Starting a Scottish Road Trip

We woke up on our last morning in Edinburgh and grabbed a quick bite on our way back to the train. ScotRail does not sell reserved time fares so, much to Benji's delight, we had to collect our train tickets from a machine in the terminal:

Another facet of this little hop over to Glasgow was that we had to "self transfer" from the station where we arrived to the central station where we were picking up our rental car. This meant riding the tiny little Glasgow subway one stop: 

Elevator selfie on the way to the rental car

Once we hit the road out of Glasgow, our first stop was Luss Village in Argyle and Butte, on the west coast of Loch Lomond (in Loch Lomond and  the Trossochs National Park):

Luss Parish Church 

rare 900-year-old Viking hogback gravestone

The Scottish gravestones were also cool

The village was picturesque with cute little shops, but we ended up making a quick dash back to the car when the skies opened up

From Luss, we made our way to the Rest and be Thankful Overlook, thus named in 1753 by British Military soldiers when they finished making a steep road to it. They left behind a stone marker with those words inscribed on it. The view was breathtaking, but it was also our first real introduction to the cold and blustery Scottish weather:

We continued to wind our way around Loch Lomond, stopping again at the cute little town of Inverary:

Along the route

First look at Inverary from the car

From the parking lot looking out at Loch Fyne

On the pier, looking back on the town

Little downtown

From Inverary, we continued our drive up to Kilmartin Glen, famous for its grave slabs:

On the drive in past the glen

Kilmartin parish church

Many of the stones were gathered in a small hut and arranged in age order, starting in the 1200s

They get more ornate as they go

Most modern is from 1712

More grave slabs in the church yard

View from the church yard over the glen

Happy boy

Little town of Kilmartin

We made one more quick stop at a roadside farm/hotel/restaurant to stretch our legs, before continuing on to Oban:

We arrived in Oban around dinnertime and checked into our flat, which was above a restaurant on the main thoroughfare. The view out the windows over the harbor was fantastic:

After settling in, we walked to a nearby restaurant to pick up some pizza and pasta. There was a wait, so we enjoyed some time out on the pier:

Cute little restaurant we ordered from

More Scotland soccer cheer on the way back

View out the window when we went to bed just before 11 - still not quite dark