Monday Morning, September 26

We wanted to see a bit more of Glasgow before heading to Oban. Our first stop was the University of Glasgow, which was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel.

The architecture is beautiful. As with the Botanical Gardens, we could have easily spent an entire day wandering around the campus but sadly we only had an hour to look around.

The cloisters were really neat to see & walk through. We also took a quick tour of the chapel and, as it turned out, we were just in time to attend a brief ecumenical service. Even with the service being only about 15 minutes’ duration, it was very moving for us, with Catherine & I each thinking of our fathers.

Our last stop on our walking tour of the city was for a photo op at the “Dr Who” Police Box on the street corner across from the hotel. I knocked on the door but there was no answer- sadly, the Dr. was not in.

Time to set out for Oban!

Sunday Afternoon, September 25

We arrived at our hotel on the west side of Glasgow around 2:00 pm. We stayed at the Hilton Grosvenor on Grosvenor Terrace using credit card points. What a beautiful hotel inside & out! The picture below does it little justice.

After checking in & having a brief rest we set out to see a bit of the city on foot. The Glasgow Botanical Gardens is just a few steps away from the hotel. We toured a few of the greenhouses & walked through some of the grounds. You could easily spend an entire day here & still have lots left to see on many return visits.

Our next objective was to find a place to eat dinner. Nancy DePutter, a good friend of Catherine’s back home has a daughter who lives in Glasgow. She recommended that we try “The Bothy” a popular restaurant that was just a few steps down a nondescript alley off the main street.

We had a great meal there & headed back to the hotel for a good night’s rest before some more exploring the next morning & then head to Oban.

Sunday, September 25

We started our day at the inn in Aysgarth & headed off to Askrig, where many episodes of the BBC TV series All Creatures Great and Small were filmed. The scenery on the way there is spectacular & the town of Askrig is very picturesque too.

The architecture in the Village of Askrig is really neat. Many of the buildings on the main street are all joined together to form a continuous row that follows the curve and the inclination of the road.

We enjoyed our visit to James Herriott “country” but we’re looking forward to starting our tour of Scotland.

…. and so on to the north we go!

Sláinte!

Saturday, September 24

Norma, the Office Manager at Claymoore was kind enough to arrange for a taxi to take us to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport where we picked up our rental car. In addition to being named after John Lennon, the airport has a yellow submarine outside of the terminal arrivals area. When you get off a plane here it’s easy to see how big an influence the Beatles have on this city.

The car wasn’t quite ready when we got there so we went to the Starbucks in the terminal to have a coffee & a snack. Catherine also took advantage of this “free” time to do some route planning.

We had planned to drive north towards Glasgow, Scotland and on the way take a side trip into Yorkshire Dales National Park & James Herriott “country”. Catherine & I loved reading Herriott’s books about life as a veterinarian in this part of England & the spectacular scenery featured in the TV series.

Our rental car is a nice new Ford Escort with a 6 speed manual transmission. It’s quite a bit shorter than the narrowboat we just got off but it will move a fair bit faster.

Driving on the left hand side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car takes a bit of getting used to but I’m doing OK with it.

The M6 motorway was pretty easy because all of the cars in “our” lanes of the divided highway are headed in the same direction. That all changed when we got off the M6 & headed cross country to Aysgarth! Now we were on narrow two lane roads with no shoulders & often tightly bordered by high stone walls on both sides. Very beautiful to look but a bit really challenging to drive on. The narrowboat canals were spacious compared to some of the roads we were now driving on.

The scenery here is spectacular & I’m so impressed by all of the stone walls & stone buildings. It’s hard to imagine the amount of effort that had been made to “pick” & move all of those stones & to construct the walls & buildings.

We arrived at the George & Dragon Inn around 4pm. The timing was just right as neither Catherine or I had the energy to drive any further.

After a brief rest we went for a walk to view a waterfall nearby where a scene from the movie Robin Hood starring Kevin Costner was filmed.

The Inn where we stayed was great with lots of warmth & character. I even found some time to have a pint of the local brew before supper!

Cheers everyone! 🍻

Saturday, September 24 – Preston Brook

After passing through the final tunnel we traveled the last few kilometers down the canal & arrived at the dock at 9:00am. We were happy & a bit sad at the same time.

We had a wonderful adventure on our “little” narrowboat, the Walton Hall. This is something that Catherine & I have talked about doing for many years & we are so fortunate to have had the opportunity to make this trip.

I would also like to give a recommendation for the great folks at Claymoore Boat Holidays. They looked after us fantastically. The boat was in tip top shape, sparkling clean & everything worked perfectly. If you are ever considering taking a narrowboat holiday then I encourage you to contact Claymoore.

(Winter 2020 update – I had been editing this blog page and I have discovered that sadly, Claymoore Boat Holidays is no longer in business. 🙁 )  

Here’s a brief tour of our Narrowboat “Walton Hall”

Length – 48′

Width – 7′

Weight – Approximately 10 tons

Construction: Welded steel plate

Bottom: Flat, like a barge

Draft: Approximately 2′

The bow has double doors that open into the “living room” seating area. There is a small bench in the bow where passengers can sit outside. Propane tanks are stored in a locker in the bow.

The “living room” has two very comfy armchairs, a drop leaf table & a flat screen TV

The galley is well equipped with a 4-burner propane stove & oven, a microwave & a good sized fridge. There’s also lots of counter space & cupboards & drawers.

Next is a very roomy bathroom with a large shower stall.

The shower was even full size & we enjoyed it several times during our trip.

At the back of the cabin is a very comfortable double berth bed.

The tiller is located at the stern. There’s a simple 2 x 6 board for seating that spans the gap between the railings.

Some interesting trivia about navigation – all boats on the canals travel the same way we drive our cars on the roads in North America – i.e. when meeting other boats traveling towards me I am on the “right” side of the canal & the boat coming towards me is on my left, or on my port side. This is the opposite to how people in the UK drive their cars on the road.

The engine is located below the deck at the stern. The one is this boat is a 4-cylinder Izuzu diesel. Not sure of the hp, but I think it’s around 40 hp. The engine has a keel cooling system. Shea at Claymoore told me that this is the predominant type of cooling system for narrowboats because their is so much mud & organic material in the canals that raw water intakes can plug up very easily.

The boat is also set up with central hot water heating with a small diesel fired boiler & hot water radiators in the sleeping cabin, the galley & the living room.

Interior lighting is by 12 volt fixtures in the ceilings & the boat is also wired throughout with 220 volt outlets supplied through an inverter.

This was a great vessel to have an adventure in. I’d love to do it again someday.

Next stop is the car rental kiosk at Liverpool Airport. Scotland, here we come!

Cheers everyone!