ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
One of the real scenic gems of Dumbarton is the Overtoun House Estate and the Lang Craigs. I try to go there every spring as it's such a beautiful area... like an earthly paradise in fact... and attaining that perfection, however briefly, is surely worthy of a quest. Sheep and the Lang Craigs above.
I'd arranged to meet Alan and Alexander here but it was such a lovely morning I arrived early which gave me time for a walk around the estate grounds. Overtoun House here. Used in the film Cloud Atlas. In fact, apart from Outlander, Cloud Atlas is the film with the most locations I've visited, purely by accident. I even watched it being filmed in Glasgow, again by accident, along with World War Z, and Under The Skin,.... briefly spotting Halle Berry, Brad Pitt, and Scarlett Johansson within a couple of months of each other. During that time, watching all three films ( I liked Under the Skin the best) I was going- yep, been there, and there.... and there. Can't see that ever happening again.
Horses in the grounds of the Overtoun Estate.
Loch Bowie in May 2025.
A close up of Loch Bowie.
After half an hour Alan and Alexander arrived and we set off for the climb to the Lang Craigs...through the hanging gardens of the Overtoun Estate grounds... white flowering hawthorn bushes growing on successive ancient lava flows... as all this region, and Scotland as a whole, has been shaped and sculpted by volcanic action then later glaciers... and before that ... was part of a vast high mountain range on supercontinent Gondwana before it fractured apart into Australia, Africa, North and South America etc. Good to know... exactly what it is you are walking on.
After a steep ascent we gained the ridge and were rewarded with stunning views. An easy walk along the escarpment followed.
Looking down on Dumbarton Rock and The River Clyde.
And back down to Overtoun House and Dumbarton.
We then followed a trail to have lunch beside the Black Linn reservoir.
A peaceful spot in calm conditions which had nice reflections. Some of the trees blown down by the recent storm Eowyn in late Jan 2025. Not so calm on that day. Thousands of trees lost overall in one wild night.
Looking towards Doughnot Hill (A heavily worn down volcanic plug of hard rock methinks like most summits around this area) here on the western edge of the Kilpatricks.
Fish carving in the woods on the path down.
And Overtoun House again.
We then went to Dumbarton Rock and Castle to watch rock climbers in action on the vertical and overhanging back face of this cliff. The opposite side to this one, seen above. A much better preserved and more obvious lump of volcanic rock. A natural defensive formation... hence many of Scotland's castles sit on top of similar lumps, like Edinburgh and Stirling Castle.)
6 comments:
The Railway Children had a scene filmed at our local railway tunnel when we were kids - we spent a few days there watching. Sally Thomsett was a really spoilt brat!
That looks a really lovely walk, especially with the calm lochs.
I like it there too. The only one of the films you mention that I have seen is Cloud Atlas. I had read the book and couldn’t imagine how they would film it so i was impressed that they did.
Hi Carol, You probably know that Sally T was 20 and had a boyfriend when she was supposed to be 11 in the film and in reality was older than her film sister Jenny A. One of the biggest and most successful child age gaps on film I can think of as even most of the film crew, not in the loop, thought she was 11 years old. A good film. Most of the other films at that time 1960s- 1970s used adults pretending to be in school.... and some of them sat at school desks looked about 30 years old :)
Hi Anabel, Although I've been to many of the locations in that film, even scenes filmed abroad across Europe..... and read the book... I didn't like the film at all. Too disjoined, very dull in parts, loooong....and Tom Hanks mangling English was the last straw. I even watched it twice a few years later to make sure... still rubbish :o). OMHO.... yet I like Sci fi normally and weird films. By contrast Under The Skin was very strange but compelling and boldly original the same as Michel Faber's other filmed work The Crimson Petal and The White which I've seen as well. Funnily enough both World War Z ( not bad) and Cloud Atlas have been on TV umpteen times yet Under The Skin or Crimson Petal very rarely. Also a lot better than Scarlett's own Lucy (2014 Sci fi film.... also on TV a lot.) Such is life though.
Oh, so beautiful. No wonder they like to film movies there. You are so lucky to have such beauty!
Thank you Kay. Capturing Beauty is my lifelong quest. I seek it here, I seek it there... I seek and try to capture it everywhere... I go. My sense of purpose since childhood.
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