Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

This morning, I collected my tour group from the Queen Elizabeth at Greenock, Firth of Clyde and then proceeded as follows:

First to Bearsden Roman Bath House. This was connected with a nearby fort on the Antonine Wall which dates from around AD 142.

Roman Bath House, Bearsden, Glasgow

Next, we arrived at Auchentoshan Distillery where we availed of a one hour tour learning all about the malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation and maturation processes relating to Scotch whisky.

Distilling Whisky at Achentoshan Distillery, Glasgow

Maturing Whisky Casks at Auchentoshan Distillery, Glasgow

Auchentoshan Distillery, Glasgow, Scotland

Next to the impressive Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, one of the top such establishments in Europe and which houses some 8,000 exhibits ranging from ancient Egypt to old masters to fossils to engineering.

Kelvingrove Museuam and Art Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland

Here is an image of James Watt’s steam engine. This was transformational as the technology powered the Industrial Revolution. James Watt hailed from Glasgow.

 Next we travelled down to Pacific Quay to view the River Clyde in context of the local architecture and bridges. View included the Clyde Auditorium or ‘Armadilllo’, Science Centre, and ‘Squinty’ Bridge.

River Clyde at Glasgow, Scotland

 Next to visit Glasgow’s 13th century Cathedral. We were fortunate to engage the services of an excellent and expert Cathedral guide who, in the course of an hour’s tour, explained all facets of this important and historic building which sits on a site of Christian worship dating back to around the 6th century AD.

Inside Glasgow Cathedral, Scotland

Next, we walked across the road to visit Provand’s Lordship. This is Glasgow’s oldest house dating back to the 15thcentury and was originally part of the buildings associated with the Cathedral administration.

Provand's Lordship, Glasgow, Scotland

Our final visit was to Newark Castle which sits on the banks of the Clyde in Port Glasgow. This was connected with Maxwell family and dates from the 15th century. A programme of restoration was underway durig our visit. However, we still maanged to viist the key aspects of the interior. 

Newark Castle, Port Glasgow, Scotland

 Finally, we returned to Greenockat around 4.30pm, in time to connect with the cruise ship’s departure schedule.

Overall, a good tour but weather was indifferent with prolonged spells of rain.

• Drove through the old industrial port areas of Greenock and Port Glasgow, past Port Glasgow Timber Ponds along the River Clyde and acroos the Erskine Bridge to our first stop at Luss, a very quaint and colourful village on the banks of Loch Lomond. Just before the village we stopped to admire some extremely colourful gardens at private houses.

Colourful Garden at Luss

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This morning, I went off to visit a historic site on Lurg Moor, above and behind Greenock and Port Glasgow. This was quite a jaunt because I had to navigate across some very rough ground and barbed wire fences. Clearly, the ground conditions are normally extremely wet but were fortunately frozen over today ( temperature about zero centigrade) thus enabling me to get around without the customary wet feet. The underlying purpose of this unusual trip will feature as the theme of tomorrow’s blog posting but, in the meantime, I am posting an interesting collection of images focusing on the stunning scenery. Weather conditions were very favourable comprising near freezing temperature coupled with bright sunshine, a combination very conducive to photography.

Firstly, this video clip covers a span of scenery from Dunoon and Cowal in the west (left) through to Loch Long, Gare Loch, Helensburgh and the Kilpatrick Hills in the east (far right) . The water in the middle is the River Clyde

This image shows Greenock with the Clyde and then Gare Loch and Helensburgh in the distance.

The following are interesting images arising from freezing conditions affecting a couple of burns (streams) I came across on my adventure across the moor,