Day 34: Castles, lochs and Darryl

28/08/2021

It was 05:00 when Eloise decided it was time to get the show on the road. Even Super Mum opening the blinds to show her everyone else in the street was still asleep did not change her mind. The dominos started falling and it was not long until she had woken up her partner in crime. Hooray.

After a great attempt to slow down the pace of the day, Eloise helped make scrambled eggs for the family.

With no real plans but wanting to make the most of this weather we headed to Mugdock Country Park. It felt endless and was such a peaceful area to explore through all the trees. There was the odd dog that Eloise made sure did not pass unnoticed. Poor Lachlan was unsure about what he was getting himself into. Thanks to Eloise we made it around Mugdock Loch in no time.

We arrived at Mugdock Castle, the perfect location for hide and seek. Eloise was quick with the seeking but was no good at hiding giggle giggle giggle.

Mugdock Castle was the stronghold of the Clan Graham from the middle of the 13th century. Its ruins are located in Mugdock Country Park, just west of the village of Mugdock in the parish of Strathblane. The lands of Mugdock were a property of the Grahams from the mid-13th century, when David de Graham of Dundaff acquired them from the Earl of Lennox. It is possible that the castle was built by his descendant, Sir David de Graham (d. 1376), or by his son in 1372. In 1458, the lands were erected into the Barony of Mugdock.

After Sophie impressively stacked and slid down a hill we continued on the path until we thought we got to Craigend Castle, turns out it was just the Visitors Centre.

Somehow Elosie still had energy for the playground, especially the slide.

After she had tired herself out on the playground, it was into the pram and onto finding the actual Craigend Castle.

Craigend Castle is a ruined country house. The lands of Craigend were part of the Barony of Mugdock in medieval times, but the estate was sold in the mid-17th century to the Smith family. Craigend was sold to Sir Andrew Buchanan, the former Ambassador to the Habsburg court in Vienna, in 1851. In 1920, Craigend Castle was tenanted by Sir Harold E. Yarrow, Chairman & Managing Director of Yarrow Shipbuilders, who moved there from ‘Fairlawn’, Ralston Road, Bearsden. Glasgow businessman Andrew Wilson and his zoologist son, William, bought part of Craigend Estate from the Buchanan family and opened a zoo at Craigend Castle and stables in 1949, with various exotic animals, but it failed to attract significant visitors and eventually closed in 1955.

DING DING!

Liam then got a notification from Amazon Prime for the delivery of Darryl. It was then full speed back to the car and straight home to meet Darryl.

Everyone meet Darryl, the drone of the blog. He promises to show you all better views of castles, lochs and the highlands.

I sadly sold my last drone just before we left Australia. After presenting a loosely based case to Soph that it is illegal for an Aero not to own a drone, especially in Scotland, we were back in action. It was a quick online test (like Australia) and a £9 registration fee (not like Australia, grrr) and the sky was the limit.

After lunch and Eloise’s nap we were on the road again. Eloise was ready to swim. We had a lovely potter through the countryside, this time driving up the eastern side of Loch Lomond to Cashel.

Once we arrived and set up base it was time to deploy Darryl.

Eloise enjoyed a paddle with Dad and did her best Little Mermaid impersonation while Lachlan splashed his feet with Mum. There were lots of people with small boats and kayaks heading out to island Inchlonaig in the middle of the loch, maybe another day. The water was a wee bit chillier than a couple of weeks ago.

It was then home for Indian, baths and bed.