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“Why in the name of common sense didn't they build a connecting railway between their two major stations?” |
Before arriving in Glasgow, we took a small detour ...the opposite way, infact, to Dollar, where we visited Castle Campbell.
Once we arrived in Dollar, we had to go for a walk up Dollar Glen to get there, but that place is just as fantastic as visiting the castle itself. It was a bit boggy, but lots of nice trees, rivers and interesting looking mushrooms. The only thing is, you don't see the castle until the last minute (if you take the right track up the glen). Then suddenly, whom! It's there, and you wonder why on earth you didn't notice it earlier. And if you happen read that the walk is "about a 20 minute walk up the glen" in one particular guide book, you are reading a lie. It's at least 30 minutes up there.
But when you see the castle, you get that fastly-becoming-familar sense of awe. The castle is ruined today, but that is definitely OK. And you can still get up the tall tower for the view from the top, because the view is all that really matters, right? The castle is quite high up on the hill anyway, so the view from the top looks kind of the same as the view from the lawn at the front anyway...
The good thing about this place is the lack of other people. Because its so far out of the way, not many people seem to go out of their way to visit it, and I doubt its included on many group tour schedules (for some unexcusable reason)
A great place to get a cheap lunch is the local delicatessen in Dollar. I had a Chinese Chicken filled roll... I'm not sure how they arrived at 'Chinese', but it tasted GREAT. And it was deliciously very fresh.
The train to Glasgow only took about 40 minutes. It is not as easy to find your way around Glasgow as it is Edinburgh and, alack and alas, we became confused (not the first time this has happened, however). The biggest question I have to ask about this city is, why in the name of common sense don't they have a connecting railway line between the two major stations, Central and Queen Street?? That's just plain inconvenience.
Our accommodation was right on the Clyde, which adds to the effect of lighting at night time, at 9 storeys up.
Going walkabout again, we stumbled up George Street Square, which is nothing to rave over. We read about the Piping Centre (in that guide book again), so we set out to find that. Really, easier said than done. Sometimes you just have to do the navigating yourself to get anywhere.
So we arrived at the museum at 5.30 - closing time. But the dude let us in anyway, since the shop there closes later on. The museum is free, and very small. Its a good place to go to sit down though, as there's a small room showing a movie. It pretty much explains how they play those things out of tune but at the same time sounding fantastic.
I found that there is not much to do in Glasgow, perhaps becuase the time we decided didnt really allow for us to do much, tho I would have liked a relaxing stroll along the Clyde. The ciy is a lot bigger and busier and comercial to Edinburgh. At the end of the day, I decided that it was not really worth staying here, rather continue on to Oban.
previous travel blog entry
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