Loch Lomond

After a bus and a train and a stunning but tiring walk around the shoreline, sometimes over jagged rocks, we made it to our Loch Lomond campsite. Loch Lomond is a large picturesque freshwater lake north of Glasgow. This was our first view on the way in:

Loch Lomond

Setting up our sparkling new tent and checking out the facilities we soon realised (again) that this camping gig is harder without a car and a stove!  The camping park we were staying at had a temperamental microwave as its sole cooking accessory. Luckily the 4km walk back to Balmaha to buy more appropriate food supplies and visit the restaurant was gorgeous at any time of day. Well, except for the time I rolled my ankle and that time that it poured with rain!

Traditional tent photo - with over the top colour co-ordination

It was mostly great to be back camping. A highlight was when I forgot to take my towel to the shower. You would not usually put that in the highlight box but it became very funny for me thanks to some youngsters having showers at the same time:

          

Kid 1: “Oh no I forgot my towel!”

Kid 2: “What? How could you forget your towel? Are you an idiot? It is the ONE thing you need to remember to bring when you have a shower.”

Kid 1: “Oh well”

Me [thinking]: Chuckling to myself that I am the adult that forgot the ONE thing I needed to remember for a shower!

After some silence, minutes later:

Kid 2: “I STILL can’t believe you forgot your TOWEL!”

Me [thinking, again]: Wow, really rubbing it in now. (As I try to dry my back with my shirt…)

We did do other things other than eat and take showers! There were some beautiful walking trails in the area, aside from our ordinary commute to Balmaha. My favourite was up to Conic Hill where you could see the the results of the Highland Boundary Fault which crosses over the loch. The Highland Boundary Fault traverses Scotland from the west to the east and separates the Highlands from the Lowlands. 

Looking down from Conical Hill and the fault line

I like it because you can immediately draw a connection to where you are, and the map!

Highland boundary Fault - Source: www.iat-sia.org

Walking along singing a song

Taking a break in the sun

Stunning scenery (this is the part where we 
don't admit to being lost)

Views over Loch Lomond

Walking to Conic Hill

Detour, i.e. we briefly got lost (finally admitted it)

Back in Balmaha, we celebrated our day by trying a haggis burger (really not for me!) and some cookie dough (always, always for me!). I thought that the cookie dough could probably have a more alluring name but I guess it was just cookie dough! It reminded me of an idea for a cafe that my friend Hayley has. Sorry can't reveal that here!

Yummy cookie dough and ice-cream

During our stay we took the ferry across to the other side of the loch to the village of Luss. The ferry provided some information on the area around Loch Lomond. There are apparently wallabies on one of the islands of the Loch but we didn't spot any! Once in Luss we did a loop walk around town which took in Luss Parish Church and some lush Luss gardens (I couldn't help it.) The quaint church had and a small cemetery which contained an 11th century Viking grave (called a hogback). After a walk through town we found a nice cafe for coffee where wrote in our journals and watched tourists taking photos of the waiters dressed in kilts.

Waiting for the ferry to Luss

Pretty cottages of Luss

Everyone likes an honest sign

Rob got stuck in a loop!!

Packing up the tent we walked back to Balmaha, had a great coffee before taking the bus back to Balloch. In Balloch a kind lady at the information centre let us store our big backpacks in the boot of her car whilst we explored. We walked through Balloch Castle Country park and its various gardens and checked out a few shops around town. Then we settled down for a "Scottish Breakfast" for lunch, naturally. That was an adventure! The sausages were square and I was not at all sure what the brown, round thing on my plate was. I have since looked it up: Black pudding, apparently, is common in many European countries and is made of pork's blood and oatmeal. Definitely not a dessert pudding!

Balloch Castle

Scottish Breakfast Source: Wikipedia

Although there are so many beautiful places in Scotland, I am glad we chose Loch Lomond as a place to explore. It was a short trip from Glasgow which gave us time to relax and explore. Hopefully, next time we will make it further north - into the Highlands!!

