04.05.07 With the exception of the day we spent going to Glen Coe and Ben Nevis, we had visited a magnificent garden each day. Every one was different, and great in its own way. Crarae Garden was the garden of choice for today, followed by a visit to Inverary Castle, and as it was our last day, we were going to have our last meal out together in a nice restaurant in Inverary.
We started our trip by driving southwards along Loch Awe. So far we had only been northwards on our various visits, but we were told by two of our party who had not been with us when we went to Glen Coe and Ben Nevis, that the scenery southwards was spectacular. They weren’t wrong. It was to be a 50 odd mile journey through some awesome scenery around Loch Awe, followed by a cross country scenic drive to Lochgilphead on Loch Fyne, where we stopped for a while before driving on along the banks of Loch Fyne to Crarae Garden ten miles away from Inverary.
The fantastically colourful gardens took us a long time to get round. We were climbing higher and higher, until we were rewarded with a most fantastic view across Loch Fyne. This was by far the prettiest garden we had seen so far, although each of the gardens had their own charm. We were lucky again, in that the weather stayed warm and sunny. I can’t remember having refreshments there, but I’d be surprised if we didn’t because it must have taken a few hours to get around the gardens.
Reluctantly we left the gardens to continue on our way to Inverary. We had a scout around to see which would be the best restaurant to go to. A few of us were hankering for venison pie, so the restaurant nearest the Loch won the toss, and we booked our table for 6pm. We then went our separate ways, some walked up to Inverary Castle, some strolling along the side of Loch Fyne, some went shopping in the Scottish Wool Shop and spent a fortune on tartan outfits. I had run out of photos to take at that point, having used up my entire photo card in Crarae Garden. However I deleted a couple which made some space for a couple of shots in Inverary. I will have to return to Inverary one day and take some of the unusual castle.
At the appointed time we went to the restaurant for our ‘last supper’, and very nice it was too. The evening was a bit tinged with sadness though, as we realised that we would be homeward bound the next day. Our holiday had been faultless in every way and we were very sad it had to come to an end. 🙁
Wikipedia – Inverary >>
Wikipedia – Inverary Castle >>
Gardens of Argyll – Crarae Garden >>
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