The journey to Loch Lomond took a little over an hour. We were having lunch at the Carrick, the newest golf course at the Loch, and this was where we were going to meet Mum and Dad. Ronnie let us out the car before we pulled in front of the club house where the restaurant was in case dad saw us. I had a sneaky feeling all this planning wouldn't have much of an impact on Dad...

Ronnie and Christine parked and we waited outside for five minutes before we headed in. Dad turned around just as we got to their table in the Claret Jug lounge, where they were waiting until their table was ready. He half smiled and I realised I must have had a suspicion we were coming...but then Dad is never very expressive anyway, so I knew he wouldn't be jumping up and down delighted to see us!

So we said surprise, and he nodded...Mum asked if he'd suspected anything, and he said when my Granny asked if she was right thinking we were going away on Saturday, he wondered if we were tagging along with them, because we were actually supposed to leave on the Wednesday (his birthday) but all of a sudden it became the Tuesday - the day Mum and Dad were leaving for Inverlochy! Oh well, at least he didn't say anything ahead of time...

We had a wonderful lunch - quite casual, but still nice - and hit the road again. This time the drive was going to be about 2 hours. Mark was asleep before we got to the end of the driveway, which Ronnie and Christine thought was hilarious! I tried to read for a bit but because it was getting dull and cloudy I was soon asleep too!

This place is lost in the middle of the forest, so you have to take the car if you want to go out for eating or having a drink. The showers were not cleaned during the 2 day of our stay. The toilets overflowed in men's showers, in the women's showers, a tap was broken, so a lady had to run to the reception to get help to close it ! Very cold ambiance, it was like nobody worked in this hostel, at least I never met any employee around except the only girl at the reception. The hostel was full of teenagers travelling in a kind of camp, they had a party organised for them, when it ended they woke up the whole hostel, so no way to sleep again because of a snorer.. I spent my 2 nights with very loud snorer women (one each night). The only nice thing of this place was the building, from outside it really looked like a haunted castle. I must say that each time I stayed in YHA hostels (3 times) I was disappointed by the cold ambiance, the rudeness of the staff. I definitely avoid YHA hostels.

As I really wanted to see the Highlands and go up to the Lochness, even if I didn't have a lot of time in Scotland, I chose to book a tour and do it by bus. Of course, it is clearly not the best way to visit this natural area, and I wish I had time to walk and wander there... but it is still better than not seeing it at all!

I chose a Timberbush Tours and booked it from the Tourist information centre in Glasgow. In a minibus (around 15 persons), we went throught nice natural areas with few short stops with a guide commenting all the way long (more or less interesting comments though :p).

We crossed the Loch Lomond area, with a short stop (20mn) there.

I was really impressed by the stunning views =)
I didn't expect to love this trip soooooo much!!!!

We set off around 10am, after having a short walk and breakfast, heading to back into England and towards the Lakes District.  As we decided to leave at check out time we had plenty of spare time before we were supposed to get to Ambleside so we decided to try and just look out for signs for tourist spots or look outs.  We stopped along the edge of the Loch a few times to check it out and also the highland cattle - huge, long hair and big horns. 

Also on the route back we saw a sign for a whiskey distillery which of course we couldn't pass up.  Glengoyne is a great little working distillery just at the bottom of a hill which had been there for about 200 years.  We did a tour and a little tasting - really nice and smooth.  As we were driving off we both said how happy we were to stop off and do the tour.  It was good to actually walk around a working distillery instead of one which was a distillery but closed down and then turned into a tour.

The long drive up to Loch Lomond was good - the country side was picturesque, long rolling green hills, cows, sheep, lambs all made the drive seem not so long.  The hostel was located right on the edge of the loch and was a perfect place to unwind from the drive and chill out - which is just what we did.

We didn't bring any food with us so we headed to the nearby pub for a drink and a meal.  We sat outside for a little while watching the sun go down, but once it got close to heading over the hills, the temperature dropped and we headed inside.  Had a fantastic local delicacy - haggis, neeps and tattis.  Just can't get enough of that haggis.

After dinner we headed back to the hostel and chilled out with the other hickers in the main room catching up on Dr Who or just doing some reading.

The bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond - it's so true. We had a perfect day out on Loch Lomond, driving through the rugged countryside from Edinburgh and then hopping on a royal mail boat that went around some of the islands on the Loch. I couldn't believe how fantastically clear the reflections on the lake were, making for perfect pictures everywhere we went!

Cruising around the lake was the perfect way to see it (as opposed to driving around the shores), you get a far better feeling for the place gliding through the waters, and there's something soothing about being on a boat. It was an easy day trip from Edinburgh, and well worth it as the drive is just as beautiful.

On the way home, I couldn't resist jumping into a waterfall we passed...tis the Scottish way! But it's beautiful and you don't get a chance like that every day!

we booked a tour in glasgow. it was bus tour called timberbush tours. every day was a different tour. the tour we got, took us to stirling castle, loch lomond and Trossachs National Park. i recommend this tour.

Luss will be familiar to anyone who has seen the TV Soap "Take the High Road". Many of the cottages that distinguish Luss were originally erected to house workers in the cotton mill and slate quarries of the 18th and 19th centuries. The homes have been fully restored and Luss has been designated a "Conservation Village".

The name Luss is considered by some to be derived from the Gaelic "Lus", a plant, although others have suggested that it comes from the French "Luce", a lily. Several stories exist about the derivation of the present name. One related to that of the Baroness MacAuslin, who died in France, whilst her husband was fighting at the siege of Tournay. Her body was brought back to Luss covered with flowers, especially the fleur-de luce. Some of the flowers grew to the surface of the grave " and became miraculously efficacious in staying a pestilence then raging through the countryside".

Its is uncertain how long there has been a village at Luss, certainly a thousand years, possibly much more. Haekon of Norway undoubtedly passed through Luss in 1263. His Vikings dragged their ships over land from Arrochar to Tarbet, plundering the communities of the Islands and Loch-side. Only tantalising clues remain, like the 11th Century Viking Hog-backed grave stone now in the churchyard (at least one Viking never made it home).

The wide vista of the southern loch can be best seen from the pier. To the north the bulk of Ben Lomond dominates the skyline. This is the most southerly of the Highland mountains and is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. To the south Conic Hill marks the geological boundary between the highlands and the lowlands. The conifer plantations to the north of Conic Hill form part of the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park.

We drove down the length of Skye, which was quite pretty, and took the ferry across back to mainland Scotland.  There was more driving through hills & mountains & past lochs & rivers.

Every place we drove through, Mum seemed to have a story about Bonnie Prince Charlie, and to paraphrase Mr Bennett in Pride & Prejudice, "oh that he had sprained his ankle in the first battle". 

We stopped in the middle of the day @ Glenfinnan, something to do with BPC again, but my interest suddenly spiked when the guidebook mentioned that this had been a Harry Potter filming location.  I left Mum to explore ancient monuments & I went trekking across the hills to the big viaduct that the Hogwarts Express crosses.  It was quite an energetic yet squelchy walk - the Scottish hillsides are deceptively soggy.  Just as I was at the top looking down on the viaduct, the tourist steam-train that uses the route came past, so that made for some nice pics. 

As we drove south the weather kept changing - it was rather misty on Skye, but then quite warm in the middle of the day, but then it started to absolutely pour with rain as we drove the length of Loch Lomond. 

We're staying in a fabulous hostel that used to be a tobacco merchant's manor house - lovely stone façade, impressive stairs and halls inside, and views down to the Loch.