Believe it or not Helensburgh is one of only four UK photos on the www.space.com website. Click on "Zoom View" to download the necessary viewing software (not compatible with Firefox). After installation you have a list of some 120 or so views of the worlds landmarks from space, including - for some unknown reason - Helensburgh!
Although highly compressed for this site you can clearly see Helensburgh and Rhu and a portion of the Rosneath peninsular. As you can see, we are pretty central!
In upper Helensburgh, developed by wealthy Victorian Glasgow merchants, is the Hill House, now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. A huge success in it's inaugural year, the now annual blossom festival will be held from 17th to 23rd April.
This exquisite building (in the foreground of the picture left) complete with original furnishings, is renowned as the finest domestic masterpiece of the internationally famous Scots architect, Charles Rennie MacKintosh. Click here for details of the 2006 festival celebrating his life. Other famous local connections include Henry Bell, originator of the steamship and, of course, John Logie Baird, the inventor of television
North of the town lie the foothills of the West Highlands, where the fjord-like sea-lochs, gouged out by great glaciers, cut deep inland. Once the masts of Viking longboats crowded in Loch Long - named from the Gaelic for 'Loch of Ships'. Today, you are likely to encounter yachtsmen or sea-anglers in the popular sporting waters of the Gareloch or Clyde Estuary.
The highlight of summer is a trip "doon the watter" on the world's last ocean going paddle steamer - The Waverley.
For detailed info on Helensburgh including current and forthcoming events, visit www.oortoon.com.
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