(Originally shared with friends and family on September 15, 2025. A note about the format of this travel journal. I’ve shared the original dates in the body of each journal entry. In order to make the journal chronological, I had ‘fudge’ the dates of the bottom of each post. Please ignore them. Also, I adopted the Scottish use of military time throughout my entries). The above photo is a mural of St Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow. More photos can be found here.
15 September, 0749 ~ Sherbrooke Castle
I slept very well last night and feel completely on Scottish time. The weather forecast is calling for rain today, but at present, there is a blue sky peppered with white clouds. Maybe we’ll get lucky.
We’re heading back to Glasgow City Center to catch the Hop On, Hop Off bus. It promises to stop at all the major attractions, and we can take our time exploring. The only ‘must-do’ on my list is the Glasgow Necropolis. I love old cemeteries! Yesterday, I picked up a map of Glasgow, so I’ll make sure to grab that before we head out.
Not sure if we’re taking a cab to the City Center or taking the train again. In hindsight, I should have bought a return ticket for the train yesterday, but I wasn’t thinking straight because I was so tired by then. Tara is in charge of transportation today, and as I write, she’s looking at options. We decided we will take the train back.
I’m conflicted about taking my Nikon today. The greatest chance of rain today is 50% at 1 p.m., which is good odds overall. I have a rain cover for the camera, but experience has taught me wearing the camera in an urban setting is a clunky at best. I’m also not sure about which coat to wear— my Barbour or my lighter rain coat. Oh, decisions, decisions.
I just popped outside, and it’s drizzly and cool. It doesn’t really help me with my decision because I hate being cold, and our room is very toasty, as we have the towel warmer on to help dry our clothes that we washed. I’m thinking it’s a Barbour day. It’s definitely an Irish hat day, too.
Tara acquired train tickets there and back. And we’re off!
0852 ~ Dumbreck Station
My optimism has no bounds! I left the Nikon but grabbed my sunglasses!
Our Hop On, Hop Off starts at ten, so we’ll have time to explore on our way to the pickup point.
1021 ~ Hop On, Hop Off Bus
At Drumbreck station, we met a lovely Englishwoman named Sally. Our train trip was short as it was only one stop to the city. On our walk to the station, we followed two couples who also stayed at the castle. When we got off the train, I asked them where they were off to, and they answered the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. I said we were too and asked if we could tag along. They said of course and introduced themselves. I only remember half of each couple’s names ~ Gary and Denise. So I called one couple Ottawa and the other couple BC as they were from British Columbia. They seemed very nice, especially BC.
Sally had directed us to the Hop-On Hop-Off bus picked up, but Ottawa (Denise’s husband) had asked someone else. The two instructions didn’t match up, and Ottawa was determined to have his way, so we all fell in line and promptly realized we were lost. Tara got her phone out, and we eventually found where we needed to be and caught the bus, after having walked about two miles.
Sally had recommended a place for breakfast as we hadn’t had any. She said they had a nice tea that was a little expensive but worth a treat. I wasn’t hungry, but Tara was, so the plan was to find the bus, get off at the next stop, and walk back to the restaurant for breakfast. Unfortunately, by the time I realized where we were, we were several stops away. Worse still is that the Hop-On Hop-Off bus only goes in one direction, so in order to get back to where we started, we would have to make the whole loop. I could tell Tara was getting hungry, so after saying goodbye to Ottawa and BC, we got off at the Transportation Museum stop. We found the café and had a lovely breakfast of toasted croissants with ham and cheese and coffee. We then walked around the museum for a bit, but I was getting anxious as the rain was coming, and I wanted to see things before the showers came. We stopped at the gift store where I bought a magnet, and Tara helped the Scottish economy and bought herself a lovely scarf. We then headed out and caught the next Hop-On bus.
While we were on it, it started to rain. We were upstairs in the double-decker but found a seat over the cover and just enjoyed the rain. We decided to wait out the rain by continuing on the loop. The rain finally let up, so we eventually made our way to the Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis.
The cathedral was beautiful and had amazing stained-glass windows. I made my way into the nave and had a silent moment to myself. Then, I found Tara, and we made our way to the Necropolis.
The Necropolis was amazing. It’s on a hill overlooking the cathedral and the city. The graves were beautiful, and I’ll have trouble figuring out which Celtic cross is my favorite.
We then just walked around the city. We made our way back near the train station and are now in a cozy bar, sipping local ale (St Mungus) and waiting for our pub grub (steak and ale pie for me, Balmoral chicken for Tara).
We’ll eventually make our way back to the train station and then back to the hotel.
I’m not sure what we are going to do tomorrow morning before we check out. Dinner is here, more later.
1943 Central Station, Glasgow
Dinner was mighty yummy, and afterwards, we walked around in the City Center. We spied an establishment called The Chocolate Hotel, and of course, we had to investigate. Walls of chocolate treats greeted us, and the only responsible thing was to buy some, especially after Tara mentioned the antioxidant properties of dark chocolate. We also got a wonderful hot chocolate (ginger and chocolate for Tara, salted caramel and chocolate for me), with cocoa whip on top. Delish! We walked along some more, but the stores were mostly closed. We headed back to Central Station and are waiting for the train.
Tomorrow morning, I think we’re going to ask for a late check out so we can take the train back into the city center and have breakfast at the tea shop Sally mentioned. Then, we’ll check out and pick up the rental car.
The plan is to head out of Glasgow towards Dalmally, which is where we’ll spend the night. I had previously mapped out some stops on the way that looked interesting. Hopefully, rain won’t be too big of a factor.
I’m really quite fond of Glasgow and would come back in a heartbeat. It reminds me of Dublin but is more enjoyable. I can’t say why that is exactly, though.
Tara seems to be enjoying herself, which makes me quite happy.
2047 Sherbrooke Hotel
I think we had a wonderful first full day in Scotland. We saw a lot, and my watch says I had 17,517 steps. Not bad for an old lady!
Once I’m home, I’ll download more photos to my site, but this is a taste of Glasgow! I will definitely be returning.
Good night!
~K
