Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
2017: Argyll
The three destinations featured on this page, all visited by me in 2017, have something else in common: since the local government reorganisation of 1996, they have all been located in the Argyll & Bute council area of Scotland. The first destination (Inveraray) has always been in Argyll and indeed was its county town. The other two lie closer to Glasgow and were historically in the county of Dunbartonshire (which bizarrely had 'n' as its third letter, while the eponymous town is spelled with an 'm') .
Inveraray
Inveraray lies on the west shore of Loch Fyne, the longest sea loch in Scotland. Traditionally a convenient break point on the lengthy road journey from Glasgow to Campbeltown, its main feature is Inveraray Castle, seat of the Duke of Argyll.
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Hill House, Helensburgh
Helensburgh is a well-to-do commuter town on the Clyde Coast, enjoying a frequent train service eastwards to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. My specific objective on this occasion was the Hill House, located in the upper part of the town. This was designed by Glasgow-born architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. In a manner that I have seen repeated in relation to other architects in different parts of the world, it seems that Mackintosh's attention to detail extended to prescribing practically every aspect of the internal decoration.
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Luss
Luss is an attractive small village on the western shore of Loch Lomond. It is virtually a compulsory stopping point for tourist coaches heading north out of the Central Belt on the A82. Luss played the part of fictional village 'Glendarroch' in the 1980s TV soap opera Take the High Road.
