Falls of Falloich

Took a shore stop this morning to walk the short trail to the Falls of Falloich.  Pretty good view.  There was a ‘viewing cage’ made of metal that let you step out almost over the river to get a better view.  Apparently it was designed as part of a competition and there are more being commissioned around the Trossachs national park to view different sites.

 We couldn’t believe the amount of water coming of the hills throughout the trip.  Much of it is due to rain I’m sure, but I think quite is a bit is from springs as well (Both of the distilleries we visited indicated that they used spring water from nearby for the distilling process).  We saw a long of the ‘ladder drains’ that ran under the roadways.  I think the steps help prevent so much erosion.  Some were small and some were quite wide.

Telephone booths and mail boxes

Its become a running joke in our group about red phone boxes out in the middle of no where (some with phones, some without).  Often there are red mailboxes along side them.  The other notable thing, particularly on Skye which had such a small number of inhabitants, was the bus stops along the road, often with only 1 other building/house in sight.  They clearly are placed near trailheads and such, but they were funny to see as we drove along.

Northern latitudes

Every night we were surprised by how long the twilight lasted.  All the places we stayed had very dark blinds on the windows so you could sleep past 4:00 am when the sun came up.  Scott shared with us that there are actually 3 stages of twilight and dawn:  civil twilight is when the sun is less than 6 degrees below the horizon, nautical twilight is when the sun is between 6 and 16 degrees below the horizon, and astronomical twilight is when the sun is more than 16 degrees below the horizon (the reverse is true for civil dawn, nautical dawn and astronomical dawn).   At 57 degrees North, astronomical twilight is at 1:00 am, meaning until then the skies are too bright for astronomers to make observations of the deep sky.  These are called "grey nights".  Above 60 degrees astronomical twilights doesn't occur at all in the summer (the sun never gets below 16 degrees of the horizon).  In these regions it is called "white nights".  Above 66 degrees North, the sun never actually sets and this is called the Midnight Sun.

Edinburgh is at 55 degrees north, and Dunvegan and Granton on Spey are at 57 degrees North - experiencing grey nights.

Highland Games in Luss

With low dark clouds hanging around and some heavy bursts of rain, we were reluctant to take another hike, so we went for a little drive and came across a sign for a Highland games in a town not too far away.  Thanks to the power of GPS, we found the town, Luss, on the map and figured out how to get there.  There were tons of cars being parked in a large field and people walking down the street, we joined the crowd and got to see girls competing in traditional dance patterns, lots of bagpipers, a hammer throw competition, a tug of war competition, foot and bike races, and a highland band.  Lots of kilts of all different colors around and bagpipes on the wind throughout.  After watching several of the bagpipers play, I need to go look up what the guidelines are for judging them.  Some of them paced on the stage, some just stood, some played multiple songs, others just one song.  It was a fun accidental thing to stumble upon and we only got a few sprinkles of rain. 

An Asian bagpiper, not a common sight.

Caber toss

Hammer throw (I'm told they were 22 lbs).  They dug in these giant spikes that were attached to the front of their shoes, then swung the hammer round and round their heads and let it go.

Inveraray Castle - Duke of Argyll

Feeling at risk of getting drenched again on another hike, we started the day with a visit to Inveraray castle.  It is the home of the current Chief of Clan Campbell and the 13th Duke of Argyll.  This castle dates back to the 1700s.  An older one was located near the same site but fell into disrepair and was destroyed to make this one.  I don't think it was ever used as a fortification.  It had large windows and no real strategic location.  The gardens were not as old as some of the others we've visited, but very nice just the same.  The rose garden here was just starting to bloom.

This is the current Duke and his wife on their wedding day in 2001.  They now have three kids ages 11, 9, and 7.  There were pictures of the family around the castle and it made it seem more like a home than a museum (which is was).  This was the only castle we've visited that allows photos inside, yea!

This is the dining room.  The original kitchen was in the basement, but a new modern one has been added just off this room.  It is used for some family dinners and also rented out for private parties.  The chairs have french tapestries for the apolstry.  The duke who bought them got two originals, then had his own artisans make copies of them for the full set.

The ceiling was painted by two french artists.  It looks 3D, but is just a flat ceiling.  Pretty good work!

There were four different little ships like this that each had a different function on the serving table.  It wasn't quite clear what was what though.

One of the Dukes liked to impress his guests by having a different set of china for each course of the meal.  There was one set that was from Japan in the early 1800s.  It still surprises me how goods could travel so far back then.

This is the sitting room.

The shutters on the windows were handpainted and quite lovely

This is a close up of the red squirrels that live in the area and are endangered.

Who would have guessed the Duke of Argyll was a Shocker fan? (Yellow and Black - WSU colors!)
Family tree for the Duke of Argyll (whose title was originally Earl, but he was promoted a few generations back).

 This chandelier had 900 pieces and was taken down once a year for cleaning.

Beautiful marble top table with 200 different pieces of marble.

I think the most unique feature of this castle is the atrium in the center.  It reaches from the ground floor up four stories.  If you look at the exterior of the castle, you can see the tallest center part has all arched windows in it.  These let in the sunlight you see in the photo.  Not at all gloomy and dark like many castles.  The weapons on display here are all functional weapons, not collector pieces.  The rifles in the full circle were actually used at the Battle of Culloden 1746 (the Duke was flighting with the govn't against the Jacobites and his forces were armed with rifles and nasty looking bayonnets).  The guide said the rifles had all been test fired a few years ago and still worked.

The salon.

If you look closely at this photo at the top and the left side, you can see  visible line on the canvas.  This fellow (can't remember his name) decided he wanted his portrait to be the same size as his step brother's portrait that hung across the room, but it was a few feet too small, so he had it enlarged!

The portrait he was trying to match in size.

 

How'd you like to where a badger around your waist?  This was part of the dress uniform for one of the Highland troop officers in WWI.

The most 'haunted' room of the castle.  Four different spirits are alleged to haunt the castle and have been seen in this rom.

The old kitchen in the basement was used up until the 1950s.  All the copper cookingware was well used.

I loved this rotisserie feature.  It was geared with a fan blade that was lodged in the chimney, so when the heat from the cooking fires rose, it would turn the pig on the spit.

Arrival at Inveraray

After a full day's drive, it was great to arrive in Inveraray.  It was a little disappointing that our lodging is a hotel instead of a B and B (less of a personal touch), but it was still quite a comfortable stay.  We are told that this part of the town (the old town), was part of a designed town by the local Duke back in the day, including the Inns and several of the other buildings.  Its a nice little shopping street just a block from the lake shore.

Fancy shower!  Warm water felt so good after getting caught in the rain and wearing cold jeans all day.

We've had a lot of traditional Scottish food on the trip, and tonight was no exception.  The atmosphere in this local pub was great.  They were known for their wide collection of Whisky.  Looking toward the bar felt like I was in Potions class at Hogwarts.  There was a band that started playing as we finished dinner.  The live music really made Charlene's day.  They were lively and fun to listen to.

Short walk around town after dinner.  Local Episcopal church.  (Services at 12:30, I don't think we'll have time to wait for that on Sunday).

Loch Fyne shore side.