Day 23 – Oban to Loch Lomand

We were up early for a breakfast of cereal, yogurt and musxlie. We can’t eat any more eggs and ham for breakfast. Morvine asked how our trip had gone and we told her how wonderful the puffins were. She said, “I’d not been to Staffa myself, but I’ve heard about the puffins. I’d like to go sometime.” Before leaving the B&B I made her promise to take the time and go out to the island. Morvine was very nice, but we were glad to be leaving the odd B&B. Neither of us really felt clean. My face had a slight rash. I'm hoping it was a sunburn. Her B&B needs a lot of fixing, some TLC, and some major deep cleaning.

First stop of the day, Inveraray Castle. The little town of Inveraray is mostly one street lined with trinket shops selling tarten, shortbread cookies and canned Haggis. It’s on Loch Fyne and the town has some beautiful water front property.

The castle grounds are just off the main road. I’m a big Downton Abbey fan and was looking forward to visiting the castle known as Duneagle on the show where Lady Rose and her family lived. Our guidebook said to skip the castle tour, so we were planning on just getting a ticket for the garden. Not only did the castle charge for parking, but the tickets to get in were way too expensive. Completely ridiculous. We turned the car around, drove off the grounds, found some street parking and walked back to the castle to get a photo of the front through the gates. We were not alone in this decision. There were a few cars we saw turn around as well as some couples walking up to the main gate just to have a peek for free. I may not have been able to have tea with Lady Rose, but it was still fun to see “Duneagle” in person.

After the Inveraray Castle, we made our way out of the highlands and down to Loch Lomond, the second largest loch in Scotland. We got lucky with the weather and the lake looked gorgeous. Once we got into the town of Balloch, we found our B&B. In my search for budget lodging, I have landed us in some strange places. This place was just too funny. Our room is directly over Loch Lomands famous Fish ‘n Chips place called Palombos. In order to check in, we had to go into the kitchen and a staff member walked us up the back staircase to our room. The room is quite large compared to most places we’ve stayed. It’s clean, with high ceilings, a comfy bed, clean/hot shower and thick towels. This all seems a bit of a luxury after Moiven’s B&B. Dragging our bags through the restaurant while people were eating their lunch was rather humorous. The restaurant closes at 8pm and there are no restaurant smells either. The only complaint is that the wifi is really bad…again…and does not reach our room…again!

We grabbed some sandwiches and had a quick picnic in the shade next to the town’s big round about. The itinerary called for us to go up to Loch Katrine after lunch. However, Matt discovered that Duone Castle was 45 minutes to the east of us. This is the castle where most of Monte Python’s “Holy Grail” was filmed. For Matt, going here seemed like his own personal pilgrimage. The castle doubled for 4 castles in the movie. The castle was pretty cool. The audio guide was narrated by Terry Jones, who was the film’s producer as well as one of the actors. The audio guide provided historical information on every section of the castle and then was followed by Monte Python movie fun facts or insider stories while filming at the castle. Visitors would be walking around the castle with their headsets playing and suddenly burst out laughing. Of all the Castles we have visited on this trip, Duone Castle was by far the more informative one.  It was 5:00 when we had finished exploring the castle and a bag pipe player showed up to give everyone a signature farewell and collect a few coins from the tourists.

It was time to head back to Balloch, there would not be time to see Loch Katrine. Back in town, we had a quick dinner and then explored Balloch Castle and the grounds along the loch. The castle itself has been condemned and is now closed. It’s a very sad castle, but the grounds along the lake and the woodland trails made for an excellent evening stroll. Many of the locals were out enjoying the warm evening too. We strolled the grounds and then enjoyed our last night in Scotland from a bench over looking the lake.