Route today was pretty easy following the cycle route N7 from the Scottish Exhibition Centre on the banks of the Clyde to Dumbarton. This was a great mix of raised a disused raised railway line and canal tow path. All of a sudden you find yourself in an old over grown station albeit just the platform being all that is left.
Once I got to Dumbarton I headed on the A814 to Helensburgh. I found my way to the Glasgow School of Art building by McIntosh the day before and, fully in line with my run of luck, it was covered in scaffolding. Today was a chance to re-dress this by visiting Hill House. The McIntosh house built for WW Blackie the publishing magnate.
Perched on the slopes of a hill overlooking Helensburgh and the Clyde the house is modest but one of the finest examples of domestic Architecture. The pebble dashed exterior appears incongruous from it's association with the later exploitation of this finish on a multitude of suburban bungaloids up and down the land. Copious treatise have been written about this house and I had poured over them as a student. This detour more than made up for the scaffolded School of Art building.
To end the day I was booked into the youth hostel on the shores of Loch Lomond so I cut across from Heleneburgh to Duck Bay and was treated to a night in another castle. Built in 1910 it is a gloriously ostentatious take on the traditional baronial Scottish castle. Sumptuous inside with attendant stags heads and tartan carpets the castle was a gift from the USAF as far as I could make out. Converted into a hostel with funds from the American Trades Union Congress. Thank you very much!
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