This blog has been sitting half written for a couple of months and for some reason I've never posted it. Now, while I look like being stuck at sea for a few extra days, seems a good time for a drive in the country. These pictures were taken one Sunday morning on my monthly trip to Dunoon. In all the time I lived there, I never followed the coast road all the way round to see where it went. It runs along the Clyde a little and then turns up Loch Striven. You may remember in this blog that I found two standing stones at the other end of the loch on an earlier outing.
It's not long before the road narrows quite considerably.
This is the end of the road. To the right is a private estate and though the gate on the left is the loch. I wonder if BT know they've left one of the old phone boxes down here.
I passed the little parish church at Inverchaolain (it's name comes from the gaelic inbhir chaolain which means at the mouth of a narrow stream). Having only a small population near by the church only has two regular services a year - a Summer songs of praise and a Christmas Carol service. Both are well attended and it's peaceful setting means that the church is often in demand for weddings and christenings.
It has two attractive and quite modern stained glass windows
I hadn't expected to find a naval boat lumbering in the sea loch. Had I known there was an Nato refueling point there I would have been less surprised. This is the USNS Kanawha.
I spotted a strange flag on the ship which at first glance looked like a stars and stripes without the stars.
A wee surf tells me that it is an American naval jack and it should have a snake on it. I zoomed in a bit and so it does! Read about it on Wikipedia here.
On the way back I popped down to see the Toward lighthouse which sits on the Clyde.
Just across the road from the lighthouse is this Victorian curiosity. It's the Foghorn house. It's now privately owned but you can still see the foghorn sitting on to of the turret.
5 comments:
Excellent photos! I like the telephone box
Entertaining post Sandy ,I remember about three years ago I was prompted to look on Google Earth for something on Loch Striven. I can't remember what I was looking for, but remembered a big stretch on the Loch being blacked out.Just looked again and it's still blacked out south of Inverchaolain. I'd guess it's a pretty sensitive area
Another excellent meander - I was curious about the "Sain Knud" in the stained glass - is that the famous Canute, do you think, or someone else?
And after nearly 12 years in the States, that's the first time I've seen reference to the naval jack; if you have the time and the inclination, look up the "Gadsden flag" which tells you more about the snake and the motto.
Thank you Juliet - I like the red telephone boxes and am pleased they didn't disappear completely, or even nearly completely,as they seemed to be threatened with by BT about 20 years ago.
Interesting Jim - the next time I'm on a computer that seems to work well I shall have a look. It's all daft really when I can just pop round and take pictures as i like and I'm sure Google Earthski has a great view.
Good follow up on the flag Shundo - I never stumbled on that on my surf about it.
Sainth Knud is actually Canute IV of Denmark. As far as I can work out he is the grand nephew of Canute the Great, of the holding the sea back (or not) fame, though I'm sure he'd rather be known for being king of Denmark, England, Norway and lumps of Sweden at the same time. Quite why a church in darkest Scotland should be paying him some attention, I have no idea.
I've been here several times but keep getting sent off in different directions to learn about things. I recognized the naval jack as the Gadsden flag snake in a new setting, but had to go find "when" a jack is flown.
And I love the little church - I'm glad it's used for weddings and such, too. It would be a shame for it to remain unused except for those two occasions!
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