Around the Clyde: Loch Striven

Friday, September 18, 2009

Loch Striven

Loch Striven is a beautiful sea loch not far north of the Isle of Bute and about 8 miles long, extending north into the Cowal. It is very unfortunately being used as an anchorage for unused large vessels owing to the fall in world trade. (Loch Striven was also used to park ships during the oil crisis in the 1970s) There has been quite a local outcry, all to no avail of course - see "Anger at Striven ships" in the on-line Dunoon Observer. Click on "News Archives" for 3rd July 2009 - it's impossible to make a link here to this page but you can go to the main website here.

Two of the moored ships in the loch

There are so many pheasants around the whole area. If you drive up the road alongside the loch they will often run in front of the car as in the video below:

Looking back down this lovely loch from its most northerly point on a brighter day:

SONG OF THE CLYDE

"I sing of a river I'm happy beside
The song that I sing is a song of the Clyde
Of all Scottish rivers it’s dearest to me
It flows from Leadhills all the way to the sea
It borders the orchards of Lanark so fair
Meanders through meadows with sheep grazing there
But from Glasgow to Greenock, in towns on each side
The hammers’ ding-dong is the song of the Clyde

(Chorus)
Oh the river Clyde, the wonderful Clyde
The name of it thrills me and fills me with pride
And I'm satisfied whate'er may betide
The sweetest of songs is the song of the Clyde

Imagine we’ve left Craigendoran behind
And wind-happy yachts by Kilcreggan we find
At Kirn and Dunoon and Innellan we stay
Then Scotland’s Madeira that’s Rothesay, they say
Or maybe by Fairlie and Largs we will go
Or over to Millport that thrills people so
Maybe journey to Arran it can't be denied
Those scenes all belong to the song of the Clyde

When sun sets on dockland, there’s beauty to see
The cry of a seabird is music to me
The blast of a horn loudly echoes, and then
A stillness descends on the water again
'Tis here that the sea-going liners are born
But unlike the salmon, they seldom return
Can you wonder the Scots o’er the ocean so wide
Should constantly long for the song of the Clyde?"

The first song I learnt to sing from memory! I don't know who wrote it though I've heard it sung by many well known singers. Here is a link to it sung by Kenneth McKellar (over a great video)!