Glasgow, Scotland

From Belfast to Glasgow
Farewelling Mum at the airport in Belfast, we then worked out how we were going to get to the ferry terminal to get to Glasgow. You see, we had chosen our accommodation excellently for Mum to hop across the train tracks to take her flight to London for further adventures with good friend Rhonda, but to get to the ferry terminal was another issue. In fact, it was what we like to call a DOLPHIN SANDS ROAD moment! (The most literal Dolphin Sands Moment we've had thus far!)

If you look at the map below you will see the marker on George Best Belfast City Airport where we said goodbye to Mum. Our accommodation was over the other side of the train tracks from the airport. The ferry terminal we needed to leave from is located at the very top of the map, labelled: "Stena Line Belfast." Short of swimming with our backpacks, we had to go the long way around!

Mapping a Dolphin Sands Road moment! 

So, we got on our way to Glasgow via ferry and bus, continuing our theme of sticking to land and water over air where possible. I tell you what, it is amazing what they have on ferries these days. Balloons, theatres, ponies, numerous restaurants and all for a short trip across the North Channel!* The bus ride was amusing for another reason. There was this loud, obnoxious siren noise coming from somewhere near Rob's head, "WaaahhWhhheeer". It didn't stop for 30 minutes.  The lady next to him asked, "Did I do that?" For quite awhile she, Rob and I could not stop laughing. Everyone else on the bus acted like it was normal for buses to make kind of noise. She was Irish and going to visit her daughter, who had moved to Glasgow a few years ago to find work.

* Ponies may be a slight exaggeration. 

After a short bus trip we found ourselves with Ben and Jenny, our Airbnb hosts for a few nights. They were very friendly and welcoming. Currently they are on their own 4 month trip which includes Australia. It was interesting hearing about their plans and hopefully we gave the some good pointers for when they get to Melbourne, as they did for Glasgow!

Glasgow
We had only booked Ben and Jenny's place two nights before we left Belfast. At this point in our trip we had next to nothing on our itinerary, just vague plans. The only future date and time where we actually knew where we would be was vague plans to be back in Melbourne in January 2016! It was both exciting and frightening and it meant our plan for Glasgow was...well...to spend time planning! We wanted to organise our time in Scotland, then potentially the Netherlands and France. I also had some research work that really needed doing. 

Our planning plans meant we did not see as much of Glasgow as you would expect in four days, but we did enjoy what we chose to see...

The People's Palace and Doulton Fountain
The People's Palace is a beautiful building that houses a museum of social history. It is set on the Glasgow green next to a big glasshouse and a beautiful fountain. The collections in the museum gave us some insight into the lives of Glaswegians over different periods. For example, we found out about tenement homes, the "steamie" or communal laundry and stories surrounding volunteers of the recent Commonwealth Games. Something that really struck me was the experiences Glaswegians had during war-time. I cannot imagine having to send your children to the country-side to keep them safe. 

Outside the grand Palace building is Doulton Fountain, the largest terracotta fountain in the world. In incredible detail, the fountain that was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's reign and features a statue of Queen Victoria over a wide basin and four statues of water-carriers representing Canada, India, South Africa and Australia (represented, as the Scottish viewed us, in the 1800's). 

Doulton Fountain

Australia

Hashing
Something I had managed to organise before arriving in Scotland was for Rob and I to go hashing. It was a gloomy, wet day in Glasgow and we nearly bailed on the whole idea but decided to brave the weather. (It was unlikely to get better...it was Summer in Glasgow after all!) We are very glad we went. As with our experience of doing a hashing in Phnom Penh, everyone was extremely welcoming. The location of the hash was at Mugdock Country Park, north of Glasgow and not easily accessible by public transport. We took the train part of the way and then one of the regular hashers had kindly offered to pick us up.

What made our time on the Glasgow hash fun was that included a castle, a loch and, naturally, a zombie dance:

When Zombies attack

Mugdock Castle

Braving the rain...sort of

Dinner and music at Maggie May's
Whilst in Glasgow we went to Maggie May's to hear some music. I had actually hoped there would be some dancing but not this particular night. We weren't in Glasgow long before we realised that we could only understand every 5th word someone said and they had no clue what we we were saying. 

