Two Castles, a Loch, a Chapel and William Wallace

Overnight, after leaving Dublin at 6:30, we sailed past the Isle of Man, up the Firth of Clyde to the mouth of the Clyde River and Greenock, Scotland.
We had no plans for our day in Scotland. None at all. Many of the ship’s tours were leaving the ship at 7:30, on our longest port day, the all-aboard being at 7:00 p.m. We both slept until 8:15, went down for a nice, leisurely sit-down breakfast at 9:15, came back to the room, got showers, then finally began our way to the gangway to leave the ship after 11.

We took our time through the port terminal, chatting with a fellow who was there to talk about Scottish clans. While I have no known Scottish in my background or blood, Kathy has a lot of it in hers. She couldn’t remember the surnames of the branches of her family that came from Scotland several generations back. She texted her sister for that, figuring we could talk to the fellow upon our return from whatever activity we wound up engaging in for the day.

Finally, around 11:30, we moseyed out of the terminal building, and began looking for a car to take us around. We met Thomas, who said he could take us to Loch Lomond and the Stirling Castle, and easily have us back to the ship in plenty of time. As we drove along the Clyde River, heading towards Loch Lomond, I noted a big rock rising up on the banks across the wide river. Thomas immediately said, “That’s Dumbarton, and there’s a castle built into that rock. I can have you over there in ten minutes”, and he did. Thomas didn’t mess around behind the wheel. He got you there.

At the rock, which was not accessible, I got out, and started climbing — and climbing — and climbing some more. Kathy was happy to hang at the car while I climbed the rock. My apple watch app said I climbed 34 flights getting to the top of the rock — there were actually two peaks, side by side, and I scaled both, with lots of interesting sites to see on the way up and the way back down. The view from atop the Dumbarton Castle rock was quite splendid, looking down and out over the Clyde River.

Apparently Mary Queen of Scots, when but a toddler, was brought to this castle for protection, as there was much turmoil surrounding the crown of Scotland at the time, and her life was in danger, since she was in the line of succession and others didn’t like that.

There was much history to experience this day. Once I made my way back down from my long climbs up the two peaks, we continued on our journey towards Loch Lomond, and back in time.
The loch was quite charming, and large, the largest body of fresh water in all of the United Kingdom. We made a stop at a little shop upon our arrival, where we got some tea and coffee, along with some delicious butter shortbread biscuit wafers.

We came across a couple of highland cows — noted for their long hair and horns — as Thomas brought us to a dock that had some very picturesque vistas. Next we stopped at an old chapel, surrounded by ancient grave stones dating back hundreds, some a thousand years, back to Viking days and beyond. The chapel itself had quite a history — the original place of worship on the same site was believed to have been in 500 a.d. — the current one included some stones from the first century, including a stone baptismal font from that era. A most lovely old Scottish lady was there in the chapel, happy to provide some of the history and knowledge of the sacred place, which still held regular worship services. It was laid out with the pulpit and altar in the middle, with all of the pews facing towards the middle, keeping all worshipers closer to the minister conducting the service. It was quite enjoyable.

We passed a number of Scottish golf courses, whose names escape me, but I’m certain my brother and probably nephew had been over to golf them. They are avid golfers, and have made more than one trip to Scotland to golf some of the oldest courses, in the land where golf was born.
The highlight of the day’s touring was Stirling Castle. What an amazing structure, or I should say structures, rich with a colorful history that stagger the imagination, including overlooking the site of some of the great battles fought in the war for Scottish independence from the English crown.

Approaching the castle across the broad fields where those battles were waged, off in the distance, high on a hill, you could see the massive William Wallace memorial even before you could see the Stirling Castle. One could almost feel the power of his cries for “Freedom!” as we traveled across those legendary plains. We had been driving through a rain outburst, but driver Thomas saw on opening of sunlight over beyond William’s memorial, and invoked the spirit of the great Scotsman to clear the skies up about the castle for our visit. William apparently came through, and we had a rain-free visit.

We stood in a massive hall in the castle where Queen Mary once hosted a party for 400 of the leaders of all of the kingdoms of Europe that went on for three days, warmed only by five huge fireplaces.
Kathy found the clan names of her Scottish ancestors — Mcauley, Logan, Brannan, and McGrath — but we cut the time a bit short getting back to the ship, as Thomas again invoked William Wallace to get us back there on time. He had promised that if he missed the ship, he would put us up in a 5 star hotel and get us to the ship’s next port (Liverpool, England) in time to catch up with the ship there. William again came through for Thomas, and despite heavy traffic and much stop and go, we got there with 15 minutes to spare.

The look of relief on Thomas’ face spelled “FREEDOM!” Another day’s adventure was complete, having spent a day we had no plans for visiting two historic castles, a most lovely loch, and an ancient, sacred chapel.
Today, we have no plans for what we’ll do in Liverpool. It’s overcast and cold. I don’t think the spirit of William Wallace holds any sway here, since it is, after all, England. Maybe John Lennon can Help? Imagine that!
P.S. — despite a very cold and wet early morning in Liverpool, apparently my invoking the spirit of John Lennon did the trick, as our exceptional luck with the weather this whole cruise continued, and we had a dry day wheeling about the docks of Liverpool, taking in a John Lennon exhibit in Liverpool’s museum, then the Story of the Beatles, a great interactive experience that followed the Beatles from their beginnings to their break-up and individual careers post-Beatles. More on that tomorrow.

