Monday 1 August 2016

#Monday Moments to Lochgilphead

Monday Moments! 

Thsi is why my Summer Suns are not a glowin' with writing today!

I’m off to Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute, today to attend a wedding. The Tuesday wedding will be held at a nearby wedding venue named Crear Weddings and this is situated on the west coast. Updates may come on that later.

I’ve been to Lochgilphead before but haven’t focused on what I could see around the area as I’ve not spent time in any Lochgilphead hotels. The Stag Inn is our port of call for the next couple of days so during the few hours that I might have for sightseeing I’ve earmarked a couple of places to visit.

Our journey from Aberdeenshire will be quite a long one and will take us a good few hours since we’re travelling mostly on the scenic routes. We’ll head down to Stonehaven on the east coast to pick up the A90 for a short stretch to Kirriemuir where we’ll begin to head west on the A926. After Blairgowrie it’ll be on to Crieff via the A822 and A85 Crianlarich. Traveelling south west we’ll head on to Inverary via the A819. From Inverary we’ll be taking the A83 to Lochgilphead. That might sound an easy journey but single carriageway roads at this time of year can be slow if there’s caravan and tour buses using the routes- which is very likely.

Apologies for the map quality of marking on it. I'm in a hurry and the program wouldn't work for me but ...later.. I'll try to improve on it. 



You might say why can’t we just head down more directly south west - and it’s a great question - but the Grampian Mountains get in the way. They get in the way now just as they got in the way when the Ancient Romans were investigating the country for General Agricola back around AD 80 - 84!

Lochgilphead, Ceann Loch Gilb, has less than 2,500 residents but it’s quite a thriving town with a number of facilities since it’s the administrative centre for the area (Argyll and Bute).  The village lies at the end of Loch Gilb, which is a branch of the larger Loch Fyne, the Crinan Canal being close by.

So what do I want to see?
Ø      I want to visit Dunadd Fort if possible to see the seat of Royal Kings of the late Iron Ages and pre-Viking influence. It’s believed to have been the capital of the Kingdom of Dal Riata.

Ø      Keills Chapel, 12th century, has some beautiful Celtic standing stones. Visiting these might be difficult since our primary purpose is the wedding but I can hope!


I’ve got to go now…

Slainthe! 

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