Bagpipes and bus

I did take a 40 minute walk before last night's dinner (which was the most mundane so far), and the hills were quite a workout.  Then repacked everything so we could check out this morning and head for Glasgow.  Our original schedule had us visiting another distillery, but none of us felt the need for that.  The "woolen mill" turned out not to be a spinnery, as I had hoped, but just a retail store full of woollens and Scottish ticky-tack.  Things labeled "Cashmere" were sometimes 90% merino and 10% cashmere, which seems like bait-and-switch.

We spent most of the day on the bus, but the scenery was incredible.  We drove along Loch Ness and through their highest mountains, staying mostly alongside a canal that links the three biggest lochs, two of which have names that appear to be throat-clearing noises.  Along Loch Ness the road (which is narrow with no shoulders or guard rail most of the way) clings to the side of a mountain, with steep or even sheer drops to the lake.  I noted at one point the upside-down carcass of a car about 20 feet down, wrecked and tangled in trees.  Then we were stopped cold.  So cold, our tour guide jumped off the bus (and he looks about 70), opened the luggage compartment, fished out his bagpipes, and started playing.

That's him by the door of the bus.  We got out and walked around and took pictures of picturesque things and wondered whether this would delay our next bathroom stop.  It was only about 15 minutes before the line started to move.  There had been a bad accident, and when we finally passed it, we saw a Volkswagen beetle sliced in half from front to back, although we could see no sign of how it happened.  Before we got to it we paused and I could see another car wreck about 40 feet down the hill.  I hope the passengers were rescued and are not still on some missing persons list.

We stopped a few times, for lunch, for shopping, for urination, and to gaze in wonder at the scenery.

This is an old slate quarry, for roof tiles.

The ride among the mountains as we headed toward Glasgow was just beautiful.  And yet, no matter how steep the mountains and how rocky the slopes, someone would have built a stone fence to protect their claim.  They love their rock walls, fences, and hedges here.  We saw sheep, feral goats, deer, hikers, campers, water everywhere.  Eventually we rode along the edge of Loch Lomond (and I do mean edge, sometimes those of us on the left side thought we had only inches between us and the next sheer drop) and got to the Glasgow Hilton, which was apparently built for people who don't know what to do with their money.  Their internet charge makes my $15/day wifi rental look like a really good bargain.  So now is time to rest, charge electronics, figure out the room (no weird card slot to keep the lights on, but several of us in one elevator couldn't make it obey us until somebody else told us to put our room cards into its slot), and regroup for dinner.  Lunch was very good - dozens of tender mussels with a creamy broth, roasted pork belly with cabbage and sweet potato, and a parfait with raspberries, whipped cream, and a meringue tucked inside.  Sometimes it's not so bad being gluten-free.