Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland a'fore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond."
~Loch Lomand, Traditional Scottish song
For a beautiful rendition of this song, watch John Barrowman perform it in Glasgow.
Distance: 242 miles
Scenery: Breathtaking
Distance: 242 miles
Scenery: Breathtaking
Language fun fact: a "firth" is a sea inlet, or bay. Even though it's all part of the Atlantic Ocean, these inlets are given their own names.
The firths flow into rivers and lochs. The Falls of Foyers became our first target of the day--a waterfall along the River Foyers--which originates at Loch Ness.
Somewhere in this area, a mile to the west of the falls, is a cave. It's not a tourist site. Although a few Outlander fans have reportedly managed to find it, the directions they have left don't make it very easy for anyone else to find it...at least we didn't. The inhabitant of the cave, James Fraser, 9th of Foyers is real. He supported Prince Charles during the Scottish uprising and he escaped after the battle of Culloden, and lived in hiding for 7 years. The story was fictionalized by Diana Gabaldon in her book Voyager to apply to HER character of James Fraser.
"'The laird, one of the few fortunates to escape the disaster of Culloden, made his way with difficulty to his home, but was compelled to lie hidden in a cave on his lands for nearly seven years, while the English hunted the Highlands for the fugitive supporters of Charles Stuart.'"
~Diana Gabaldon, Voyager
I reluctantly abandoned my quest to find the cave and we continued our drive to marvel at the beauty of the area around Loch Ness.
Near Glencoe, we stopped in the area of the Glencoe Massacre. This event occurred in 1692 when members of the Clan MacDonald were killed in their sleep under orders of Secretary of State John Dalrymple by Captain Robert Campbell and his men. The soldiers serving under Campbell had enjoyed MacDonald hospitality for 12 days before receiving the kill order. Thirty-eight people were killed immediately, while others fled to the mountains and died of exposure.
Despite the gruesome history, I think this area of the Scottish Highlands are the most beautiful and felt glad we left this for the last day.
The road took us along several lochs, the largest being Loch Lomond.
Our last scenic stop before Glasgow was to Finnich Glen. A local man stopped at the side of the road who gave us directions, warned us that the way down was steep. We found a reasonable path down to the water.
What we photographed looked sort of like the scenes in Outlander, when Dougal challenges Claire about being a spy for the last time, but since arriving home and conducting further research, I have found that what we were really looking for was across the road from where we took our pictures. <Sigh> Next trip.
We arrived in Glasgow, returned our final rental car and checked in to our final hotel to get some sleep before our journey home.
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