A Second Time Around

Today was the day we were actually going to get the chance to see the castle that we had been wanting to see for several weeks. We woke up and had our leisurely breakfast at our B&B -- the usual cereal, scrambled eggs and toast with tea or coffee and o.j. It was nice to not have to feel rushed to get on the road in order to get to Inverary Castle on time. We were so close that we were actually able to take our time and enjoy waking up to a new day!

We headed out at about 10:00, dropped our luggage off at the car and decided since it was such a lovely morning that we would walk to the castle. After all, we were about a 5 minute walk, so why drive?? It was a nice walk and we arrived just shortly after the castle opened. Surprisingly enough, by the time we got there, there was already several tour buses that had arrived shortly before we did.

We wandered through Inverary Castle, trying to dodge the large tour groups of Italians and Germans, and enjoyed seeing all the beautifully designed rooms and memorabilia of the Argyll royal family and the Clan Campbell. I really liked the way in which the first several rooms had items that dated back to the 1700s and towards the end of the tour there were a couple of rooms that had various items and pictures which showed the development of the Clan Campbell from the past to present day.

My favorite room of the castle, primarily because if it's design and airy feeling, was the Great Armoury Hall. The huge displays of swords, firearms and axes hung in creative rounded patterns made the room more massive than it already was. I had never seen items such as the ones in this room look so impressive and attractive in a "pretty" sort of way. The more I looked, the more I admired the way in which the arms were arranged against the bold yellow walls. It made the weapons look more like pieces of art than what they really were.
The time we spent in the castle I felt was well worth the wait and all the trouble we took to actually see what was inside. Our persistence surely paid off!

After roaming through the castle, we took some time to walk around the grounds of the adjacent Argyll Estates. Upon entering the grounds, we saw a color-coded sign that led us to believe that there were hiking paths of different lengths available for exploring, depending on how long of a walk one wanted to take. We saw the colored markers and followed them only to keep running into dead ends and paths blocked off by locked gates. We were a bit confused but how hard it was to actually find a path that went anywhere. After trying several times to follow paths that eventually took us to blocked off sections, we decided to walk around the open fields where the sheep seemed to be enjoying their feast of grass. We watched for awhile while they continued tending to more important matters rather than paying any real attention to us. It was rather funny watching some of the sheep eat the grass so quickly (and I thought I was a fast eater... geesh!)and seeing some of the others taking breaks and basking in the sun.

We decided to head on out and walk back to the car since it looked like a hike was not in the cards for us or at least not around the Argyll Estates. It felt good to know we had only about an hour and half drive back to Glasgow since we had been driving quite a bit the past several days. We considered stopping once again in Stirling on the way back to Glasgow but decided we really wanted to get back, unwind, catch up on the laundry we DESPERATELY needed to do, and update the travel blog before anymore time got away from us and we had forgotten all the important details of our adventures to the Highlands.

It sure felt good to return to homebase. The time away from Glasgow was not a long time however, looking back and realizing that we had actually been away from the city for 5 days without a washing machine and at times without a decent shower, it was fair to say that we were ready to return to civilization and home conveniences.

Along with being back "home" we decided we were tired of eating out and wanted a home-cooked meal. We drove to the local neighborhood SUPER Safeway and picked up some things to whip up a quick dinner. There was something comfortable able being back in the Lacey's quirky home and cooking in their disorganized kitchen. As much as I enjoyed being away from it all and seeing such a different part of Scotland these past days, it was good to be back in Glasgow. As odd as the Lacey house may be, I have grown to appreciate it for what it is and have adjusted to having it be our "home away from home"!!! It is hard to believe we will be leaving the house the day after tomorrow and living in hotels for the next two weeks... The Lacey house will be missed!