Dumbarton Castle

Susan took the day off of work and since we were at a bit of loose end after lunch, we decided to tick off one of the "things we have still to do" boxes and take a trip to the top of Dumbarton Rock to see the castle.

We have been meaning to do this for months, however we just had not got round to it until now.

Susan had been up here many, many times since her Grandfather used to be the custodian of the Castle a long time ago and her best friend, Jacq got married to Rod in the Castle a few years ago.

However, it was my first time up the Rock.

A steep climb up a lot of stairs brought us out looking out over the River Clyde with views to the left up towards the Erskine Bridge and to the right down to Greenock and the Arrochar Alps in the distance.

A short walk along the path leads to a dead-end but gives you a look down the vertical cliff face known as Rhapsody which is generaly considered to be perhaps the world’s hardest traditional rock climb, with the grade of E11.

After a quick look around we walked back along the path and ascended more stairs to the top of the Rock past the French Prison and up towards the Duke of Argyll's Battery, where Susan took the opportunity to straddle a canon!

The view from the top is fantastic and it's a real shame that more people don't come for a visit. So do yourself a favour and check out the link below and come and see a little bit of history for yourself.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dumbarton/dumbartoncastle/