Scotland – Loch Lomond – Balloch Castle Country Park (En)
From Glencoe, we went to a town called Balloch in the south-west shores of Loch Lomond. On the way we stopped many times as the scenery was terrific, with islands in the middle of the loch and mountains in the background.
We decided to go to see Balloch Castle Country Park before going to our camping. The castle is located in a 200-acre country park on the southern tip of Loch Lomond. It was recognised as a country park in 1980, and it is the only country park in Loch Lomond with views of the Loch, nature trails, and picnic lawns, including the rhododendrons and azaleas that reach full bloom in late May and early June. It was initially developed in the early 19th century by John Buchanan. The castle was built in 1808 by the architect Robert Lugar at the order of John Buchanan. The current castle used to serve visitors centre and the headquarters of the Countryside Ranger Service but now lies derelict.
From the castle, we went to our camping called Lomond Woods Holiday Park, located at the beginning of Balloch town with a huge nice pub just outside. The facilities were really good with music in the toilets, washing area etc, it looks this is something that Scottish campsites do. The only thing I thought was not ok, is that you have to arrive at the camping after 2 pm and leave the next morning at 11 am, less than 24 hours! because we went to see the castle first we arrived just before 2 pm. If you want to visit Balloch is a good place to stay.
Balloch is a village at the foot of Loch Lomond, with bridges crossing the Loch, beaches, an aquarium and a harbour where you can see the restored paddle steamer called the Maid of the Loch moored at Balloch Pier. There are also trails around the loch and we saw deers! but we couldn’t take pictures because when they saw us they run away. The loch surrounds the village and on the village sides, there are many boats as you can see in the pictures.
And the next day we went to Glasgow, only 18 kilometres from here to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert and finish our tour from Scotland.
