Yon Bonny Braes
Oh ye'll tak the high road and I'll tak the low road, and I'll be in Scotland afore ye ...
Remember Loch Lomond, that most famous and melodious of lochs? Well, we finally got there. We have been intending to get up there for weeks, (it is a trifle north of us, hence the "up") but, well, life got in the way. Everything from personal injuries, to exhaustion, to needing to be in town for missionary farewells and arrivals intervened. Life has been hectic at the office the past few weeks, as both of us try to complete several projects for the benefit of the mission. Louise has been working on revamping the Area Books (useful books containing practical and emergency information as well as a record of working with people in a specific area), while Richard has been trying to arrange for the missionaries to get better phones, and these are in addition to dealing with flat issues, or illness or unhappiness, interspersed with running huge quantities of luggage to the airport for those departing, and then of course there are all our normal office duties.
But this Saturday we woke bright and early, having slept well, and after checking the weather we booked a couple of cruise tickets for the Capercaillie cruise among the islands, and then we set off north-westwards for the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond. And bonny they were indeed.
The loch is in the Trossachs nature reserve and is surrounded by rolling hills. It's a large loch, about the size of Utah Lake but much deeper and with a variety of islands, inhabited by people, ospreys, capercaillies (a type of grouse), no-one, and wallabies. Yes wallabies! They were imported to Inchconnachan Island by Lady Arran Colquhoun (pronounced Cohoon) in the 1940's and allowed to multiply and run wild (on the island) since then. The tourists like them but they have been culled since they were destroying the native birds-the capercaillies.
We drifted around the islands on a small cruise ship with an occasional commentary through a truly atrocious sound system, and also via more friendly and much more understandable understandable conversation from the crew--a young woman working the ship as her university summer job.
We saw a pair of ospreys in a tree overhanging the loch, apparently the last left in the region--although they had chicks a couple seasons ago. They are rare and their nesting and fishing area is marked off as a no-go area for boats or tourists. So a couple of birds have several acres of island and lake reserved for their personal use.
The islands vary in size from jagged rocks barely breaking the surface of the water, up to a few hundred acres with several homes and a small whiskey distillery on one of them. We didn't disembark at any of them, although it was an option; we just drifted around enjoying the cool lake breeze, the sunshine on the water--and briefly on us--and the glorious scenery. This is obviously a popular leisure destination as we saw speedboats, kayaks, paddle boards and small yachts floating around. . we then headed back to the village of Luss, where we started out.
The village is a showplace, literally. They apparently got a grant to improve the village and obviously did a grand job. We chatted to one of the very elderly inhabitants, who told us they have a contest for the best garden. Hers was clearly a contender, and she introduced us to the "lad" (a fellow about our age) who takes care of her yard for her, as well as his own over the road. Each cottage dweller takes meticulous and loving care of their garden and window boxes facing the road but also, as can be seen by peeking between the houses, of their back garden as well.
Remember Loch Lomond, that most famous and melodious of lochs? Well, we finally got there. We have been intending to get up there for weeks, (it is a trifle north of us, hence the "up") but, well, life got in the way. Everything from personal injuries, to exhaustion, to needing to be in town for missionary farewells and arrivals intervened. Life has been hectic at the office the past few weeks, as both of us try to complete several projects for the benefit of the mission. Louise has been working on revamping the Area Books (useful books containing practical and emergency information as well as a record of working with people in a specific area), while Richard has been trying to arrange for the missionaries to get better phones, and these are in addition to dealing with flat issues, or illness or unhappiness, interspersed with running huge quantities of luggage to the airport for those departing, and then of course there are all our normal office duties.
But this Saturday we woke bright and early, having slept well, and after checking the weather we booked a couple of cruise tickets for the Capercaillie cruise among the islands, and then we set off north-westwards for the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond. And bonny they were indeed.
The loch is in the Trossachs nature reserve and is surrounded by rolling hills. It's a large loch, about the size of Utah Lake but much deeper and with a variety of islands, inhabited by people, ospreys, capercaillies (a type of grouse), no-one, and wallabies. Yes wallabies! They were imported to Inchconnachan Island by Lady Arran Colquhoun (pronounced Cohoon) in the 1940's and allowed to multiply and run wild (on the island) since then. The tourists like them but they have been culled since they were destroying the native birds-the capercaillies.
We saw a pair of ospreys in a tree overhanging the loch, apparently the last left in the region--although they had chicks a couple seasons ago. They are rare and their nesting and fishing area is marked off as a no-go area for boats or tourists. So a couple of birds have several acres of island and lake reserved for their personal use.
The islands vary in size from jagged rocks barely breaking the surface of the water, up to a few hundred acres with several homes and a small whiskey distillery on one of them. We didn't disembark at any of them, although it was an option; we just drifted around enjoying the cool lake breeze, the sunshine on the water--and briefly on us--and the glorious scenery. This is obviously a popular leisure destination as we saw speedboats, kayaks, paddle boards and small yachts floating around. . we then headed back to the village of Luss, where we started out.
The village is a showplace, literally. They apparently got a grant to improve the village and obviously did a grand job. We chatted to one of the very elderly inhabitants, who told us they have a contest for the best garden. Hers was clearly a contender, and she introduced us to the "lad" (a fellow about our age) who takes care of her yard for her, as well as his own over the road. Each cottage dweller takes meticulous and loving care of their garden and window boxes facing the road but also, as can be seen by peeking between the houses, of their back garden as well.
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| Dry stone walls and acid-soil hydrangeas |
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| Luss Church |
We had a lovely, lovely time. We also took a couple of medical phone calls while we were on the pier and on the boat and found the cell phone reception was much better than it is in our flat. After the cruise we headed back to Edinburgh, bought some office supplies we would need for Monday, then returned to our flat and took a nap.
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