Woohoo, we’re out and about again! Yeah! Mind you if hadn’t been for an invitation to a champagne afternoon tea by our grandbrats we might not have been. Still not feeling as adventurous as we used to be. It is obviously going to take a wee bit more time to get fully back in the swing. Anyway, they phoned to say that they were at the Lodge on Loch Lomond and would we like to join them? It was a lovely day so we jumped in the car and were off on the longest journey we have undertaken since March when we were in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. This trip was only going to take an hour or so but it still seemed like an exciting mini-adventure after COVID incarceration.

Take the High Road

The Lodge on the Loch Lomond is situated in the picturesque village of Luss. This was where the now-defunct Scottish soap opera Take The High Road was set. The area around the loch is always busy. In normal times Luss has so many tourists it’s really best avoided. Amazingly it was still extremely busy and very few visitors appeared to be from Britain. Considering the coronavirus travel restrictions the country is currently facing we have no idea how they got here or how they’re getting back? When we arrived at the Lodge we were ushered into Colquhoun’s Restaurant. The name made me think of my mother.

Desperate situation strategy

During WWII she drove timber lorries up and down Loch Lomondside. The twisty road is torturous, to say the least, so this was cause for wonderment by everyone who knew her … especially my father when she drove his car through the end of the garage. Anyway, she stopped her truck one day and climbed over the wall into Luss Estate to pick some daffodils. No sooner had she done so than she was apprehended by none other than Sir Ivar Colquhoun, 7th Baronet and Chief of Clan Colquhoun. He told her in no uncertain terms that not only was she on the wrong side of the wall stealing his flowers but also trespassing on one of his 44,000 acres. Mum always responded to all such desperate situations in the same way … by dissolving in a fit of helpless giggles. This highly successful strategy served her well throughout her life. It got her out of many scrapes where the accuser just gave up in bewilderment.

Delegation

Anyway, after some initial miscommunication problems, we were eventually settled down with our afternoon tea. It was delightful to sip bubbles, eat sandwiches and cakes while watching the swimmers, canoeists and paddleboarders exerting a bit more energy outside on the loch. Delegating exercise suits us very well. Sometimes the happy scene was enhanced with the addition of a cruise boat or a pedalo, escaped from a neighbouring beach. However, it was the scones that were getting most of our attention.

Skinny dipping

This would be our first non-Falkirk scone since lockdown and they looked very inviting. We had a plain scone and fruit scone between the two of us so it was half each. There was nice little pots of cream and strawberry jam … no prepackaged stuff here. All presented in a kind of birdcage contraption, presumably to stop the scones escaping? The cakes, the sandwiches and the scones were all great.  However, after some deliberation and taking the service problems into account, we eventually decided that the scones fell ever so slightly short of topscone. Pity, it would have been nice to have awarded a topscone on our first real outing in months.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon so many thanks to all concerned. Afterwards, the kids expended some of their boundless energy with a dip in the loch.

In the news, Boris Johson has ended his camping holiday near Applecross after only three days. Hard enough to believe that he actually chose friendless Scotland in the first place never mind the fact that he then pitched his bell tent without permission on someone else’s land. Kind of says it all really.

G83 8PA          tel: 01436 860201         Colquhoun’s Restaurant

///disprove.enormous.ballroom

ps: Our Bathurst correspondent has come back with more comment and another poem. Is there no end to these Aussie’s talents?

“Bill alleges that we Aussies should rejoice, as we are heading into spring and summer, while you Scots are looking down the barrel of winter.  All very well, but the weather here in Bathurst this past week has been atrocious.  Rain, wind, even a dash of snow. Why, yesterday it was so cold the maximum temperature was 2 degrees lower than the minimum.  But, on the brighter side, this weather reminds us of our previous biannual visits to our daughter and family in Strathkinness. Something that is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.

Enough of that, let’s get on with another poem. The penning of which has been made easier by being stuck indoors all day. For this poem, I have resorted to Sam T Coleridge for inspiration.”

POEM

Never thought that Coleridge would get a mention in allaboutthescones.com. But when you consider that he spent many years living with the Wordsworths in the Lake District, we’re sure he would have enjoyed many a scone. And he would be proud to still be inspiring scone poets today. Many thanks to A & J.

On our way home from the Lodge at Loch Lomond we came across this fully operational K6 telephone box at Balquidder. Legend has it that Rob Roy used it regularly.