How good it was to see Peter and Marion who whisked us away to Bearsden for tea and toast, great chats and a welcome bed.
This morning began so lazily with a leisurely breakfast, washing, great chats with M&M, and J. The day has been fantastic, but you would never have guessed what it would involve at the beginning. We set off about 11am north west along the Firth of Clyde. There was a huge passenger ship in one of the ports and mountains rearing up as we got to the top of the Clyde. The day was dull and threatening one minute and sunny the next.
In the foreground here is a massive nuclear submarine facility at Garelochhead (Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde). There is also large areas taken over by the Ministry of Defence, and we drove by one such place with lots of oil or maybe ammunition (missiles?) hidden under grassy covers.We pulled into a farm that has a cafe and shop attached and enjoyed the most beautiful lunch of soup and a 'toastie'. It was called Ardarden Estate. Then we drove to a high viewpoint where the trees have grown so tall that you can hardly see the view, but it was beautiful all the same, and enjoyed a cuppa before the rain came.
Eventually finding the road to Glen Douglas we began to ascend on a very narrow road with 'passing places'. We stopped to admire the tall mountains, one called the Cobbler which Peter M has climbed, also lovely pines above Loch Long.
Photo of Loch Lomond, with Ben Lomond in the background.
Further along, we came upon a field with some "Heeland Cooes."
Mum was delighted!
The AWD Kia descended to the busy road on the banks of Loch Lomond, and we headed towards Glasgow. Peter decided to turn off to the tourist hub of Luss, and here in the car park, trouble struck big time. Suddenly, it seemed, the clutch stopped working. We managed to push the car to a safe spot, and Peter called their NRMA equivalent. As we waited for help, hydraulic fluid was dripping on the ground under the car.
Within the hour, "Kevin" arrived with his dual-cab tilt-tray recovery truck, and after a brief inspection loaded the car on the back. Kevin spoke broad Glaswegian, and was a barrel of laughs. Just the right guy to take the tension out of the situation. I took a photo, and he couldn't help hamming it up:
We all piled in, and as we travelled back to Bearsden, he regaled us with entertaining conversation which (to us) was largely incomprehensible!
It had been a big day, but it wasn't yet over... After supper, we were picked up by P&M's son-in-law, Ross, who took us to the St Vincent St Free Church "large hall" (under the church building) where we joined a crowd of people come to an outreach fund-raising concert by the (Rev.) Alex Macdonald's band (see http://www.alexjmacdonald.co.uk/index.htm). They were excellent, playing a variety of original compositions, many reminiscent of Bob Dylan. A special treat was a surprise meeting with Rev. Ken and Joan Cameron, with whom we worked in S.Africa in 1996, and whom we visited, with Cate, in 2005 at their place near Stirling (Menstrie).
Supper followed, and we were glad to be introduced to a number of other folk. It was good to fall into bed, some time north of 11pm!
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