Today will be the day of the greatest. We will visit Scotland's largest city, Glasgow
and Scotland's largest loch, Loch Lomond.
Luss - Loch Lomond
We wake up early and after breakfast we go to the main bus station where we catch the 8:30 bus to Glasgow. We bought our tickets in advance through Megabus, but the bus is Citylink.
Morning streets of Edinburgh, look at those chimneys
Edinburgh - Bus Station
Edinburgh - Bus Station
The long-distance double decker ride takes less than an hour and a half. We're not staying in town yet, because we want to go to the lake first. For the next trip we choose the train again. We thought we were getting it from Glasgow Queen Street station, but we find out on the spot that we are getting it from the main station. This is further away from the bus one, but fortunately not that far. Janet still manages to buy a Scottish sheep's wool scarf in the gift shop. It's proved itself more than once during her time in Scotland.
Glasgow - Bus Station
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow - Main Railway Station
At the main station, we first have to pick up a ticket from the ticket machine, which we bought electronically on the Scotrail website in the morning. Two tips. Off peak tickets, called out of peak, are much cheaper. If you have purchased your ticket electronically, be sure to bring the physical credit card you used to pay. Otherwise, you won't be able to get your ticket because the machine will prompt you to insert your card into the terminal to confirm it's you. It does not accept contactless card loading. I have Revolutka on my phone, and although I considered not taking the card, luckily we did, which saved us.
Once we manage to get a ticket from the machine we go straight to the platform located underground for our train to Balloch. The surprise of the interior of the train is the triple seats like in ex-Soviet trains.
Glasgow - Main Railway Station
The journey to Balloch takes 48 minutes. Here we still have to change the bus to the village of Luss. If you just want to enjoy the view of the lake, you can stay in Balloch, but you have to walk a little further to the lake. Before the bus arrives, we walk around a bit of the town.
Balloch
He's blowing hard and I'm waiting for the bus and regretting that I'm wearing shorts and not pants. The bus arrived a little late. You can buy a ticket from the driver, who will also sell you a return ticket and allows you to pay by card. It's about a 15 minute ride to Luss.
Luss is a picturesque village with a few houses and a few restaurants on Loch Lomond. As we got off the bus, a pensioner got into a conversation with us and told us all sorts of impossible things. Mostly we could only understand every third word he said, so we just smiled and nodded. As well as the lake, there is the stone Luss Parish Church to see and the River Path along the River Luss is good for a walk. Looking at the surrounding countryside, I can't lose the impression that we are actually in the Transcarpathian Poloniny, something Janet strictly denies.
Luss
Luss - Loch Lomond
Luss - Parish Church
Luss - River Path
Luss
Luss - Loch Lomond
Once we got through all that, we stopped for a quick Chicken and chips on the way to the bus.
Luss - Chicken and chips
Then towards the bus, where the chatty pensioner was driving again, who, as soon as he noticed us, sat down again and talked and talked. Halfway through the journey, however, he got over it and we had a moment of peace. At Balloch we still had a little time before the train left, which we used to take a walk in the local park.
Balloch
In Glagow, we get rained on, a little further on we witness another battle (the second one on the second day). We begin to have doubts about Scottish peacefulness. We walk through the centre, including George Square, and move on to the bus station.
Glasgow - Gallery of Modern Art
Glasgow - George Square
We are there earlier than our bus should be leaving, but as it runs to Edinburgh every quarter of an hour, we go to ask the driver if we can go with him earlier. He agrees and saves us a quarter of an hour. In Edinburgh we go straight to the hostel with a stop at Sainsbury's to buy cash in the form of Indian masala. This is because we have a kitchen with a microwave, and this is a strategic tool, along with the large selection of ready meals in supermarkets, to eat cheaply in Britain. Also, while we're on the subject of Scotland, Scotch whisky couldn't be missing from the basket. That pretty much wraps up the day. Tomorrow we have the Outlander tour.
Useful links:
Megabus
Citylink
Scotrail
Edinburgh Destiny Student Accommodation
More Edinburgh accommodation options
More Glasgow accommodation options
More Baloch accommodation options
More accommodation options in Luss
