Serenity

There is definitely something peaceful about having no service on one's phone!

Our cabin for the last four nights was right on Loch Lomond, around seven kilometers up the road from the sweet village of Luss. As soon as we arrived, Toby spotted the looming peak across the loch and set his heart on climbing it. Investigations suggested that it was a job for full hiking gear, boots at the very least, and would take four or five hours. I suggested we climb Ben A'an, something Andrew and I did last time. It was steep enough for me to worry about losing my breakfast; surely that would do!

It wouldn't do, and given that Toby has followed along with all we have done, when he hasn't really been interested, we needed to make it happen.

First, though, we drove over to St Andrew's to catch up with the Hollands, who used to go to our church. Jonathon was at work, but we had such a lovely time with Catherine and the girls. We got to see their new house, one of a row of four cottages in the middle of fields, next to a wood, and the kids played with the girls. They lost two balls over the fence and had fun rescuing one of them from amongst the nettles.

After lunch we followed their car into St Andrew's driving past the famous golf course. They play golf there, apparently. Andrew was impressed. I was impressed by the university buildings, and the ruins of the castle and cathedral.

It's a beautiful town, and the scenery on the way there and back, as well as being able to see and hear about the Hollands' life in Scotland, made it all well worth the drive.

The next day we went into Glasgow, especially for Andrew and Toby's tour of Celtic Park.

The huge building across the road is a velodrome, which Joss was very keen to take a look at. We interacted with three people in order to make this happen, and I had to say "sorry" or "pardon" around six times. How crazy that they were speaking English, but my brain just couldn't decipher it!

While the boys were at Celtic Park, and after we had checked out the velodrome, Joss, Beth and I walked to a local shopping centre. Celtic Park is not in the nicest part of Glasgow, and though we drove into the centre of town afterwards, I still didn't see anything very nice. We missed the lovely parts of Glasgow, and really needed a guide, or to have done more research.

What we did get, however, was a pair of hiking boots each for Andrew and Toby. The following morning, which is yesterday now, they donned their new boots packed water, food, and jackets, and drove off early to conquer the mountain. You'll have to see Andrew's photos to get a fraction of an idea of how beautiful the scenery was from the top of Ben Lomond. Toby pretty much floated up and down again, absolutely loving it. Andrew made it up alright, but did some pretty significant damage on the way down, and is suffering a bit today!

The girls had a quiet day; I did some washing and then walked the seven kilometers or so into Luss. I wandered around the village, full of sweet cottages,

 ... a very pretty church,

... a clan shop with Campbell merchandise,

...and kayaks. This is Toby and Joss. Andrew and Beth were in another one.

We left Loch Lomond this morning and drove to Edinburgh airport to drop off our car. It has been a  good friend for two weeks. Now, we are in Edinburgh, and how I love it here.

Joss' new Docs.

We have wandered, shopped, been to the National Gallery, and out for dinner. Now, the football.