Lochs and Mountains............

And so to Scotland....we left Keswick and travelled to Luss on the west coast of Loch Lomond.  The weather was unusually (for Scotland) fantastic.  The campsite was right on the shore of the Loch so we spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of the water watching the sun come up or go down...

Malc was adventurous enough to go swimming - it wasn't as cold as he thought!

Romours of a monster in Loch Lomond are not founded!

Great cycle paths along the Loch and into Helensburgh meant that we cycled 30 miles on Sunday. 

A lovely cottage near Luss

 The weather was so good that the Loch was full of people picknicking and swimming.

Sunday at Luss pier......

On Monday we cycled in the opposite direction to Tarbet and took a boat across the Loch - by now we had had three consecutive days of great weather..................righteous or what?

Loch Lomond sea-plane

On Tuesday 26th July we moved on to Oban..... only 67 miles away.  Again, the weather was fantastic and we had an amazing fish lunch at Oban harbour and bought live langoustine and scallops for dinner that night.  We also bought some samphir and fresh crab.......All lovely.  I underestimated my ability to cook LIVE Langoustines so Malc was chef that evening! (no trtuh to the rumour that they squeak when put in boiling water............)

Oban scenes

Our site for the next three nights was about 13 miles North of Oban in an old walled garden on Forestry Commission land. 

We took a short cycle that evening down to Loch Creran .....................................................................

It had bike paths and walking paths running next to the site. One of the paths was the Sustrans route 78 from Oban to Fort William and part of it was still being built whilst we were cycling on it!   We decided this was probably the best and most picturesque cycle path so far.  We met a few people doing  "Le Jog" which apparently stands for Lands End to John O'Groats - except that thye were doing it the other way around - 1000 miles over 2 weeks....eek!!

Malc on thre bridge - showing the way..

Stalker Castle in the Loch

What a place for a lunch stop

Lance Calthorpe (!!!) completes the Tour de Loch....

A week in Keswick

Our longest stay in the Lake District was for one week in Keswick on Derwentwater.  Val, Dave, my niece Lucy and her friend Jess joined us...although not staying in Bessie!!






Val organised the walks and our first day was climbing Cat Bells and High Spy.  We took a boat across Derwenwater and then started our walk and caught a taxi back at the end from a very nice tea shop. 

It was raining at the start but the scenery was still spectacular.  We met a few people who turned back as the rain had made the rocks slippery but we carried on. The walk was tough and we were glad of walking poles at some points and had to scramble over rocks at other times, but we all made it....eventually...




Walking up Cat Bells





Intrepid explorers!



Made it!!

The next day however was more realxing as none of us owned a pair of legs that worked properly so we drove the Hardknott pass which proved to be very entertaining thanks to Dave's driving.

Legs working again we did a much flatter walk along Ennerdale water - Dave even went for a swim as the water looked so inviting.

At the end of the week Malc and I were on our own again and walked for 9 miles around the entire lake and had our first full day that week without rain!

And now were off to Scotland.....................................

Lakes and Hills.................

The first day of our 6 week tour around the Lake District and Scotland was the 12th July 2011 and we started at Bowness-on-Windermere. Windermere is the largest of the Lakes - 10 miles long and a mile wide near here.  Touristy in the day but quite in the evenings when the coach parties have left.

Three days of fantastic weather so we were able to walk in the surrounding hills and take two boat trips on the lake - one in the evening sunset .................

and the next day to Ambleside across the water.................................



Waterfalls in Ambleside

On Friday 15th we moved on to Ravenglass in the Western Lakes and the only Lake District village on the coast.  A weather warning was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday so we made the most of checking out the village on Friday afternoon. Ravenglass has a railway station and a narrow gauge railway that goes into the hills.....they use the old ticket office as a pub and restaurant now called The Ratty Arms.

There was a break in the rain for about three hours so we went walking in the hills..........

Ravenglass Main Street. Two pubs one little shop (closed on Saturday afternoon!!!)



An old Petrol pump in the village.  Fuesl @ 1/5 a gallon - 7 pence!

 and, inspite of the severe weather warning, we had a lovely sunny evening over Ravenglass on Saturday........

Sunset at Ravenglass - low tide