Day 15: Greenock

Tim wakes up feeling pretty bad this morning and decides to stay on the ship. I had a cough and cold for a couple of days and am feeling almost better now, but Tim has been worsening for the past couple of days and just feels too bad to get out today. Later today, I talk him into visiting the Dr. on the ship and he gets some antibiotics and nasal spray so hopefully after our sea day tomorrow he will be ready to go again.
I have reserved a minibus for 23 of us to tour with Jim as our guide today and John is our driver. Every day keeps getting better. Jim meets us on the pier wearing his kilt which we find out is the Douglas tartan (pattern). My grandmother was a Douglas and although I had scanned a list of clan names as I was planning our trip I missed seeing Douglas on the list. Each clan had their own designed/colored tartan for recognition. No wonder Harry looks like such a natural in his kilt—we are probably of Scottish descent. My new quest before we finish with the Scotland ports is to buy something with the Douglas tartan design to bring home. To my cousin Suzie who I think is following this blog: I will get you something too if I am able to find the Douglas tartan.

Anyway, back to our day and tour. It starts out cloudy with a few light drizzles but end up nice. We travel to the village of Luss and we are the first bus to arrive. It is a beautiful village and while we are on the pier there Jim plays his bagpipes for us. It was a perfect start of a beautiful day.

Next up is a Woolen Mills coffee break stop. Out front they had a birds of prey display and for a small donation you could hold one for a photo.

We then traveled through the Rob Roy Country/ Trossachs National Park which was breathtakingly beautiful.

Next up is the town of Calendar for shopping and lunch, but first we stop to see Hamish the Highland cow who is 17 years old and his new friend, Heather.

We had a nice lunch which included banofee pie—banana and caramel—YUM!

Gordon was at our lunch stop and after they finished eating the guides started making music in the restaurant which was wonderful.

When we got back to the bus we found Jim playing his bagpipes which was our signal it was time to go to the next stop, Stirling Castle.

Stirling Castle is located in central Scotland high on a hill and is beautiful. Although it is a little overcast today, we can see all the way to Edinburgh.

It was a great day with a perfect guide and great driver. I am sad Tim missed today because I think it is my favorite port so far. I see a land trip to Scotland in our future to explore more of the countryside and highlands of Scotland.