Day13 - Balmaha, Loch Lomond to Glasgow

Date: Thursday 27th August 2015

Route: Balmaha, Loch Lomond to Glasgow (via Rest and Be Thankful, Luss and Dumbartonshire)

Our Listening Pleasure:  Various - we had the player on random

Miles today: 115

Total Mileage: 1,816

Chucking out time at The Oak Tree Inn was 10am, and we were up and had our breakfast in good time. Breakfast had a bit of humour when an English family set the toaster alight!

 

Dan's Cottage

Loch Lomond, view from our cottage

Today started off OK but it was not long before it turned a bit cloudy and damp, and the cloud was lingering very low as we drove a few miles to a well-known beauty spot, Rest And Be Thankful. 

Low clouds again

This is a spot that is dear to our hearts as one of our very first photos taken together was here………

View from Rest and Be Thankful

We actually drove past this beauty spot as it is now a bit of a construction site and there are no road signs for it!!! We drove a little bit up the mountain side and got a great view of the valley below.

Selfie

The road here was part of a series of military roads constructed in the 18^th Century by soldiers.  Rest and Be Thankful were the words inscribed on a stone by the soldiers in the 1740’s. The original stone got ruined and a replacement was put in, but the inscription now is very faint.

The stone

 We got another photo taken in the same spot as we did 10 years ago!

Before - 10 years ago

Today - we didn't get the chance to cuddle in
before the guy took the pic!

As we drove past, Luss lured us in. The rain had started again, but we put the waterproof jackets on and went for a wander around this quaint town. At the beach, there were canoes and ducks.

Canoes.......

.....and ducks

We went to Dear Auld Glasgow Toon via Dumbartonshire and across the Erskine Bridge. Driving through Alexandria in Dumbartonshire, we saw signs for factory outlets and the shopping bug got into Minty, so we stopped off. What a disappointment. There were only about 5 shops, with nothing of interest. However, the location was something else. It is in an old car factory for Argyll Motors and was a lovely building. 

Minty at the top of the
Central Staircase

The central staircase and the view from it was fantastic. Each side, they had vintage cars, one side had a Scamp, the other a Hillman Imp.

View from the top of the staircase

The Imp

Crossing the Erskine Bridge

Glasgow 

We arrived in Glasgow and got checked into our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Theatreland (!). The Beeb went off to surprise his grandson by meeting him from the school bus.

Later on, we went to The Poetry Club to see Linden. This is a band headed by Joe McAlinden, with The Wellgreen as part of the band. The gig was a sell out and it was not surprising. Linden are fantastic. The harmonies are brilliant, but then you would not expect anything less when Stu Kidd and Marco Rea are involved. The audience loved the whole show. We loved this gig. All the more so because it was an album launch gig. And the name of the album?....Rest And Be Thankful :-) Looking forward to listening to this on the way home.

Another bonus was the chance to spend a bit of quality time with Marco for a change. Great to be able to have a chat for quite a while.