Loch Lomond

Since my last post, I went to my classes, did my second set of Organic Chem Lab experiments, watched Doctor Who (cried over Doctor Who), watched three Disney movies (and felt like a child again), and then (probably most importantly) went to Loch Lomond with Gary and Student Tours Scotland!

Loch Lomond is a "freshwater Scottish loch" and is "the largest inland stretch of water in Great Britain" (thanks, wikipedia...). Basically, it's a huge, gorgeous lake! We started the day with a forrest walk along the Millenium Path in Balmaha that was absolutely breathtaking. It was also freakishly windy. I honestly feared that I would be lifted into the air a couple of times, and then once or twice I thought the wind was going to knock me right over. Fun stuff. Here are some highlights:

Also, may it be noted that I have done absolutely NO editing on these - what you see is what I saw, and what my camera captured. This is in reference especially to the first one, which I think is GORGEOUS and have no idea how I managed to capture those colors.

After this gorgeous walk, the bus took us to the town of Balloch, where we had time to wander on our own a little. Sarah, our friend Corinna and I went back and wandered around a little area that got us up close and personal with the loch:

This was near a little enclosed shopping area, which we then wandered around a little as well. It was a nice, relaxing and pretty afternoon. After about an hour and a half here, we headed to our final destination - Luss Village and the Quarry Path. Gary took us up Quarry Path first. Along the way, there  is a waterfall/river area that he stopped to show us, and then set us loose to manage ourselves as we wished. We spent quite a lot of time by the water - it was just so pretty. We had to be pretty careful, because everything was wet, slippery, and it was a pretty steep drop down to the water. Golden rule of Student Tours Scotland is "Just Don't Die" and you bet we were taking that to heart. However, that didn't stop us from climbing our way around the mini-cliff down to get closer to the water for the view (and a photo-op). This is what that area looks like:

After we tore ourselves away from the waterfall, we walked down the path for a while and then found our way to a gorgeous church with a small graveyard around it. We spent some time in there, then headed into the village of Luss. We didn't wander through the actual village much, but we did go out onto the pier so we were standing directly over Loch Lomond.

It had to be done.

The Church

Then, it was a sleepy bus ride home, and a chilly walk back to the Student Apartments! It was a FANTASTIC day, and we got so many good pictures it's crazy. I spent the rest of the evening (from sevenish to nineish) laying on my bed trying to muster up the energy to go make some dinner. I ate, and then went through my photos and started to write my blog post! Now, I'm off to bed!