Taking a bit of time away to explore a new bit of the highlands - even in the middle of winter - is always rewarding. Ever since I first moved to Scotland I’ve wanted to visit Loch Lomond, famous as the largest loch in Scotland and mentioned in dozens of famous Celtic ballads. I don’t know how it took me 6 years, but it finally happened.
Last week we ventured southwest towards Scotland’s “finger lakes” as I call it - an area that reminds me so much of my birth country. I grew up near Lake Oneida in New York, which is part of a larger series of long skinny lakes that are reminiscent of Scotland’s endless lochs.
Anyways, onwards we roamed, taking a detour to drive through Glencoe then down south to our first destination, Pucks Glen Lodges. Tucked into the side of a forested hill, this little hideaway provided us with two nights of relaxation.
One of the days we decided to drive over to Kilmartin Glen, a region famous for being home to hundreds of prehistoric stone monuments in the form of standing stones, circles, cairns, cists, slabs and more. Some of the sites date back to Neolithic and early Bronze Age (over 5,000 years old) and contain some of the best preserved examples of cup and ring markings in Scotland.
Unfortunately, we arrived in the midst of a brutal wind storm, which made walking, breathing, and talking in this large valley extremely challenging. We stayed just long enough to read the provided signs and snap some photos. I’ll definitely be back to explore more! We mainly stayed near the Nether Largie standing stones, and Temple Wood, an unassuming stone circle thought to have been used for ritual burials over 6,000 years ago.
Examples of cup markings on the central stone (Nether Largie standing stones).
On our final day in Pucks Glen, we went for a walk in the nearby forest. Big Tree Walk lives up to it’s name, as the first thing you see when entering the trail are some towering Californian Redwoods, Western Hemlocks, and Douglas Firs. Across the street is Benmore Botanic Garden, containing it’s own array of tree giants.
For our final night in the mountains, we headed towards Loch Lomond. As a birthday gift, our dear friends bought us a night at the Loch Lomond Lodge, situated directly on the shores of the largest loch in Scotland. We had a beautiful and relaxing evening followed by a gloriously sunny (and hot!) morning on the water.
I always love experiencing so many seasons in a short amount of time - everything from snow to hot sun. It also creates some truly magical atmosphere over the water and mountains.
Three days goes by quickly especially when you drive for almost five hours each day. However, the beautiful thing about Scotland is that there is such a massive variety of land features to discover in a small package. Site-seeing and exploring is exhilarating when you know you can expect something beautiful around each bend.