They're not real knights you know

Fans of the movie, based (a bit loosely!) on the legend of King Arthur, have been visiting Doune Castle since it was filmed there back in the 1970′s. It’s estimated by Historic Scotland they account for around a third of the 25,000 annual visitors to the 14^th century stronghold. Amazing!

On Sunday 12 September, Historic Scotland’s ‘Monty Python Day’ will be the first official event staged at Doune Castle for Python fans since 2004.

Doune’s a great castle to ‘Castle Bag’ anyway and with numerous, knighted nutters stotting-about, in fake chainmail, clip-clopping coconut shells, pretending they’re on horseback, it’ll be a hoot!

It’s a tenner to get in and there are concessions, so it’s a great way to end the Summer. Numbers are limited to 500 and it’s bound to be mobbed, so contact Historic Scotland for details. You can buy tickets for this bonkers event here.

Sea Leopard in the water.

It’s amazing that we don’t make more of this amazing phenomenon  in Scotland but hopefully the launch of Sea Lepoard II will change that. If you head down to Adfern near Lochgilphead, you can get up close and personal with this amazing spectacle. Sea Leopard II is a ‘cat’ and it’ll give a lot more people the chance to visit Corryvreckan. As a footnote to this, you’ll see that the launch was aided and abetted by a drop of the amber nectar.

One of Scotland’s most desirable drams of the moment is Ardbeg’s Corryvreckan, so it seemed apt to break a bottle of this famed dram over the bows!

Radio Magnetic is the UK’s longest-running Internet radio station, so when they asked in to their studios in Glasgow to do a Bagging Scotland special, we were slightly enthusiastic! They are also Scotland-lovers, Campervan enthusiasts and were already ‘Bagging’ Scotland long before we came along, so it was a bit of a match made in heaven.

We were given the opportunity to play some of our favourite ‘Scottish’ songs and were allowed to throw a few eccentric and eclectic ‘curveballs’ into the mix.

If you ever get the chance to go on the radio and chat about the songs that have inspired you, or songs you simply love, we urge you to do it as it’s a brilliant experience. It’s hopefully the first of a lot of great shows to come as there’s a chance we’ll be back for more. There’s a heck of a lot of Scottish artists we’ve still to talk about.

Check out their site and listen to the Bagging Scotland Special on Radio Magnetic.

Wordpress.org

One of the main differences you will notice is the new theme (design and layout) available for your bagging blog – TwentyTen- which follows the new style for WordPress 3.0 and offers new functionality, including:

• Custom Header Image for Posts and Pages
• Navigation and Drop-down Menu Control
• Custom Post Types
• Multiple ‘Widget’ Areas in Sidebar & Footer
• Single-column Option to Remove Sidebar

To activate the new TwentyTen theme, go to the admin panel in your Bagging Blog and select Appearance > Themes and choose ‘TwentyTen’. Please note this theme will be activated by default on any blogs registered after the 1st of August.

For the best reference on how to use your Bagging Blog, please refer to the WordPress Documentation pages.

Fiona Outdoors goes Bagging by Bike

Fresh from a gruelling cycle trip up and down some of the Pyrenean mountain climbs used in the Tour De France, Fiona joined us on the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. On a fresh, windy day, we travelled around Balloch, the very gateway to the Highlands, to witness entry-level Bagging only a stone’s-throw from the Central belt of Scotland.

We’ve known Fiona for a while as one of our thousands of ‘virtual’ pals on Twitter and Facebook and although we’ve met her before, it was great to see her on her road bike and see the level of fitness she’s attained, making 20 mile bike rides in wet and windy conditions look like a… breeze.

On the afternoon in question, we tackled a few obstactles (including a puncture) and witnessed a few changes at Balloch, an area we’ve never been that blown away with, if we’re being honest. From Loch Lomond Shores (which has got lots of shops and is actually pretty decent now) we travelled round the country park that surrounds Balloch Castle. Although Balloch Castle isn’t open to the public (it’s an office for a District Council) we were pretty impressed by the park with its views up Loch Lomond. It’s manicured, it’s easy to get to, yet it could be a million miles away from civilisation.

We also admired the pleasure craft at Sweeney’s boatyard, just beside the train station at Balloch. A lot of the loch cruisers are proper ‘pleasure’ craft now and have been beautifully refurbished. It’s clear from the number of luxury coaches parked there that a very pleasant day’s Loch cruising can be undertaken from this Boatyard, a short rail journey or drive (or cycle) from Glasgow. It’s a good few years since we’ve cruised Loch Lomond but we intend to do it again in style, shortly. It all looks very classy now.

Fiona’s arrival highlighted the fact that there’s a brilliant cycle path from the Centre of Glasgow, right to the edge of Loch Lomond. As it follows a canal for the majority of the way, it’s mainly flat, so it’s a great beginners route, perfect  for ‘all-the-family’ stuff.  So, Bagging Scotland can be done with nothing more specialised than a half-decent bike and a bit of enthusiasm. Once at Loch Lomond, the whole of the Highlands awaits you.

In our video, Fiona highlighted that there are also great cycle routes which take you up both sides of Loch Lomond and from there, you really are in Castle and Munro Bagging country. We’re possibly suffering from Loch overkill (as Loch Lomond is so well known to us) but when the sun broke through in the afternoon, it was obvious that there’s some incredibly beautiful scenery surrounding the Loch. There are also a number of Islands on Loch Lomond to bag, some which can be done from a humble (and very cheap!) Post Office boat. There’s even a number of Malt Whisky distilleries (Auchentoshan, Glengoyne and Loch Lomond) all very close by.

In short, our wee meeting with Fiona Outdoors made us rethink our views on Loch Lomond. Far from being bored with it, it’s made us realise we’re incredibly lucky to be able to Bag so many beautiful bits of Scotland, from somewhere so close to Glasgow. As Scots based in Glasgow, we take it a bit for granted and it was only when we saw the throngs of tourists pouring onto the boats at Sweeneys that we re-appraised Balloch. That’s Bagging Scotland though, full of surprises. Why not try Bagging Scotland, from Partick train station!

Lagavulin Day

It’s often thought that the whole ‘art’ of whisky tasting can be a bit snobbish and can actually put-off ‘ordinary’ people from engaging with Scotland’s National drink and enjoying it.

Our visit to Lagavulin certainly ‘Scotched’ a few myths and demonstrated that a love of Whisky can be huge fun and a bloody good laugh. First the weather, it was frankly, astounding. Possibly the best day we’ve enjoyed in Scotland at that time of the year; it was calm, warm and massively atmospheric.

The Builders from the South

Secondly, the people. We met the most amazing people, including a bunch of blokes from Preston and Stoke who demonstrated that a love of a dram and having a huge amount of very un-snobbish fun can be very pleasant bedfellows. The guys we met (who love Islay Whisky Festival so much, they come every year) were a walking, talking (and singing) advert for Scotland. When we interviewed them, they mentioned that they love the whisky, the scenery, the craic (they were particularly good at the craic) and the people. We could have kissed them! Englishmen as saviours of Scottish tourism. Who’d have thought it! What a fabulous bunch of geezers!