Glasgow; Sunday, 08 April, 2018

I had a bit of time to spare in the morning, so after a late breakfast I headed over to George Square and used by still valid tour ticket to take the open-top bus round to Central station to pick up the train out to Balloch at the southern end of Loch Lomond.

I’d factored in for delays on the train, but in the end it ran perfectly to time which meant I arrived in Balloch with over an hour to spare before my Loch Lomond cruise departed, so I had a bit of a wander around the area near the pier, on the banks of the short River Leven that connects the Loch with the Clyde, and then headed over to the nice looking riverside pub for a quick snack and a drink.

I headed back over to the landing pier about 15 minutes before the cruise was supposed to depart and very shortly afterwards they started to board, so I was able to get a good seat at the back of the boat to take in the views.

The tour took in the whole of the southern end of the Loch and then sailed up through the group of islands that occupy the middle part of the loch, before heading over to land at Luss to pick up some more passengers.

From Luss the boat took a different route back through the islands, providing lots of photo opportunities until it emerged back in the lower part of the loch and headed back to the pier at Balloch.

I walked back over to the station and only had a couple of minutes to wait before the train back to Glasgow arrived.

Back in the centre of Glasgow I went for a bit of a wander in the twilight through the area around Trongate, a part of the city I’d only previously been past on the tour bus, and then walked back through the Merchant’s Quarter to the hotel to drop off my stuff.

After freshening up I headed out to a restaurant near George square for dinner, before going for another short walk round the George Square area to get a final few photos before returning to the hotel to prepare for the conference the following day and then turn in for the night.