Scotland - last day

Saturday - our last day in lovely Scotland.  We decided to take another formal tour.  This one was into the western Highlands.  It was a cold and windy day and we got on a bus with a little Scottish girl who was both tour guide and bus driver.  She did a lot of talking and she liked to talk with her hands and she drove really fast.

It was nice to be a passenger.  When I was the driver I really did not look at anything other than the road in front of me. 

We started by doing a drive by of Stirling Castle.  We had been here on Monday, this trip was just a get out in the parking lot and look around.  We got back in the bus and started back down the hill, where Gail met a car coming up.  I think I heard her say seriously??  The car had to back down the hill until we could get by it.

Then off to Doune Castle

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the castle had been closed the prior month due to some filming.  Filming?  Filming?  What??? Some kind of tv show I am told.  Like a tv show based on a time traveling woman and Scottish man?  Like maybe The Outlander book?  I see the woman in the gift shop putting out some books.  Guess what???  Yes, they were using this castle as Castle Leoch, the seat of the Mackenzie.  They built a little village out front.  They will be back.  Then I read it was also used as Winterfell in the pilot for Game of Thrones.  OMG - does life get any better?

Then up thru the Highlands, we saw this:

I don't remember the name of this beauty.

Then to a little town called Inveraray, home of the Clan Campbell.  There is a castle here, but it was closed because the head of the clan was in residence.  Cool!!

But we did see this:

Then back in the bus for a quick run to a place along the road called "the rest and be thankful spot".  It was originally along a military road built by the Clan and was at the top of a hill where they would rest on the way to where ever they were going.  Here it is:

It was cold, cold, cold and very blustery.  I got out and took this picture and then got right back on the bus.

Then off to another cute town on the banks of Loch Lomond - our guide told us to to pronounce Loch like we were a cat coughing up a hairball.  The name of the town was Luss, it was getting on towards evening and we came around a corner to find this little kirk:

Then around another corner to this:

I just realized this looks like a Thomas Kinkaid painting, it was an accident.  It was really lovely.

Then back on the bus for the trip back to Edinburgh to pack and get a couple of hours sleep before being picked up for a ride to the airport for our 6:30 am flight.  Who made these arrangements.

This is what you see prior to getting on the plane:

We will be back.  Until next time.