I left Oban yesterday but not without a visit to Dunollie castle, former home of the Clan MacDougall. Unlike the other castles I visited, this one is not lived in and is in ruins. Apparently they are working toward starting a restoration but they haven’t done much yet. The castle was actually closed Sunday morning when I had to leave, but I walked around the grounds a bit and think it was just as good as being there for their tour! It was sunny when I first awoke and I thought about walking out to the castle but of course ten minutes later it was raining and it seemed to make more sense to drive. But they have a nice walking path from the town center to the site and several of these photos were taken from that path. I am thrilled to say, these pictures of the “dog stone” show me what’s going on with all those mid-Loch islands I keep puzzling over. I’m no longer puzzled. Obviously the lava just popped up this way and depending on water level there’s an island or not … no doubt like the place Maclean of Duart castle left his poor wife!! In any case, in another tie-in to a previous blog, the reason why this is called dog stone is because legend has it, the giant Fingal (of Staffa fame) used to tie up his (likewise giant) dog to this rock — I guess it’s better than trying to find a giant parking meter?! — and the bottom part is worn down a little because the dog would pull against the rock. Cute, eh? Also if you haven’t read some of the blog comments, as my sister noticed — and to finish the Fingal story — there’s a Giant’s Causeway in northern Ireland that was formed in the same lava flow, leaving basalt columns looking just like Staffa. In the old legends, two giants were going to fight but one chickened out and smashed the causeway so they could no longer easily walk between Ireland and Scotland. Thus there remains only the two ends of the original causeway between the two. (And last thing — Fingal’s anglicized name is Finn MacCool — how cool is that?!)

But moving further south — I drove through Inveraray when returning to Glasgow. I’d been told by two locals who spend considerable time driving to Glasgow from the north to not take the Loch Lomond road I had driven up on. It was the white-knuckler I had alluded to in my road to Skye blog. I was sort of happy to hear that it wasn’t just me who found it a bit treacherous — the road is very narrow, curvy, floods easily, and has the Loch on one side and stone walls in the other. (Oh and people are driving their campers on it which barely leaves any room for people on the other side!) Anyway, I took the route suggested by my Airbnb host and had a beautiful drive. Below is a consolation prize photo … Not even sure you can see it but there’s a rainbow just over the trees on the right side that goes across to the left … I needed to get something out of the trunk (again) and was looking to pull over but had three cars on my butt, which was unfortunate because there was a pull off that had lots of cars parked there already. I looked and saw a beautiful castle across the Loch, with sun actually shining on it through a rainbow. Of course I couldn’t get over quickly enough and when I pulled over at the next available spot, the view was gone and all I got was a bit of rainbow. (And my pills from the trunk.) Oh well. Moral of that story is if you see lots of people pulled over with big cameras out, try to stop too!!

I stopped in Inveraray for a snack and restroom break and was glad I did. It’s quite a cute town. Looks very different from other Scottish towns I’ve been seeing. It’s white and gated. (Gee that sounds like areas of Westchester county?! Sorry, couldn’t help myself on that one. That said, it IS very white in the Highlands.) It has a castle but I didn’t have time to check it out — I drove by but literally took this photo from the car and it’s a much more impressive sight from the other side, below the castle. But I didn’t get a shot of that since I was driving across a bridge (you’ll see below) when I saw it. I did get some nice shots though of both the town and Loch Fyne, which it’s on. In the last photo, it was actually their jail — nice views! Although I also didn’t go inside for that tour, so I don’t know the history of it.

I actually made it to the Glasgow airport exactly on time (would’ve been early but managed to get messed up trying to find the rental car return place — the only time I almost caused an accident was at the airport with an airport vehicle! Thankfully people were pretty forgiving and helped me figure out how to get to where I was supposed to be). Trains aren’t running to the place I had booked (just three Sundays in the whole year and two of them are when I’m here), so my Airbnb hosts very kindly offered to pick me up from the airport. And just as I finished getting my stuff out of the car, my ride was there!

So I made it to Glasgow safely. I’m staying a little out of the city — this is a park on the river near where they live. But I’m only 15 minutes by a commuter train from the city center. And a 5 minute walk to the station.(Yet no train noises. It’s very nice.)

And today I made it in to town. First I got a new SIM card so I now actually have decent service and can call and text in the EU. (If anyone wants my number, email me and I’ll send to you.) And btw, once again the internet sources were right — it’s better and cheaper to get the card and sign up for service from a regular store than from the airport. I sorta got ripped off but it’s soooo much cheaper here for service, I don’t even care??!!! That said I also see that my WhatsApp needs adjustments to work. I’m suspending my US 914 phone number so if you’re communicating to that number I won’t see it anymore. But I think I’ve successfully switched things over. If you’ve tried to contact me and haven’t heard from me on WhatsApp please let me know (via email) and I’ll figure it out!

Anyway back to Glasgow– it’s definitely a city. But both modern and old. I went to a few art museums after my errands. The first, Glasgow gallery of modern art (GOMA) was small and had a few interesting exhibits. I did crack up at the statue of the Duke of Wellington in front, which apparently permanently has that traffic cone on top of his head. Then I took a mile plus walk to and through the Kelvingrove Park to the Kelvingrove museum. The park is lovely. The museum was also nice but a bit odd to my tastes. It’s part art, part natural history, and part transportion museum. I’m not sure you can see from this photo but this room has a bunch of stuffed animals in it (taxidermy not toy) … and then the plane. And there are sculptures intermixed with paintings (not so uncommon and I’m sure they have a reason but it doesn’t seem to follow a timeline or rationale I can see?!) … and in the room with suits of armor and swords, they had paintings and info on Mary, Queen of Scots and Anne Frank?! (Actually that one was explained as being something about war and its consequences. But there were also a few random Asian armor pieces there as well.) They also have an Egyptian sarcophagus and lots of paintings, mostly French impressionists and moderns, Dutch masters, and Scottish artists. And a famous Dali. A nice museum and amazingly, free (most of the Glasgow museums are free) — absolutely worth the visit (not to mention price of admission) but I guess I’ve been spoiled by all the places I’ve been to.

There are a ton more museums and other things to see in Glasgow — oh they had a nice exhibit on Charles Rennie Mackintosh and I plan to see a bunch more of his designs. He reminds me (to my untrained eye) a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright — both architects and designers in the art nouveau style and contemporaries of one another. But I guess I’ll learn more about that in the days/week to come!!

Although tomorrow I’m heading back to an isle — of Arran. It’s the only day that isn’t supposed to rain this week and is day-trip-able from here. I do love my isles!