The following morning they're up bright and early, fill up my water tank (He's finally got the knack of unlocking and locking it...I hope!!!) and off we go - with Him driving - can't be going very far then methinks ;-)
Six miles later, she jumps out at a bus stop and He takes me to a supermarket car park. He then goes and buys some stuff which He stows behind the driver seat and then...just sits there. About 20 minutes later He starts me up, drives me off and we pick Her up just around the corner. And then we're off again - another supermarket? back home? No, north up the A1 and then west on the A69...long way round to the lakes? North up the A68, however, makes me think deepest Northumberland, but No - we fly past Carter Bar and I'm in Scotland for the first time. About half an hour later, we pull into a lay-by next to the River Tweed which, of course, forms part of the border between England and Scotland, and reminds him of the Dick Gaughan song Both Sides of the Tweed. They make a cuppa, have a picnic and then She gets into the driving seat and it's off we go...obviously going much further than I thought, given that She's taken over the driving seat.
So, She's taken over the driving seat and He's taken over the navigating and telling Her to ignore everything that the sat nav's saying and 4 hours later, after my having to squeeze through traffic in a small village by gently caressing wing mirrors with a nice 4x4 (no damage done to either of us - He did get out and check with the person driving the 4x4 - honest!!) and we arrive in Balmaha, a lovely little village on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond.
This'll do nicely, I think, but they go through the village and come to a very sharp right hand bend (so sharp it's almost a right-angle) with a turn off to the left - you can see it in this map - it's next to the boats (little white dots) moored in the harbour).
The sat nav is saying to follow the road round the right-hand bend, the road sign is telling them to go round the right-hand bend towards Rowardennan and that the left-hand fork is a dead end, but what does He do? -Yup, insists on Her taking the left-hand fork...which means, after about 300 yards they end up with no way forward, because the road is very narrow and there are lots of parked cars, and no way of turning me round without dunshing a few of said cars and running the risk of taking me for my first swimming lesson in the Loch. (not a bad way to go...Harvey Diamond, the Loch Lomond Monster, LOL) so She has no choice but to reverse me all the way back to the junction -which She does magnificently, and safely and receives a round of applause from some passers-by who had to wait while we manoeuvred past a land-rover. I bet He couldn't have done it.
Back on the road, we head towards Rowardennan and, after about 4 miles arrive at Cashel Caravan Park and Camping Site . They park me up with a great view of Loch Lomond, hook me up and within 10 minutes have a B-B-Q going. After eating they go for a stroll along the Lochside and then THE MIDGIES COME OUT TO BITE...
Apparently they had cycled the 4 miles or so to Rowardennan, walked up Ben Lomond (974 metres or, for those of you who prefer old-fashioned money 3,195 feet above sea level, making it a Munro - whatever one of those is!), down via The Ptarmigan Ridge after being dive-bombed by hundreds of flying beasties on the summit of Ben Lomond, stopped off for a burger and a pint (cider for Him, J2O and soda water for Her - but no mucky beer for either of them!) and then cycled all the way back.
Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins...oops, sorry, that's one of my favourite Beatles songs, what I meant to say was, Wednesday morning and they are up earlyish and feeling alrightish after their exertions of yesterday but not that alright because, instead of leaving me to fend for myself while they go off walking or cycling, they drive me to Balloch and park me up while they go and have a look round some shops, spot a local beastie, have lunch in a very nice pub (yes, mucky beer was involved) and then a one hour cruise on Loch Lomond.
On the way back they stopped off at the Caravan and Camping Club site at Milarrochy Bay to buy me some more gas and I heard them say that this was nicer than the site we were staying on...but I'm not sure they would have coped with the extra 4 miles that staying here would have added to their adventures yesterday!! Arriving back at our site, it was a quick bite to eat and then watching a glorious sunset - through clouds of midgies and a visiting swan.
After a very nice meal in the sunshine outside The Oak Tree Inn (and some mucky beer, of course), they cycled back, nearly running into a deer wandering down the road.
On arriving back we chilled out, listening to some music and watching one of the best sunsets we have ever seen, but the millions of midgies mean that he did not go out to take any piccys, so I can't share them with you, I'm afraid. I thought what a wuss but, the following morning when he went out to put the bikes back on the rack, he was almost eaten alive and there was probably only a tenth of the midgies there had been the previous night, so I can't say I blame Him really.
The return home was a bit of a suprise...it started with a fine view of a crow plucking the hair out of a highland cow...
and then, instead of taking the scenic route (i.e. the long twisty way with the dead-end detour) or the direct route (south to Glasgow and then further south to the A69 before heading east) we set off in the direction of Stirling and then south towards Auld Reekie. We are just about past the city when He suddenly shouts "Rosslyn Chapel" and She reacts instantly by swiftly, but carefully, navigating across a few lanes of traffic to leave the motorway and head for the said chapel. They park me up in the car park and go off and indulge in their Knights Templar fantasy and try and solve the Da Vinci Code, whatever that is and, after an hour or so they come back full of it and can't stop talking about how the visit had been very enjoyable.
About 90 minutes down the A1 they pull off at Stannington and head for The Ridley Arms for a last supper of sausage and mash and steak pie (they told me that was two meals rather than all on one plate, but I'm not so sure!) and 'optional' mucky beer.
We arrive home about an hour later and She leaps out saying '"You sort out Harvey" quickly followed by "Take That" - I later found out that this wasn't their first row, but a remider that she was off to see Take That at the Sunderland Stadium of Light with their daughter, which She thoroughly enjoyed.
We arrive home about an hour later and She leaps out saying '"You sort out Harvey" quickly followed by "Take That" - I later found out that this wasn't their first row, but a remider that she was off to see Take That at the Sunderland Stadium of Light with their daughter, which She thoroughly enjoyed.
You can see more of their photos from Loch Lomond here.
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