{"id":10489,"date":"2018-06-13T16:56:08","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T16:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=10489"},"modified":"2019-05-25T10:29:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T00:29:25","slug":"dunbarton-and-loch-lomond-scotland-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=10489","title":{"rendered":"Dunbarton and Loch Lomond, Scotland. 2018 \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc63\udb40\udc74\udb40\udc7f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: 12 June 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled: 27 kilometres from Dunbarton to Drymen, Scotland.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited: Dunbarton Castle \u00a35pp and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed: West Highland Way carpark near Drymen, free. N56.08430, W04.44533<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our big day in Glasgow yesterday we need to move on. Firstly however, we should visit Dunbarton Castle since we have been parked in it\u2019s carpark for two nights.  Another beautiful morning greets us, cannot believe this weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A huge truck parked next to us yesterday evening and I had visions of him driving out at 3am and waking us up, but no he started it at 6.30, so we had a little sleep in.  The castle opens and 9.30am and we are at the door waiting…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I know the sign calls it a Castle but locally it\u2019s known as the fortress. There is no castle here only various gun batteries, accomodation for soldiers and a prison.  There is one larger house now used as an office, were Mary Queen of Scotts lived under house arrest before she escaped. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A cannon stands sentry on one of the many batteries located around the fortress.  The fortress and the rocky outcrop it stands on, is known as the Rock of the Clyde.  According to the blurb there has been some form of a stronghold here for 1500 years.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Nice view up the Clyde from here, that\u2019s Glasgow Port in the distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Originally built as a barracks this lovely building was used to imprison French prisoner\u2019s of war during the napoleonic era.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We notice there are just as many cannon facing town. Maybe the locals got a bit rowdy on a Saturday night. I should add our hero William Wallace was captured and gaoled here before going on to his trail and execution.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Michael and Pam's Photo Sphere (1CA215C3-E5DB-4703-A866-00D67E7CDB8C)<\/a>
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Anyway we enjoyed our visit to Dunbarton Castle and the 550 steps to the top battery, a good morning leg stretch.  So we get the Hymer on the road, needing a supermarket and some fuel.  Just in passing, diesel fuel in the UK is currently running at \u00a31.33 or A$2.35 per litre.  The supermarket and fueling done we continue north to Balloch on the lower shores of Loch Lomond.  Balloch is the southern gateway to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Driving through Balloch we look for an information centre to confirm our plans for tomorrow\u2019s walk. We follow a parking sign into some parkland and find this tree covered area, stop and have lunch.  The tourist information is just around the corner so we check it out before walking off lunch.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Our walk takes us over the bridge, the cruises up Loch Lomond depart from here (obviously).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Looking downstream from the other side of the bridge, small boats are very popular here.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Bonus picture, the traditional roses are amazing.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We leave Balloch and drive into the national park to find the trail head for our walk.  Through Drymen up a long narrow country land, there is no sign but the GPS says this is the spot.  Looks good for the night from here and Pam\u2019s favourite price.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Michael and Pam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Edited with BlogPad Pro<\/span>
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Date: 12 June 2018 Travelled: 27 kilometres from Dunbarton to Drymen, Scotland. Visited: Dunbarton Castle \u00a35pp and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Stayed: West Highland Way carpark near Drymen, free. N56.08430, W04.44533 After our big day in Glasgow yesterday we need to move on. Firstly however, we should visit Dunbarton Castle since we have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25],"tags":[88,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-10489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-castles","10":"tag-hiking","11":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10489"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18301,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10489\/revisions\/18301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}