Kintyre

The weather has been unkind to us as we awoke to another dreary day. It seemed futile to take a ferry trip to the local islands as a)it is expensive and b)the islands were shrouded in mist and rain. Instead we decided to explore the peninsula of Kintyre which was accessible by car.

There were occasional breaks in the clouds and we were afforded views of Lochs and Glens which were beautiful if only seen for a few moments.

As we approached Ardrishiag we spied a sailing boat's mast passing by above a grassy bank and when we went to investigate we found the Crinan canal giving passage between lochs. We gave a hand opening the gates and sluices of the locks for the crew of the boat. The rain continued and we were grateful that it was "nae lashing doon" as one lady put it to me.

We struck our way inland in hopes that we might escape the rain and had some success.

We stopped to see a site of interest called The Sculptured Stones of Kilberry. These are carved remnants of very early Christian's in the area. We were expecting something very different...perhaps rocks eroded by the see...or towering stones at the base of mountain...but alas, this humble display of carved rocks was all we found. We laughed uproariously.

We made our way back to Oban, stopping to visit the picturesque town of Inverary,

and then to look at a ruined castle which was shrouded in the most and looking very Arthurian.

September 28 - On our way to Oban

A bright and sunny day greeted us as we prepared for a drive to Oban, northwest of Edinburgh. Before we left though we decided to take a quick tour of Edinburgh Castle as we had not done this the day before. 

So, we were once again on the city bus and enjoying the views of the city from its upper deck. 

The castle is high above the old city and is stepped on history. It had been the seat of power for centuries and still retains its importance in the culture of the Scott's. The crown jewels of Scotland are kept here as well as The Stone Of Destiny...a nondescript piece of granite upon hoch pings of Scotland Sat for their corporations (until the British conquered them). It was only recently returned to the Scotts and is now housed with the crown jewels. No pictures were allowed unfortunately.

After viewing the castle we made our way to the National Gallery where we saw many paintings by renowned artists.

On our way we stopped in at New College where we saw the statue of John Knox, one of the important founders of the Church Of Scortland...and we think...he person who my Parents' church is named after. (Knox Presbeterian)

We didn't stay long in the gallery as we had a long drive ahead of us, but we managed to see some lovely pieces.

Then we gathered our stuff and jumped in our car and made fo the coast. Our travel took us through some of the mountain parks toward the pictureque village of Odan where we stopped for the night.

As it was almost the half way point of our trip, it was time for laundry so we spent half of the day doing travel business-laundry-future route planing-laying in a few supplies. Then we jumped on a local bus and went into the old town of Edinburgh. 

Such a remarkable experience We took advantage of a walking tour from our guide book to explore the streers of the old city. It was like being in Diagon alley and the merril world of the celts.

There were many side alleyways which are referred to as "close".  These were so intriguing and we walked down a couple of them for the experience.

We found ourselves in Victoria Street...a curved street lined with old buildings and which apparently was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.