Fifth Port - Greenock, Scotland

On July 23rd we docked in Greenock, Scotland. We then took a bus to Loch Lomond, the largest lake in Great Britain. When we arrived at Loch Lomond we boarded the Astina for a cruise around the loch. As we waited to board the boat, Robert and I were approached by 3 Scottish teens who wanted to know if we knew when the boat was leaving. They were thrilled to find out that not only were they talking to Americans, but Texans no less! It was fun to talk to them, although I will admit that we had a hard time understanding them sometimes. Apparently folks from small towns in Scotland can have really heavy accents!

The cruise around the loch was wonderful. Very relaxing and full of amazing sights. I love this picture. The dark patches are actually the clouds' shadows drifting across the land.
One of the many amazing homes we saw on the loch. I think this one is now a hotel.
May I interject here to say that this weather was typical of our whole cruise. It rained on us the first day (in La Havre), but other than that, we had days like this the whole cruise. And this is not typical weather for the British Isles. Everywhere we went, the locals kept saying how fortunate we were. And we really did feel fortunate. Traveling is definitely more fun in sunny weather! Oh, and the temperatures were in the 60s and 70s every day. Ideal.
Beautiful.
This castle was actually on a little island in the middle of the loch. Can I just say how much I love castles? We need castles in Texas!
This was the tour guide for one of the other groups. Our tour guide was great, but I was disappointed he wasn't wearing a kilt like this guy.
We made a pit stop for bathrooms and shopping. And to get a picture of this guy - a fine example of a Highland bull. I love the long hair. I guess it keeps him warm in the cold Scottish winters.
We saw so many scenes like this. Scotland is a beautiful country.
We spent some time at the Scottish Wool Centre. We got to see this amazing border collie at work.
Back at the farm, he would be herding sheep. But here he was herding ducks. Very masterfully, I might add. It was a lot of fun to watch him at work.
After the border collie demonstration, we went shopping in the Scottish Wool Centre. So much to buy and not nearly enough time or money!

This shore excursion was long and jam packed. It was a great, but tiring day.