Also, in a sad story; Rob loves to try local beers wherever we go; upset that we had just missed the Glasgow Beer Festival 2015, he asked the woman at the bar "What local beers do you have? Anything you can recommend?"  

She said "I have no idea, do you want to try Murphy's?  It's Irish"

Rob responded "...umm no, I'd like to try something local, you pick"

And he will never make that mistake again.


Sister Act 
I think we perplexed our aribnb hosts quite a bit with our choices of outings in Glasgow and maybe our Sister Act outing topped the cake. Although Rob and I enjoy seeing the important historical and cultural sites of a place, it can get a bit much after almost 7 months on the road. I think that is what prompted me to look on the "What's on Glasgow" website. I hoped to find something a bit different, perhaps a bit interactive, and definitely non-touristy. That is how we found ourselves at C7 Church for their production of Sister Act! Given we both love the movie we thought "Why not!" It was a pretty great community production, with mostly good singing. Embarrassingly, we got directly mentioned by the pastor (who hailed from Sydney), not because we were Australian but because when asked earlier we had told someone we had found the production on the "What's on Glasgow" website! Oh happy days!

Sister Act!

The Lighthouse
Originally it was the name of the Scotland's Centre for Design and Architecture that caught my eye. Reading a bit more into it I found that you could get some good views over Glasgow from the top of the Mackintosh Tower. Jenny had also told us a bit about the architecture exhibitions available. Although some of the exhibitions were interesting, we were probably more about the staircase and the views to be honest.

Rob getting dizzy

Glasgow

Watch this video that explains how the Duke of Wellington keeps getting a
witches hat on his head!

Turku travel and the mysterious coffin

After a comfortable bus trip from Helsinki we walked our luggage into Turku. Our first couch surfing host for the trip had told us that Finland's biggest medieval market would be on that day. Oliver, Rob and I took turns scouting out the market and trying some food before heading to our respective accommodations. It was a nice way to enter town and the weather was stunning. It reminded us of having a tasty spit at our friends, Amy and Dave's house!

What a spit!

Our couch surfing host, Pia, was very friendly and let us borrow her bicycles to wander around town. (Rob's bicycle didn't last long but that wasn't the point!) On our first night Rob and I bought some wine and cheese and salad and enjoyed our first European picnic by the river.

View from our picnic dinner

Turku seemed like a great place to do some cycling and see a teeny tiny bit more of Finland than just Helsinki. We probably could have allowed a bit more time for cycling around Turku and the islands. In fact, I have extensive plans for another time. It sounds like there is accommodation set up all around the archipelago for cyclists who have been cycling around all day, hopping on and off ferries and having picnics! 

In the end, we did a nice day trip cycle to Ruissalo Island. We packed a lunch to enjoy amongst nature, treated ourselves to coffee and ice cream and then put our foots to the pedal to make it back in time to return Rob's bike rental! It was hard work making it back in half the time we took to get there, but also great to get some (forced) exercise.

Cycling on Ruissalo Island

A pleasant way to enjoy Turku is to jump on the ferry and have a drink as you float down the river. Our captain was a bit of a character and we chatted to him for awhile. Oliver asked what typical Finnish food he recommended we try that night and he said "Swedish meatballs" with a smirk. This was quite amusing because Finland was part of Sweden.

Ferry drinks

After the ferry we headed towards our dinner destination, choosing to go with Ann Dashwood's recommendation, rather than our ferry captain's! Why did Ann have a restaurant picked out for us from across the other side of the world? Well, Ann had thought about taking a plane all the way from Australia and meeting us for dinner at Tinta restaurant! Unfortunately Ann couldn't make it but had a wonderful meal - she chose well for us!

What was less clear was the view from our table. An empty coffin placed beside the river. Unique art instalment? Missing body? We still aren't sure...but it HAD DISAPPEARED the next day!

A great dinner along the river

View from our table

In Turku we farewelled Oliver as he journeyed onwards to Sweden, Germany then France. Rob and I hopped back on the bus to Helsinki for further exploration before our flight to Dublin.