Today's
schedule (May 24) called for an early breakfast as our
luggage was being loaded on the bus. The weather forecast
was not promising for the afternoon, but the ferry departed
on time under partly cloudy conditions. There was some
construction at the Oban ferry terminal as we arrived. There
was barely a second or two to take a photo of McCaig's
Tower, a prominent folly on the hillside overlooking Oban in
Argyll, Scotland. [John Stuart McCaig was wealthy,
philanthropic banker, who admired Roman and Greek
architecture, and his intention was to construct a structure
based on the Colloseum as a lasting monument to his family,
but his death in 1902 brought an end to construction with
only the outer walls completed.]
Before reaching Inverary, Gordon
Tait commented on some houses which had "fake windows" to
avoid the taxes on them during WWII. This practice became
quite common in Scotland.
The merged district of Argyll and
Bute extends roughly from Oban to the northwest corner of Loch
Lomond, so Inverary made a convenient stopover for lunch.
After visiting the Inverary Woolen Mill Shop, both Joan
Claringbould of Brisbane, AU, and Pat exclaimed, "Tourist
Trap!" A ship at the pier advertised "Seafood Lunches", but
was charging an additional boarding fee . . . another tourist
trap! I managed to find a quiet restaurant for a light
soup-and-sandwich lunch and found John Watson alone at a
table; when I went to pay the elderly manageress, she
smilingly remarked, "I don't have any change" . . . another
tourist trap! Needless to say, we found very little to impress
us at the wee town of Inverary.
Follies have been added by
successive generations creating majestic views and
extraordinary scenes for the enjoyment of visitors. In
architecture, a folly is an extravagant, frivolous or fanciful
building, designed more for artistic expression than for
practicality.
Inverary Castle is the home of the
Duke of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell.
Loch Lomond
By yon bonnie
banks,
And by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love
Were ever want to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
Oh! ye'll take the high road and
I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love
Will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
We have heard this song
sung cheerily with smiling faces. The dreary weather
matched the explanation imparted back at Carlisle Castle
near the beginning of our tour. We took the high road back
to our hotel in Glasgow.
No sooner than we had
settled down to unpack in our room at the Radisson SAS
in Glasgow than the fire alarm went off. Everyone
evacuated to the sidewalk across the street until a
hotel representative apologized and declared that it was
a false alarm caused by a sensitive detector.
