Road trip in Scotland #1: Balloch Castle and Luss

Lucie Jung
31 oct. 2015
3 min de lecture

I just returned from a dream day trip in Scotland. Left for the day with my parents and my twin Cécile to visit the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, this trip was above all my expectations. I always dreamed to see these huge places, green and quiet and it finally happened.

The day before/night before leaving, I spent few hours on internet, websites, blogs, etc. in order to find the best tour possible to do. We only have 1 day to visit the most we can but at the same time I couldn't plan too much because my dad was the only driver and, (as we came from France) none of us ever drove on the other side of the road and I didn't want this day to be too tiring for my father.

Therefore, I just planned to go not too far from Glasgow and visit the most atypical and key places in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park we could. We left at 9:30 am and the whole trip lasted 3h43 only by car.

Balloch Castle

Our first stop was the Balloch Castle. This place was great. We parked the car in a place just near the castle. We just crossed the street and we entered the Castle's park and gardens.

This is a nice 15-min walk. Many people are here to walk their dogs or simply to go outside and breathe the fresh air.

Also, there was a lot of little tables and benches in the park where you could sit and have a picnic or just to enjoy the wonderful view over the village and the lake.

This place was wonderful but the castle is a ruin, we can't even go in it. I have to admit that I didn't fint it really nice and pretty little. But, this place still worth it because the view is amazing and the park really nice and huge.

Luss

After that, we took the road towards Luss, a little village more in the north. Luss is pretty small so when you enter the village you directly see a sign for a parking. At the entrance of the parking, there is like a stand where you can buy something to drink or to eat. We stopped here to take a coffee to go and get some "liquid courage" before going to Luss Pier.

You can either go the Pier by walking (10-15minutes) from the parking, or just park before the Pier.

When I looked on internet and that I found something about the Luss Pier, I didn't even looked at the pictures, I just knew it was a beautiful place to go, but I wanted to keep a little of mystery too.

When we arrived at the Pier I was pleasantly surprised. This place is really amazing. You just walked down a little street with typical houses and little local shops and right in front of you you'll see the pier and this incredible view on the Loch Lomond.

Also, we find a nice little place in Luss just in the parallel street, on the left of the Pier: you have to cross a little wood bridge with a very beautiful view and you'll arrived in a huge place, almost empty with only few tables, trees and a big cross in the middle of it.

I really liked this place because I didn't expect that at all and it was one more surprise in this beautiful and sunny morning on the road.