Scottish wanderings - part 7

Wednesday 21 June - Ballachulish (Glen Coe) to Fintry (and our castle stay)

Culcreauch Castle

When in Scotland why not stay in a castle? Jen's daughter Annette had suggested a castle stay and we were fortunate enough to find one quite near Glasgow which was reasonably priced. This was where we would be staying on our last night in Scotland.

Back in Ballachulish, we had a pleasant breakfast before setting off. 

Gey clouds hanging over Loch Leven

A view out from our B&B

Clouds coming down on the mountain tops

The weather was not looking promising so we needed to make the best of what the day offered.

We called in to the Glan Coe Visitors Centre, which wasn't actually open when we arrived. This did not deter us as we did a short walk through an area that has been reclaimed and is being revegetated with plants and trees as it would have been before it was taken over for forestry.

Glen Coe had some amazing scenery which unfortunately did not show up in the photos due to the inclement weather. Here is a sample of what we saw.

Camping was permitted as evidenced by this group of campers (they are the dots down on the valley floor).

Originally I had anticipated doing one of the walks in Glen Coe, there is a feast of available walks and a heap of munros (mountains over 3,000 feet) to climb, however with the weather looking increasing bleak and not wanting to dirty Jen's lovely clean hiking boots nor cause any other problems for her feet when she was flying home the next day, we decided not to attempt any of the hikes.

There was still plenty of wonderful scenery to see.

The parking areas along the rod through Glen Coe were crowded with vehicles

We stopped to get a good view of this waterfall.

It also allowed us to look back up the valley along the road.

We were on the A82 and it took us to Bridge of Orchy where we had stopped for lunch during on West Highland Way walk. It seemed a good place to stop for a coffee as we knew they did a pretty good cup and, by then, it had started to rain.

We spent the rest of the day wandering the Scottish countryside. Being the driver on this leg I got very few photos.

When we finally stopped for lunch we ordered sandwiches. In most places you don't just get sandwiches but garnish as well.

One of the tree lined roads we drove along

While there were still ridges the country was somewhat flatter

Sheep dotting the countryside

It was finally time to head to our castle and, after traveling along yet more single lane roads we finally arrived.  The road in to the castle took us through a forest before we came out on an expanse of lawn.

 After checking in we did a walk around our home for the night and its extensive grounds. Part of the estate is farmed by two tenant farmers. Along with the 10 rooms in the castle proper the estate also has a range of other accommodation. We were in the castle proper. We had booked the rooms when Trevor was intending to be with us. Jen's was a single room at the top of the Keep.

My room was just a little lower (and we did have fun getting our luggage up and down the winding staircases!)

My room came with a four poster bed.

 The castle had a long history and had managed to survive and be modified across the centuries.

We enjoyed a farewell to Scotland dinner in the castle dungeon. A fitting conclusion to our time in the northern reaches. The fare on offer was locally sourced and well prepared and presented.

The next morning we had a lovely breakfast before we dragged our carefully repacked bags out to the car and headed off to Glasgow Airport from where Jen headed home and I headed south to London.