Loch Katrine Cruise

We are visiting Kirsty and David in Bridge of Allan again for a few days.

Today they kindly drove us to Loch Katrine, where we had a cruise booked on the SS Walter Scott and went for a walk while we were on our boat trip.

Here are a few photos.

On or way to Trossachs Pier we passed Loch Venachar and stopped to visit the shore of the loch.

We were on the 10:30 sailing from Trossachs Pier. Although the website says you can book online, it doesn't work so I had to phone them up to book. We needn't have worried - there were no coach trips today so there were no more than 50 on board.

We got seats in the bow of the boat so had a good view. This is a map showing our route.

The skies looked threatening towards the west, where we were heading, but it stayed dry for all of our trip. 

Off we go.

Kirsty and David gave us a wave.

The loch widened out.

An osprey came out of the trees on the island to our starboard and crossed in front of us, before circling over the southern shore.

Looking westward where we were heading.

The low clouds seemed to be lifting a bit, though.

We had a south-easterly breeze, strong enough to keep the flag flying.

I took a little walk along the ship. We shared a coffee from the bar.

We stopped at Stronachlachar pier, where a number of people with bikes got off to cycle the 15 miles back.

On the way back, the crew brought this onto the deck...

...to pump some water out of the bilge.

We got some lovely views of the hills.

We passed the Lady of the Lake doing a shorter trip. I could see only 3 passengers on board.

Not far to go now - we could see the path along the loch.

And there were Kirsty and David waving at us again.

There is not much room to turn the boat round, so the crew demonstrated their skill at "canting" - using ropes to swing the boat round.

And here we are berthed as were at the start.

On our way back we went in search of Skinners of Kippen, recommended by Uncle George for their pies. Their shop is at the Woodhouse Farm shop and cafe, where we had our lunch.

We got some scotch pies to take home and Kirsty got a pie for George.

Just before we got back David said, "Would you like me to run the pie over". Lol. No he didn't mean to squash it under the car wheels, but to take it to George and Christine, who live only a few miles away. So we did that and met cousin Helen and baby Molly, who were there when we arrived.

A lovely day out. Thank-you Kirsty and David for taking us.

You can see more of my pictures here on Flickr.