Sadly we had to move on from Glasgow this morning, but we made time to have a quick look at the Cathedral Precinct and a wee peek at Glasgow University.
The Cathedral wasn’t open at this early hour, but the university was, with the old traditional lecture theatres crammed full of fresh-faced students as the new academic year begins.
Our destination tonight is Cannich, a little town about 40 kms west of Loch Ness. We wanted to avoid the busier roads if we could, so left Glasgow heading out along the mighty River Clyde towards Helensburgh. The weather was pretty wild and wooly!
The very narrow and very picturesque road hugged the shores of Loch Long. We passed a naval facility which was heavily fortified and guarded with absolutely nowhere to stop and photograph, and we later found out why. It was RNAD Coulport, short for Royal Naval Armaments Depot, and is the storage and loading facility for nuclear warheads for the UK’s Trident program. Explained the heavy police presence!
Maybe they’re working on some Australian submarines!
We briefly joined the main road at Arrochar, home of the world famous Loch Fyne Oyster Bar. It was very busy serving customers from various vintage car clubs….not surprising as even being a Monday, it is a public holiday celebrating ‘Autumn’ in Glasgow today!
We grabbed a very acceptable shrimp and rose marie sauce baguette and headed outside in the windy weather to enjoy. It was a great feed!
The gentle climb up Glen Croe was damp, the mountains shrouded in mist, but upon reaching the viewpoint at the Rest and Be Thankful lookout, the wind blew in some better weather.
A little further along, we reached Inverary, a very Georgian black and white town built by the Duke of Argyll in the 18th Century when he revamped his 15th Century castle nearby.
Too cheap to pay the entrance fee, we cheated and took a snap from the gate.
Leaving the hum of the A83 behind us, we peeled off to the quietness of a smaller road, following Loch Awe to the ruins of Kilchurn Castle. Very picturesque, it sits in the middle of a paddock of grazing sheep.
Time was ticking away, so we picked up the pace a bit (which was good because it started raining quite convincingly).
Through Fort William, the site of the 1969 Jones family car break down disaster… our newly acquired second-hand 4 cylinder vauxhall station wagon carrying 6 people must have found the trip from London to the highlands tough going as it blew a head gaskett when we reached this point (and so did my dad)! We all had to return to London by train, overnight sitting up. As a then 11-year-old, it’s an experience forever etched in my memory! Particularly how angry adults can be sometimes!
At Invergarry, we stopped at the Bridge of Oich, built after the 1849 floods breached the Caledonian Canal, destroying the original stone bridge. This super dooper new model was built in suspension style to avoid the problem ever happening again. Considering it’s approaching its 175th birthday, they did a pretty good job!
Urquhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness looked very pretty in the afternoon sun. No sign of Nessie!
Light was fading fast, but we had one more stop to make. I had my heart set on seeing Dog Falls and Glen Affric, but unfortunately, by the time we reached the carpark, there just wasn’t time to complete the 90-minute loop. Next time!
Our accommodation for the night was the Tomich Hotel, about 4kms out of Cannich village. OMG! It was beautiful on the outside and full of character on the inside, as if time was standing still!
Our hosts, Peter and his Thai wife Pik, and their 9 month old baby Abigail ran the whole show between them. Luckily, there were only 4 guests for the night, and that included us!
The dinner menu wasn’t very extensive, shall we say, but the Thai menu items were delicious! We sat in the bar with the other couple for quite a while (and there’s another story), chatting over a few beers before heading wearily to bed.
Now, normally, I would have ended this post here, but an early morning walk the following day revealed some great information I just have to share!
I walked up the little one and only street of Tomich and couldn’t quite believe how postcard picture perfect it seemed to be. Very neat little houses and gardens, even ornate Victorian street lamps.
Then I stumbled upon this roadside fountain cum monument!
With this inscription…
It seems Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks Bart built the village of Tomich, and as the local Laird, took a keen interest in the village and its people. His good lady wife, Isabel Lady Tweedmouth, it said, was ‘mother to the people’.
I was so excited! Wait till I tell Grahame!!
I turned to walk back to the Hotel for breakfast, passing a local packing up her car. We exchanged greetings, but I was so excited I had to share the news with her that I had just found evidence my brother- in-law’s ancestor had built this village!
Well, her happy demeanour instantly changed! She then proceeded to tell me not to believe what the inscription said at all. She said that, in fact, Lord Dudley and Lady Isabel were certainly not the benefactors they were made out to be. Apparently, their house and estate (now in ruin and the site of a holiday park) looked over the original village about 1km up the road. Not wanting to have a view of the riff raff, they decided to build a new village for the peasants down the road out of their sight!
What a revelation! But what a moral dilemma! How could I tell Grahame his ancestor had been a cad?
Retracing my steps to the Hotel, I relayed my story to Peter. He roared with laughter and said “Let me tell you, the Jacobites are alive and well around here…still!”
Happily, he put me right.
Sir Dudley was, in fact, a very busy man. As well as being a Member of Parliament (for the liberals but we’ll forgive him), he also made his money from starting MEUX & Co Beer brewing, Coutts banking, and built the village of Tomich with everything to make it self-sustainable, even down to having its own Mill (stream still visible today). By building the village, the villagers now had proper rooves over their heads and decent housing. He also experimented with dog breeding and is attributed with being the first to breed the Golden Retriever. Peter said notes on the breeding program were found, and all were in Sir Dudley’s own handwriting. He specifically wanted to breed a calm dog for his children rather than a hunting dog, which was the norm in those parts at the time!
Phew, information overload!
Weirdly, before I reached the monument fountain things this morning, I’d passed another memorial.
With this inscription…
No mention of the name Marjoribanks, so I hadn’t put two and two together.
So Grahame, I reckon you should be mighty proud of Sir Dudley. It seems to me he did a lot of good stuff.
I can see the resemblance. Can you?
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 