Castle Sween is a place where you can find tranquillity in nature, peace with yourself, and harmony with others. Whatever unhappy things have happened in your life, they will be gone with the wind when you get there.
Castle Sween is a big castle sitting on top of a hill, right beside the sea. The huge stones and high walls make it look like a strong, powerful man who has a long deep history. When you are standing on the castle, it feels like you are standing at the battle field, on top of history. Closing your eyes, you can hear the roar of warriors and the sound of drums, with a picture of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and flags running below you.
The castle itself is only a small part of it. Not far from the castle people have caravans, which are like mobile homes. Every one is fully equipped, and there are two-bedroom or three-bedroom ones. People usually buy one or rent one to spend holidays there. I have to say, it’s a perfect place for people who like sailing or boating. Once you get there, you see all sorts of boats everywhere and small ones at the bottom of caravans. Once the weather is good, you can just take your boat out and have a good sail. In the middle of the sea, it feels so cool: Mountains, sky, hills, sea running behind you, plus the breeze blowing your hair, it feels like the top of the world. If you are lucky, you may see people competing, 8 or 10 boats all shooting along, trying to lead the team, with streams of waves behind. But the place is so vast, so empty that if you see them from the shore, they are silent.
Some people just choose to read a book outside the caravan, under the sunshine, with a cup of coffee, enjoying their life. When you are reading, time just slips through your fingers. Of course, coming to this beautiful place, another very romantic thing to do is to walk with your partner, hand by hand on the country road, with nobody else, just you two! Along the way, you can see all different shapes of trees and stones, and occasionally, you would see a couple of sheep just stand in front of you, in the middle of the road, whistling or nagging with each other.
The trees have personalities. Most of them got a sore back, inclining to one direction from the heavy wind in Scotland. The wind is like a pair of scissors, cutting the branches of the trees into unbelievable shapes. The unique trees, together with the sea, stones, mountain behind make perfect pictures for artists, photographers, painters, poets, composers, or sentimental people, like me. During the walk, you can see country houses here and there, with their gardens deep in the natural world which surrounds them.
You may walk straight to the sunset in the late afternoon. When the weather is good, the sky is completely penetrated with orange, or pink, or red, and beyond the sea, you can see a distinctive long line where it meets the sky. This colourful, spacious sky, together with the big, blue sea, plus a couple of deer standing or running in the water, with the splashes shining behind them, makes the most astonishing picture in the world. Here, your heart is simply drunk in beautiful nature, and blinking your eyes is a luxury at this moment.
Later at mid night, no matter how cold outside is, you have to go out your room and look up into the sky, because mystery is there waiting for you. The stars are the brightest, biggest, most shining and dense ones I have ever seen. Looking at the stars, you mind can just jump from fairy tales, to science stories, and then to poets, fortune, constellation, and fate. Of course, you can also get up to see the sun rise, unlike me, who always got too tired watching the sky and indulging myself in imagination, and couldn’t wake up in the morning.
For Chinese students to go, you can get a group of people, and rent a caravan. Then take a citylink bus from Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station to Lochgilphead (£13.80) which takes about 2 hours and a half, and then get a taxi from Lochigilphead to Castle Sween, which takes 40 minutes for 35 pounds. If you go with a group, say 6 people, it’s actually quite a cheap way to get this fabulous view in Scotland, within 4 hours at most from Glasgow.
So what are you waiting for! Just go!
Caravan renting information: http://www.ellary.com/html/caravan_prices.html
Coach from Glasgow to Lochgilphead: http://www.citylink.co.uk/index.php (check the timetable before you go)
Taxi from Lochgilphead to Castle Sween: Glenfyne Taxi Co which accommodates maximum 6 people. (Telephone: 07850645671. Book one day ahead).