Loch Lomond

Not sure really why I’m here.  I guess it was to visit a great loch before Glasgow. The weather today was horrid.  I had planned to get a taxi from where I had stayed to the ferry but apparently the owners had stayed up to watch the big boxing bout and slept in.  By the time breakfast was to be served, the only one to provide anything was a guest who put on the coffee. Ross, a former baseball player from South Africa was here with his wife’s family to pay respects to her late mother and disperse ashes so I was surprised when they offered to take me to the ferry.  It was pouring so a real help.

I caught the 8:30 boat, had breakfast onboard with a family from Holland and debarked in Ardrossan to find no train or bus.  Traveling on Sundays is not easy as all bus schedules are reduced.  By the time I got to the train station in Saltcoats I was soaked and stayed that way until the hotel. I finally got to Glasgow Central and then to Alexandria only to find that my hotel was closer to Balloch and I should have gone to  the next station. Tomorrow should be better although it’s a bank holiday so schedules are again reduced so I’ll keep close to the hotel.

That night the pub at the Lomond Park Hotel, where I was staying, got pretty crowded. I stopped in for a pint and soon met a couple of Yanks.

Melissa on the left is from DC and Stephanie from Texas, formally DC. Steph did a more than passable ‘Friends in Low Places’ complete with growl during karaoke and Melissa charmed some bloke out of his 6 Nations, Scotland cap.  People naturally assumed that 3 Yanks must be together but as soon as that notion was corrected all the men paid a lot of attention to two out of three.  No one really paid much attention to the third.  Duh!

I did see my first official Hen Party.  I know for a fact that is what is was because the ladies were all dolled up.  The give away were the sashes they wore proclaiming “Hen Party”. Since it was a bank holiday the next day, the bar & music kept up to 3, about 4 hours after I called it a night.  I lost my two American friends in the crowd or outside so I was never able to say good bye.  They probably didn’t notice.