One day last week we had to drive over to my beloved west of Scotland, it’s only around 70 miles away but it’s very different from the east coast. Below is a photo of Ben Lomond, I don’t remember ever seeing it with so much snow on it before.
There was still plenty of snow piled at the side of the roads on the way there, but by the time we got to central Scotland, the Stirling area – it had disappeared. We couldn’t resist stopping at Loch Lomond to take this photo of Ben Lomond capped with snow. I was brought up just a few miles away from here and in the summertime, in the days when we actually used to have decent summer weather, I used to walk here to visit my older married sister who lived nearby.
In Scotland the largest hill in any area is called ‘ben’ and locally that one will always just be known as ‘the ben’.
We drove onward to Arrochar and Tarbet where what had been a gorgeous day turned briefly quite grim with rain, so no photos were taken but you can see some images of the area here.
I took the photo below of Loch Long whilst we were driving along, it reminds me of the Norwegian fjords with those layers of mountains in the background.
Then we drove over to Rhu and Helensburgh by a very skinny road which twists and turns and has ups and downs reminiscent of a big dipper ride. We breathed in at times whenever a 4×4 was coming from the other direction. You can see images of Rhu and Helensburgh here.
It’s a pity there are so many trees lining the loch as it can be quite difficult to get a glimpse of it at times.
The only place that you can stop is when you reach the Ministry of Defence area, where my dad used to work in fact, straight ahead it’s a blot on the landscape, all military metal, nuclear nonsense and razor wire, but looking back up Loch Long it does feel very Nordic.
A walk around Helensburgh and coffee at The Sugar Boat ended a perfect day out.
What beautiful photos, especially the second and the last.
Jennifer,
Thanks, it’s a lovely area and only about 20 miles from Glasgow.
Truly a beautiful and breathtaking place. Loch Lomond was one of the places we visited on our visit to Scotland, but we were in the town of Balloch. We hiked up to a high point in the national park where there was a castle and a really lovely view. What a wonderful day we had.
Paula,
The photos of Ben Lomond were actually taken from Balloch, at the Lomond Shores retail outlet which backs onto the loch, my sister lived in nearby Alexandria. That national park is a fairly new one and I think it has done exactly the opposite of what a national park should do. They seem to want to build and build in the area, whereas when it was all under the control of the local council they just refused planning permission for building to keep it all natural.
Spectacular photos, especially the ones of Ben Lomond with the sun lighting the snow.
Joan,
It looks almost as good in the photo as it did in reality.
What striking photographs of Ben Lomond–Such a contrast to the landscape where you shot the photos. I imagine you must have gasped when you saw it like that.
I haven’t seen our nearest mountain, Eleventh Mountain, in days, because it hasn’t stopped snowing, not yet at least. Maybe tomorrow. I’m sure it’s more snow-covered than we are down below.
Judith,
I certainly don’t remember seeing Ben Lomond so close up and covered with snow.
I hope that means that you’ve been able to get some more fun in with your winter sports and hiking.
Absolutely! Sasha and I have thrilled to all the snow for snowshoeing around. To think we had almost no snow around the 26th of February!
Judith,
We have snow AGAIN here. I’ve had more than enough of it, but of course we don’t have your crazy high temps in summer – I couldn’t stand that at all!