Paisley and the Aliens gargoyle

Our Great British Adventure

April 27, 2018

Paisley is a town outside Glasgow and it (naturally) has an Abbey. The notable thing about the Paisley Abbey that caused Anthony to insist on a visit, is that during the reconstruction of its gargoyles, one was made in the shape of the monster from the Alien movies. Naturally we found it on the 4th wall we scrutinised.

I went inside the Abbey to see if it had an interesting ceiling. The guide there was rather odd. Upon learning I was from Australia he promptly asked who wrote Waltzing Mathilda and, when I answered, exclaimed that every Australian seemed to know that. I pointed out that Banjo Paterson was a very famous bush poet so it really wasn't surprising, which was apparently news to him. He and a fellow guide then extensively praised the voice of Judith Durham (which is fair enough) before I escaped for a turn around the Abbey to look at its architecture (which dates back in small parts the the 11th century).

We then drove alongside Lock Lomond which had increasingly spectacular scenery until we turned west for the Isle of Skye. I'd randomly chosen Portree, Skye's largest town at around 4000 people, to stay in which did turn out to be nicely placed for day trips to various parts of the island. We were a little way out of town in a large apartment that formed one wing of someone's house. It was extremely comfortable.