37: Secret submarines

09.10.2011 – 09.10.2011 rain 12 °C

Woke up to some more rain although the weather forecast is for clearing rain so I decided to start a drive around the loch and just see where the road would lead me!

‘Loch’ is a Gaelic word and the translation to English is Lake so not surprisingly I spent the day driving around the edge of the Lake. I made a couple of stops on the way at wayside parking bays and at one point the rain had stopped enough for me to actually go for a walk!! One of the things that I find incredibly good about the UK is the number of walking tracks and cycling tracks.. If you are into your cycling you can cycle all the way from Loch Lomond to Inverness along the Great Glen Way. I think its pretty impressive of the Scottish govt to build a purpose built bike track for almost 400km!

First stop was at a Luss, a small town that is famous for being the home of Saint Kossag. Kossag was supposedly an Irish man who came over around 500 AD with Saint Columba of Iona. He was thought to be an Irish gentleman who had converted to Catholicism and who through divine intervention became a roving missionary in Pictish Scotland. Kossag settled on an island in the middle of Loch Lomand. Archeologically, no remains have been found on the island that he was supposed to have settled from this era but remains from a later monastery have been found. Regardless, Luss has been a place of pilgrimage for well over 1500 years and even today is a stop for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Iona!

By now, lunchtime had come around and I found myself a nice stop at another little town on the banks of the Loch, Tarbet. I had a ‘picnic’ on the banks of the Loch before stretching my legs again by walking down the bike track a bit. The weather had started to close back in again so I thought I’d head back to Balloch (where the hostel is located). I went back ‘via the cape’ meaning it took me a lot longer to get home than it did to get there! In fact, I got myself a little lost and ended up in a MoD outpost… Some sort of top secret facility on the loch!!!

By the time I got back to Balloch the rain had let up a bit so I thought I’d finish off my day by going for a little walk around the castle’s parkland (the castle is closed for renovation). Early night tonight, with me off to Oban tomorrow!

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