If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain

Don't be fooled by the title of this post. Every experience that I have had in Scotland is positive. I mean the title literally, as a commentary about Scottish weather. Recently, Nate - my brother - and I went on a tour through the group Rabbie's (named after the much venerated poet Robert Burns) that took us from Glasgow around Luss, Inveraray, Oban, Glencoe, and various castles. Our tour guide was a very nice fellow named James, who was never without a terrible joke (typically about unicorns or Nessie), which are my favorite kind of joke.

It was an earlier morning for me - we were to meet in the city centre at 8:45, tour left at 9, which meant Nate and I boarded a train sometime before then to avoid walking in the rain and getting our shoes wetter than they needed to be.

Our first stop was Luss, to view both a quaint town that seems to live off of tourism and Loch Lomond, which is simply amazing. Of course, to me most of the scenery is amazing, so I don't know if I can actually be unbiased in my appraisal of this location. Facts about Loch Lomond that I didn't mention before:

1. It is the largest inland stretch of water in Great Britain by surface area.
2. It is featured in the song "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond''.
3. There were many other facts, but I was distracted by the magnificence. 

Some pictures of the trip to Luss/Loch Lomond:

 Nate taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. Notice the blue background.

This was the view of the sky behind me, while I was taking a picture of Nate taking a picture of me. Make up your mind about the weather, Scotland!

Just kidding, I couldn't stay mad at you, Scotland. Even when the skies are gray, it is quite beautiful.

After Loch Lomond, we drove to the Rest and Be Thankful pass, which sits between Loch Long and Loch Fyne. It follows a military road, which was finished in the mid-18th century. It was really only a stop for a view, but it was quite the view, per usual. Fun fact: the whole area around this is basically known for random boulders falling - i.e. landslides - so there were a good number of fences created along the road to prevent damage to the roads and vehicles.

Next stop Inveraray! Inveraray is probably best known in the US as the location of one of the castles used in Downton Abbey (the one where they're in Scotland, obviously). Located on the edge of Loch Fyne, the 'castle' here is really a Gregorian style mansion, as James our tour guide and bus driver informed us. It is looked after by the Duke of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell. Nate and I only got to see glimpses of the castle, though, because we were not willing to pay to go in and get close to it. Seriously £10 for an hour inside the castle (an hour because that's how long we stopped in the town)! No way, I'd much rather spend my money on touristy souvenirs and food, thank you.
Not surprisingly, the town was quaint with fantastic views of the Loch. It rained slightly for most of the time we were in Inveraray, but I feel like this only improved my opinion of it, because it gave me an excuse to go into the various shops.

Photographs!

Why, hello there. As I've said and will continue to say, the weather just does whatever it feels like. Notice in the first pictures the clear blue sky. Then it rained. But its okay, because SCOTLAND

 Also, I have definitely cemented my love of black pudding. I'm a bit ashamed of my love, but I refuse to hide it anymore. If you don't know what black pudding is, well. Click here.

After an hour, it was back on the bus - destination: Oban!

Now, I know I've used words like 'amazing', 'phenomenal', 'awesome' probably a bit too much. But, guys. Oban is all those things. Of course, I'll have the same thing to say about Glencoe in a bit, but for now Oban. Beautiful. Apparently it only has about 10,000 people that live there, but it doubles in size during tourist season. The bay is protected by both the isle of Kerrera, which is quite small, and the Isle of Mull, which lies behind.

Okay, so this photo is on the way to Oban. But look! A castle!

The bay!

Oban Bay from McCaig's Tower. The bay is sheltered by the Island of Kerrera. Behind that lies the Isle of Mull. Its now a goal of mine to get both of these places as well, mostly because I know how beautiful the location is.

Oban is a pretty typical tourist town on the water, but they have this random landmark known as McCraig's Tower. John Stuart McCraig commissioned the tower with the intention of creating a monument to his family and providing work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. The plans were elaborate, based on the Colosseum in Rome. Originally, the tower was meant to incoporate a museum and art gallery, but McCraig's death brought an end to construction with only the outer walls complete. These walls are still impressive, and I was probably far too excited to be able to sit in one of the openings.

Don't worry, Nate was still there. See!

I realize now I have no good pictures of the Tower itself, which seems a shame since I was obviously fascinated by it. Another excuse for a trip!

Directly next to the Tower, Nate discovered a rather prehistoric looking plant. I was going to crawl under for a photo op and discuss Jurassic Park, but there were spikes underneath the leaves. SPIKES. So, this is as good a photo as we got.

Then came one of the most exciting things, and i wasn't even expecting it. Castle Arrrrr from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When you grow up loving a movie, then stumble across such an iconic part of it, you might become a super fan girl. While I'm pretty sure I outwardly kept my composure, I wanted to keep running around asking people the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow. 

The pictures are not the greatest, sadly. Reason one: only had my phone to take pictures. Reason two: the sun was in such a place that the view was great to see in person, but not a great place for me to get a picture.

I didn't know what kind of picture to take with it, so this is what happened. Oh, and the real name of the castle is Castle Stalker. That seems mildly important to note.

Then, it was off to Glencoe. I'm pretty sure the tour guide, James, said this particular hill was a location in Harry Potter. He was probably making it up, but parts of it were filmed in the area, so its as good as any other location. Where we were was, I believe, the proper highlands. The hills were larger, more impressive, and the urge to just walk around was rather strong.

More Glencoe!

See, I was there.

Such was our trip. Impressive, obviously. Worth every pence of the 40 pounds spent on the day. I fell asleep in the bus on the way back to Glasgow. I felt a bit ashamed as there was more good scenery to see, but after that much touring and driving, it was a great time for a nap.

Oh, yeah! To explain the title of this post. I had never seen so many rainbows in one day. Probably saw at least a dozen, with one instance of a clear double rainbow. It was pretty spectacular, and made me appreciate the rain around here a bit more.

I realize I am posting this a week after going on the trip, but (not) shockingly with school finally  starting, my time has been slightly more limited. So, I'll try and do better. And maybe talk about school? I feel like the trips are much more interesting to see and read about. Or maybe I'll write an ode to black pudding. (I won't). I'll figure it out sometime soon, probably. Until I do, Cheers!