Glasgow to Campbelltown on the Argyle
© 2006 - 2007 Carlton McEachern – All text and photographs
As we pulled away from the Glasgow Airport and headed our rented van north along the A82, I began to have a sinking feeling in my stomach. Although this was the start of our third week in the UK, I had just dropped off my chief navigator and back seat driver (Teresa) at the airport along with my youngest son (Michael) and my daughter (Cara) for their early morning flight back to Canada. I now had 500 miles of driving under my belt in the U.K. without incident. The thing that worried me was the fact that the longer you go without an “incident”; the more likely you are to have one. I was now sitting on the wrong side of the van driving on the wrong side of the road trying to keep up with traffic. (The wrong side by Canadian driving habits at any rate.) Beside me sat my eldest son Andrew, who is the strong but somewhat silent type, as many 16 year olds are when you least want them to be. His “bring it on” demeanor wasn’t exactly the outlook I needed from a fellow copilot and navigator in training.
We arrived in the town of Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond sometime between 9 and 10 A.M., while the mist was still on the hills. The scenery was awesome but I quickly realized that it reminded me of home back in Canada. (The area of Ontario I live in, sometimes referred to as the “Near North” has many lakes similar to Loch Lomond.) There was a park there where we stopped for half an hour to take photographs and bask in the thoughts that our big adventure together had begun. We were giddy with joy as we motored on down the road to the tune of “We Are The Champions” performed by Queen.
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We continued on the A82 towards Tarbot, which is an absolutely delightful town. The weather, however, had started to degrade and it began to rain. The weather was one of the biggest surprises of our trip. We were expecting it to be cool compared to Canadian July standards, but we hadn’t counted on so much rain – 4 days out of 7. However, we sucked it up and made the best of it. Here is my favorite image of Tarbot.
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We stopped here on the return trip from Islay for supper and Andrew, who had been on a solid diet of chicken heretofore, ordered the Haggis. I nearly fell off my chair. He promptly cleaned his plate when it was served. What an animal!
Driving through the rain, we were forced to slow down somewhat. We still had to keep up with traffic. The A82
and most other roads in Scotland is one lane each way. Around the large urban areas there are freeways that are just as fast and well maintained as any in North America, but out here in the boonies the roads are mostly one lane each way. On some of the Islands they are one lane period but more about that in another installment.
Inveraray has a very picturesque approach including a dandy bridge that just begs, “take my picture” so I did and here it is.
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As we pulled into Inveraray, we thought it a good idea to stop, stretch our legs and buy some rain gear. We found a little shop on the main street that fit the bill and soon we were walking down the street with matching “Scotland” jackets and ball caps or should that be cricket caps.
The main street is awash in rain and whitewash. Whitewash was something we were going to be seeing a lot of on this trip and it was somewhat unexpected. Back home in Ontario, we have the odd house with a whitewash exterior treatment but not whole towns. It was very exciting to see this and we really started to feel like we had stepped into another world – which we had. This was just the touch we needed to get us into the "we are in Scotland" mode.
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We got on the A83 shortly and headed for Campbeltown. We wanted to check out the remains of the MacEachern Cross at Kilkerran Cemetery. In Campbeltown, we had a late lunch, got directions to Kilkerran and got our leg pulled a little bit. We had inquired about the other MacEachern Cross (Campbeltown Cross) that sits in the middle of a traffic circle there. We were told it had been stolen and its whereabouts were unknown. Much to our surprise, we almost ran into it on our way out of town.
This is the cross of Ivar MacEachern, once Rector of Kylregan and Master Andrew his son Rector of Kilcoman who erected this cross. Erected about the year 1500 A.D.. This cross was made in Iona about 1380 A.D. and shipped by boat to the peninsula. It has been erected in several locations on the Kintyre. For more info on this cross try Google.
After we finished up at the Kilkerran Cemetery we beat a hasty retreat back to Kennacraig where the ferries leave for Islay. We had a reservation, which is recommended, but we still had to buy our tickets and get in the queue for boarding.
This is a picture of the ferry terminal at Kennacraig. The bus, arriving from Glasgow, discharged passengers onto the ferry just before sailing.
As we got underway, a thick pea soup fog surrounded the ship. Once we left the shore there wasn’t much to see except the gift shop and snack bar on the ship. There were several lounge areas with television sets and comfortable seating which helped to pass the time. I was able to purchase some souvenir items and a great map of Islay at the ship’s gift shop.
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Anchors away. Next time, McEachern’s adventure on the Isle of Islay.
Bye for now - tiaraidh an drąsda.
© 2006 - 2007 Carlton McEachern – All text and photographs
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