Yesterday was a holiday over the most of the country and so we used it to our best advantage. We left later than we had planned at around 10am and headed the hundred miles or so north on the A/M 74. Our first job was to head into the City Centre and drop off Lesley at her flat on the University Campus. She had been home with us for three days but with her exams looming she wanted back to get on with her revision.
So we left the city, Jennifer, Anna and myself and the dog (Sarah being away at a friend's house) and continued our drive north. Of course there are no motorways here just twisty, tight roads. They were really busy with May holiday traffic but we persevered and had a very chilly outdoor lunch on the shores of Loch Lomond...alone we were not! Heading north again we were determined to reach the little village of Taynuilt just twelve miles short of Oban. The scenery was as always breathtaking, with the mountains rising and falling on either side and glens and lochs everywhere. Turning off at Tyndrum towards Taynuilt the road degenerates into a rather twisty and bumpy experience. The snow poles lining this road speak of the winters. Apart from the dreaded Forestry Commission trees there was little green anywhere. Spring hasn't yet sprung properly in this part of the world. Snow still caps the hills. However the views along this road I call "The Magic Kingdom"....it looks like a setting for Middle Earth of Tolkien fame.
Eventually we arrived. We strolled. I felt exhausted not only
by the drive but the still lingering effects of my hospital
examination. There was the usual Highland Chaos of rusting
motors and dereliction amidst unbelievable beauty. From the
blacksmiths there arose might beatings as the shovel for a
JCB was welded. It was closed of course! No tea room or
shop. We climbed over an unexpected stile and climbed a few
feet to a large standing stone erected in 1806 or thereabouts
by local workers to Admiral Lord Nelson. The views were
stunning the hills touching the clearing sky and birds
singing everywhere. A rusting hulk sat in the water at the
end of the pier - designated an ancient monument - the pier
not the hulk.
All this took longer than expected and we had to head home. We stopped just before Tyndrum for more coffee from the flask and were appalled by the litter in the lay-by...a sad comment on people. It came to me that is was just like sin covering an otherwise perfect place. I looked to the hills covered in snow and I remembered what the Lord said in Isaiah, "Come now let us reason together though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow". This cheered me greatly and I knew I had from the Lord what I needed for my service this afternoon in the Old Folks Home.
However the journey home was a disaster. When we reached Tarbet on Loch Lomond the traffic ground to a halt and there we remained for two hours.... a traffic accident had blocked the whole 28 mile stretch of road.
We didn't get to Glasgow until nearly nine o'clock where we had to pick up Sarah from her friends house. With a hundred miles still to go and no dinner consumed and not willing or able to pay for food at the Motorway service stations we might have been found to be in not the best of moods. But we put a tape on from the Stoneleigh Bible Week and sang along with these wonderful worship songs. We stopped in Lesmahagow and bought fish and chips and ate them from the paper in the lay-by before rejoining the motorway. It was after 11 when we got home. And it was crash into bedtime.
It was a break from our troubles. We still knock at the doors and wait for the Lord .... but He is good!