A Scenic Drive

Well, the hotel, despite its shortcomings, was comfy and friendly. I will be writing a nice letter to them - I noted they had a few thank you letters out on display.

A lovely drive home today down the Great Glen, then through Glen Coe and across the Trossachs. I love nothing better. The clouds were low - very low. No tops of mountains were seen, but there was always a bit of sunlight and a break in the clouds in the distance, giving tantalising glimpses of the rugged scenery we should have been seeing. And daffodils were rampant! Huge swathes of them along roadsides.

As we were coming near the Commando Memorial near Spean Bridge, there was a break in the low clouds and bright sunshine on the mountains, still with snow. It was spectacular. But by the time we got there, one part had closed in again, but I got the smaller part, then it disappeared again. I'd've loved to have just hung around all day, waiting for another wee spectacle.

A good picnic stop today - by Loch Earn. There was a big crowd of people barbecuing and what a lovely smell it was too. I had my coffee and biscuits in the car, then went off to investigate/take a photo. It was a whole family, or several families, of Bangladeshis. I asked if I could take some photos, there was lots of lovely smoke. I may have commented on the nice smell, and so I was offered some tandoori chicken and then a spring roll. I spoke at length to one of the men - he was retired, lived in Dundee having arrived there in 1970 to attend university. In fact, all the adults in the group of that age were at uni together. Then the war with Pakistan happened and they did not go home again. Their children and grandchildren, who were playing around happily, consider Scotland their home. I like stories like that.

There was also a man and his son fishing. I think this is an excellent hobby to get young folk interested in. The wee lad, Dean, explained to me all the bits on his rod - the bells to tell him when he'd caught something, the weight that dropped when the line was pulled. They had four trout to take home, but the dad thought that wasn't much for two days fishing.

Back to the sunshine of the east coast. I do believe my windows need cleaning ...