

It was not all stone structures.  Here the steel bridge across the outlet of Loch Etive where it enters Lynn of Lorn off the Firth of Lorn.

Castle Tioram (pronounced "cheerum"), has a bit of a history.  Built in the 13th century as the seat of the MacDonalds of Clanranald, then to be burnt down by their chief in 1715 to prevent it from falling into Hanovarian hands while he was away fightling for the Jacobites.  It is on an island in the shelter sea Loch Moidart.  It is reached at low tide by a natural causeway.  No, we did not go over to it.

Find it on the coast west of Fort William near the settlement of Archaracle.

Along the road into the castle above were spectacular reflections in the deep stream from Loch Shiel.

Also this old stone bridge into private property.

Farming was not the prime land use howevr a few sheep were grazing on somewhat indifferent pasturage but were never-the-less  in very good condition.  Some venison steaks were purhased from the farm shop.  The owner had culling rights on nearby estates.

A different tower where the internal stairway could be ascended to take in the view from the top.

Entry to the lock system at the start of the Caledonian Canal from Loch Lochy then enters Loch Oich before reaching Loch Ness through another series of locks.

Loch Ness is commercial with operations such as this.  The castle was just a ruin over-run by tourists.  We carried on, there were plenty of ruins to view, but we did take a few photos.

Waterways were a more pleasant experience.

Next will be Muir of Ord from near Inverness then back to the north west coast via highway A835.

Southwest Scotland 1st week August 2011

There was a strong desire to head north to less populated parts although there is the obstacle of Glasgow or across to Edinburg, but that is later.  The M6 was easy to get onto from Telford and we stopped a night at a motorway Days Inn at Lillington Lake near Kendal before reaching Gretna.  Follow the photos below for the journey north.

Gretna is not an old time village as expected. The older part of the current town dating back to a munitions factory during WW2.  Present day Gretna is new with a very good shopping centre.  It is based on a traditional village street concept but has the parking outside the buildings and the "street" is a pedestrian way as shown here.  While the centre was open there were glazed awnings over the shop frontages letting in good light. By late morning the number of people has increased considerably.

Westward from Gretna was mixed farmland with some woodland but relatively intensive farming.

The sheds in this view were for housing cattle.  Many pastures had been harvested for baleage.  On our way west we passed by Dumphries and Castle Douglas on the A75 highway then turned onto A713 beside Loch Ken.

Threave Gardens near Castle Douglas.  A new variant of Yarrow in the flower garden.

The vegetable garden got a somewhat better reception from this visitor.  She did however comment that the beetroot had been allowed to go to seed.

There was a play area for children the design of which should interest Richard Benson.  Just out of sight are also some Belted Galloway cattle that remained perfectly still all the time.

The grounds were well maintained although...

...there can always be a lapse.  Here gorse growing with a NZ Hebe.  Was it intentional!

Every garden has its mansion.  This was a National Trust property and part of the house is used for staff quarters.

Beware.  A companion sign says something like "oncoming vehicles in centre of road" but they were never together.

For a change we stayed at a Pub which also provided accomodation.  It was just like the Waiau Hotel in North Canterbury but this one was at St John's Town of Dalry near the north end of Loch Ken.

That evening a walking path through farmland was navigated meeting a few of the locals.  Kath alos met up with an old gentleman who told her about a woman of the village who bought up houses that were for sale to prevent them being snatched up for holiday homes.  She would then rent them out to retiring farm workers of the area.

While the cows were very placid these ladies were less than happy with any intrusion even although we were separated by a stone wall fence.  There was a bit of foot stamping.

Next day on the way to "The Rinns of Galloway", at the end of Solway Firth (look west to the sea from Gretna, town Stranaer) we met these two alert types.

We had been told the seaside village of Portpatrick was worth a vist, further west from Stranaer.

Portpatrick as a small sea port had a strong lifeboat group and here in the main street, with the flag on a building, fund raising was in progress.

Tourists everywhere!  Even on the rocky shore.

A long pier at a small place called Fairlie where coal was being imported from South America to fuel power stations.  It was near Largs in the Firth of Clyde where we stayed the night.

Bridport, Dorset to Telford, Shropshire

This is a condensed version due to the seemingly hundreds of places we passed through over a very short distance.  It would take a year of writing and photo selection to cover it all.  On the morning of 27 July we left Wells travelling south to Bridport where the last blog post ended.  That night we got directions getting out of Honiton, having called at the seaside village of Lyme Regis on the south coast about 10 miles (16km) (excuse the use of miles but that is what they use in UK,  to convert X by 1.6 for approximate Kms) west of Bridport.   We also took the chance to ask if he knew of a B&B in the locality.  A friend of his had a couple of rooms at Awliscombe. They had a Landrover Experience course and also the daughter operated an adjistment stable on a very tidy property.  Look for Honiton near the junction of A30 and A35 in a line between Bridport on the south coast west of Weymouth and Cullompton on M5 north of Exeter on the Exe River.  From Awliscombe we travelled back to the same B&B we had stayed at in Wells then a relocation day from Wells to Telford, west of Birmingham, on the M5 motorway.  No photos were taken that day, the cameras were not enven taken out of the packs.

Bridport, the historic market town.  Such towns were described as "working towns" because they continued to function as a town that was not just preserved in a past age.

A pub in the main street titled "Lord Nelson".

The modern age, a tractor and baler being driven down the main street.

Not only in villages could the access be very narrow, however all vehicle roads were sealed.

A typical scene in Devon on our way to the B&B.

This traveller cooking an evening meal on the lawn of the B&B...

...while a couple of youngsters lay about nearby.  Young hounds being "walked" by the family.

Maize is also a common crop frequently seen near what appear to be dairy farms.

Not all farms were as one would expect and certainly not like the B&B we had stayed at not far away.  This farm is immediately opposite the pub.

A large "Farmers Market" in Collompton.

The seaside holiday town of Ilfracombe at the mouth of the Bristol Channel.  Has good Fish and Chips, but ...

...the beach is not much.  Hundreds of people in the streets but no-one in the water.

"Wild" Exmoor ponies that were branded and came up to the gate!!!!  In the Exmoor National Park.

A practice drive on the M5 before the relocation stint next day, and before turning off for the night at Wells.