Menootanaboot; Farewell, So Long...

The last full day of my visitors was Wednesday 15th and it dawned, (could you even believe it was a possibility?) more dreich than dreich. Truly. I had hoped against hope that it would at least not be raining, even if not sunning, but not a chance. Thus, the planned trip over to the Isle of Bute and one more castle dosing for Drew was written off. Not just that it would have been limited viewing once there, but to get there involves sheep-track driving and, frankly, I wasn't up for it in that stuff. It is a surprisingly busy road, it being the 'shortcut' from that place to this place for all local traffic, trucks and bus - yes bus! There's an hourly service over to Rothesay.

Sooo, what d'ya do when the planned doing is undone? You spend the morning nattering, drinking cups of tea, have lunch, then - just as a break in the clouds emerges - don your waterproofs, arm with brollies and head to the local lighthouse.

After which, you drive around the back streets of a ten street town!

I pointed Li'l Ren up the hill to Bishop's Glen, by which time it had properly stopped dropping wet stuff and was even getting a bit warmer again (not much but a bit). Pointing K&D to the path, mentioning the possibility of walking right around the reservoir, off they went and took little more than half an hour to reappear, having done the circuit.

Meanwhile, I sat in Ren watching the heron on the far shore, the cormorant floating and flapping, happy in its solitude upon the water, and two or three anglers flicking their lines one way then another and coming up empty - yet also happy in their meditative sport.


Drew now mentioned that he'd like to purchase a book for the plane ride to Canada, so I drove over to the Museum carpark and let them trot down to the main street via the town gardens. I spent fifteen minutes watching the ships and the Clyde. As we were about to set off for the Hutch, I noted that the High Kirk was open.

I've lived here four and a half years and have never found this building open. Scottish churches are not like the English ones, where you can just walk right in (have never quite figured out why) - so this was a delight for me as much as another little opportunity for my visitors to see something else in this last afternoon in Dunoon. It turned into a little gem of a visit...

The interior seemed somehow smaller than the exterior suggests (invertardis???) Interesting history. The basics are:

⏩The present building probably stands on the site of a much earlier church which until 1688 was the Cathedral Church of both the Roman Catholic and Episcopalian Bishops of Argyll. Towards the end of the 18th century the building became dilapidated and was demolished, the stone being used to build Gillespie Graham’s Late Decorated Gothic Revival church of 1816. The belfry tower was added in 1839 and the church was lengthened and widened by Andrew Balfour in 1909. Chancel window 1939 by Douglas Hamilton. Gravestones of the 13th and 17th century in the kirkyard.⏪

It turned out that the place is open for July and August every summer - I just hadn't passed by during those months to discover it! The ladies in the lobby were welcoming and chatty. We enjoyed viewing the historical exhibits which had been set up at the end of pews and side chancels and then decided to partake of the hospitality on offer... donation only for an enormous pot of tea and a plateful of sweet biscuits (cookies). This was a proper little delight to finish off the visit for K&D.

That evening, we watched Danial Craig Skyfall his way through some more mayhem and then it was time to bed, for it would be an early rise on Thursday.

I'd had a wonderful time with the new company and we made the most of dreich weather - a true experience of the Bonny Land for them! Breakfast (simple tea and toast that day) was complete by seven of the a and m and we took off smartish to catch the ferry and head for the airport. K&D were dropped there by 0830h and I continued on, being half-way to Edinburgh as it was. I spent another week away from the Hutch, sharing funtimes with the father. More on that next week... Tomorrow's FFF folks!!!