Scotland - Day 4 Ballachulish

We woke this morning to glorious sunshine and mostly blue sky. After porridge for breakfast we left Sheildiag Farm B&B and headed to the nearest beaches on the map. These turned out to be along the shores of Port Glasgow on Firth Clyde so weren't very picturesque.

We drove northwest through Helensburgh to the absolutely stunning Argyll Forest Park. The peaks and valleys were immense and the light which played on the rock faces was breathtaking. Poor Martin had to keep his eyes on the road!

We took a detour into the heart of the forest to Carrick Castle on Loch Goil. Unfortunately a relatively uninteresting small decrepit building so we didn't hand around.

We retraced our steps back through the Forest and along the shores of Loch Fyne to Inverary. Along the way James was excited by waterfalls cascading down the mountains. Inverary was our lunch stop and we enjoyed half and hour on the waterfront in the sun.

Taking the A82 south we drove to Lochgilphead for some info on Kilmartin Glen. I had read about the many neolithic and bronze age stone and cains in the Glen and we weren't disappointed. Some of the standing stones date from 3000BC.

The sheep in the surrounding weren't very impressed but we were! James and Martin even climbed down in to one of the burial caines - what an adventure!

Just up the road and a 10 minute walk up a track was Carnasserie Castle - a 16th century building in terrific condition. We took the spiral stone stairs up a turret to the very top for a lovely view of Kilmartin Glen. The kitchen was still recongisable by the large fireplace on the outer wall.