Scotland Off the Beaten Track

West Dunbartonshire | Balloch | Shopping centre | ★★

Loch Lomond Shores is probably the busiest part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, barely 10 miles from the outskirts of Glasgow. A row of tourist-orientated shops curve gracefully around the southern tip of Loch Lomond, dominated by Drumkinnon Tower which houses a shiny aquarium. For obvious reasons this is a good rainy day option, although in clear weather there are also spectacular views north across the water towards mountainous country. Newish ropes courses and a bird of prey centre complete the offering.


📌Loch Lomond Shores★★
Ben Lomond Way, half a mile northwest of Balloch town centre, G.R.: NS 385822 ///part.surcharge.trading
Open daily | Free

>> Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre★★★
>> SEA LIFE Loch Lomond★★★★
>> Treezone (Loch Lomond)★★★★

North Lanarkshire | Cumbernauld | Museum | ★

The government probably wasn't intending to build Scotland's ugliest settlement when they built Cumbernauld as a New Town in 1955, but that does seem to be what's happened. On one level it seems to have thrived: despite being only decades old, the town is already North Lanarkshire's largest. But from a visitor's perspective it's hideous: seemingly endless acres of dual carriageways, car parks and claustrophobic shopping centres. And there's a conundrum: what to display in the town museum? There are a few information boards setting out the groundbreaking "vision" of Cumbernauld, lots of aerial photographs and a little about the area's history before concrete covered it. But the suspiciously empty feel of the museum gives the game away: there's not much history to Cumbernauld New Town yet, even if a few people would quite like Cumbernauld New Town to be history...


📌Cumbernauld Museum★
Cumbernauld L…