Thursday July 3rd ~ Greenock, the “Gateway to Glasgow”

Deciding to just explore the small ports, and taking local transportation instead of taking the more expensive tours offered on board the cruise ship keeps us in town for the morning. Coming across an old library, we are drawn inside.

Library, Greenock

The multiple volumes of Lloyd’s Register caught my eye.  They had row after row, containing 100’s of well warn volumes.  For a quite small library, this gave added voice to the significance of shipping in this area.

Lloyd’s Registry

“The Society printed the first Register of Ships in 1764 in order to give both underwriters and merchants an idea of the condition of the vessels they insured and chartered…The Register, with information on all seagoing, self-propelled merchant ships of 100 gross tonnes or greater, is published annually. A vessel remains registered with Lloyd’s Register until it is sunk, wrecked, hulked, or scrapped.” ~ Wikipedia

Just around the corner was the entrance to the McLean Museum.

McLean Museum

Here the story is told of different industries that flourished and then disappeared from this area including sugar refineries, pottery and shipbuilding.  A small-sized museum, it reminded me of the one in Jacksonville, Oregon, near where I grew up, proudly displaying items of local heritage and pictures of local heroes.

Local hero Alex Wright – International Runner

At one point there were 170 different ship builders in Greenock. One by one the ship building plants closed down, until the last one ceased to exist when its machinery was auctioned in 1987.

An article in the local paper tried to sum up the moment, with the lack of sentimentality shown at the auction.  I thought the quote was quite good, so am including it below:

“At its best, sentimentality is a souffle of memory, respect and affection with a tinge of longing for the security of bygone days. At its worst, sentimentality refuses to see reality at all, preferring myth anchored in the past of an uncertain future, and rhetoric to logic.” ~ Stewart Lamont

Inside the museum

We wanted to take a local tour to Gourock, but it was sold out, so instead we purchased two tickets for the 2:45 Port Glasgow and Newark Castle Tour offered by the same company.  Upon arrival at our meet-up point, I inquired if there had been any cancellations for the tour that had been our first choice.  After waiting just a couple of minutes, we were advised that yes, a couple of people had not arrived, so we got to join the tour that we had originally wanted after all.

The free two-hour tour to Gourock was offered through the local volunteer Tourist Group. Here are a few more pictures we took on that tour:

Gournock Bay

Gourock Harbor and yacht club

Note bricked in windows. The owners had to pay a tax based on the number of windows that the home had, so to reduce taxes, it became common practice to brick some of them in.

Monument, combination of cross and anchor

Sheep in the pasture, few trees on the low rolling hillsides

You are rarely far from the water

Lighthouse

And what has Gus been up to the past couple of days?  Both Tim and “D” have been hard at work trying to “one-up” the other on clever ideas.  Here are their latest creative displays of wit and whimsy.

At the spa with a hot stone massage treatment

Skiing Gus about to go down the ski jump

Gus the cat burglar trying to break into the safe

Gus having too much fun and getting into trouble in the bathroom

Gus taking a hot air balloon ride

Gratitude Moment: Today I am grateful for the hospitality that small communities show to their visitors. From the welcome tent that greeted us as we walked down the gangway, to the helpful information booth, free tours hosted by the local volunteer tourist group, and a complimentary shot of a local scotch whiskey to warm us upon our return.