Glasgow (Cathedral), Pot Still, Loch and Ben Lomond

Yesterday morning Gordon picked me up and we headed off for a tour of Glasgow which included the Glasgow Cathedral (a building which dates to about 1200), and The Pot Still. The Cathedral has two sections (one for the common folk, the other for the posh folk) as well as many smaller "private" chapels. It also has heavily "pockmarked" columns where the Protestant Reformers tore icons down after wresting the church from the hands of Roman Catholic clergy. I was pleased as punch to find the name "Small" on one of the private pews in the posh area.

I was awed to find a private chapel, for nurses, that had been refurbished at some time after being unused for more than 400 years. Yes, that's correct, a private chapel unused for more than 400 years in a more than 800 year old church: that 400 years is considerably longer than the United States has existed as a Republic. From there we headed off to The Pot Still, which has a selection of more than 300 whiskies, where I was hoping to find a couple of lowland malts that I wanted to try, and I was thrilled to be able to sample Littlemill, and Rosebank ... both from no-longer-in-operation distilleries.

After that we drove to his house, picked up his wife, Margaret, and headed to Helensburgh, via Loch Lomand, where we ate a late lunch, then walked down onto the pier to look across at Greenock. We then drove back to their house for a quiet Hogmanay and stayed up into the wee hours chatting. Today was cold (probably only about 20-25 degrees F) but we took a walk after lunch, down to the Auchentoshan Distillery. After a great supper of steak pie, champit tatties, carrots, brocolli, and ice cream for desert, I was conveyed back to my temporary digs.

Many, and deepest, thanks to Gordon and Margaret Campbell for putting up with me for two days, and to my wife, for allowing me to make this journey.

Tomorrow I catch a train from Newton to Glasgow, then south to Dumfries !!!!