After first heading to the bank and finally getting some money, we headed up the A82 along Loch Lomond.
There are some absolutely gorgeous views along the way so stopped along the highway to take some random photos.
Of course, we didn't take the direct route and found ourselves going down tiny country roads through farmland and bush. Stopped off at a security checkpoint to ask for directions. They security guard was very helpful and told us of a few museums to go to and left us to go on our way.
Hit Tarbet and turned down the A83. This is a tiny road. With an open speed limit, it is a little disconcerting passing cars doing 70 mph whilst we are doing 70 mph on a road that is only just wide enough to take the width of 2 cars!.
Stopped off at Invararey for a bite to eat. Didn't see the castle or jail today (doing that tomorrow), and headed for Kilmartin.
The first place we found in Kilmartin was the church and headed off to see the old graves stones. There are some slabs from the 14th century. It is just amazing the history this island contains.
We even found some pirate graves (well, they do have a skull and cross bones).
The ancient history museum was next door to the church. For £4.60 each, we had a look through the museum then headed out into the paddocks to see the cairns. Although most of them have been excavated and re-constructed, it is still wonderful to see ancient monuments lying about in active farm land.
Dodging the cow pats, we found the first of 2 cairns we would look over. They seem like small mounds of rocks, but when you take a closer look at them, they start to hold a bit of significance. In the second of them, a door has been added to the drop so you can climb inside where a grave can be found. It would have been eerie to be in there without the sky light, but we had plenty of light.
Found some local kids playing on the third cairn and stopped for a chat. They told us of a few more cairns about and some standing stones.
Headed back to the museum and jumped in the car. Drove down a back road and found the Temple Wood but no place to park. Our friends from the cairn were down the road and they gave us directions to where we could park.
At the car spot we saw some standing stones - a pair of stones at each end with a single standing stone and small stone/rock circle in the middle. The stones are about 3 - 4 metres in height and between 1 and 2 metres wide.
The area is a working farm, and there are a number of cows grazing in and around the stones. One inquisitive little bugger came right up to keep an eye on us.
Spent some time looking around and managed to get some photos before headed towards Temple Wood, just across the paddock. Although called Temple Wood, it is a really odd name. Temple Wood is a pair of circles - one of stone but the other was wood - and both had had cairns placed over them.
Left Temple Wood and headed into the village where we had a great talk with the shop keeper and managed to find a bottle of Elderberry Wine. Along with half a dozen small bottles of beer flavoured with local plants (Heather, etc), we bought the wine and headed off.
During the drive back, the weather started coming in. Not only was it raining, but the clouds were just topping the hills along the A83 and looked fantastic.
At the junction between the A83 and the A82 is the little village of Tarbet. We stopped off, once again to get some photos of the area as it really was lovely.
We finally had a dinner in Scotland - pizza - not much, but at least it was dinner. After such a long day walking through the cairns and paddocks, the pizza did not last very long at all.
Later in the night, I decided to go out for a smoke. As I was outside, a beautiful, little, black cat came up to me for a smooch. It was so sweet and very affectionate. After a few cuddles, I put him down and he trundled off.
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