Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Back At The Rural Retreat
by Russell Turner - 11:42 on 02 September 2016
My road trip and the busy couple of days that followed it are over. Or, to be accurate, the one busy day, when Chatterbox distribution took place, and the day preceding it when I recovered from five days of winding roads, late nights, meat-eating, spirituous liquors and reacquainting myself with bike club friends I'd not spent quality time with since they retired from two wheels.
First stop, after a five-hour (including breaks) occasionally rain-lashed trudge down the A82, which gets busier every year, was Kilcreggan on the Rosneath peninsula, home of my former best man, Mike, and his petite wife, Michelle. Much gossip ensued, aided by Chinese takeaway and lashings of Jim Beam.
Next morning, Michelle was left at home to pursue artistic and gardening endeavours while Mike chauffeured me on a tour of the peninsula and nearby countryside beneath which is hidden the military nastiness that, among other things, keeps the submarine base at Faslane busy. You can stop to peer into the base from a distance, or close up though its fence, but hang around too long and men in unmarked cars will cruise past slowly to examine you, I was informed.
The afternoon involved the local pub while the evening was much as the previous one, with home made chilli in place of Chinese. Splendid.
Mike and Michelle share a tender moment.
I bid farewell next morning and drove through more rain (my decision to use Son of Seat rather than Kawasaki San had been a wise one) in the direction of Mull. The rain dried up, the sun shone, the roads cleared, so after Inverary and Connel, rather than catch the big ferry at Oban I continued north to enjoy more of Argyll and, eventually, the small ferry from Lochaline to Fishnish. Definitely the scenic route but worth the effort.
From Fishnish I motored through Craggy Island to the home of Fr Jack and Mrs Doyle, aka Andrew and Ann, whose home near Dervaig is even more remote than The Rural Retreat. Polytunnels, hens and horses play a large part in their lifestyle, plus Jet the dog and Cato the cat, the latter's preference for the outdoor life, especially overnight, being in marked contrast to the soft-pawed existence of The Pride. You've got to be tough for island life.
Jack Daniel, supported by Portuguese red wine, was the spirit of choice to accompany and follow more carnivorous activity, imbibed in comfort while watching sweating cyclists toil up a Spanish mountain. My hosts are both enthusiastic followers of Chris Froome and Vuelta a España. It take all sorts.
Andrew on the dunes at Calgary.
Next day, Ann went to work at the island's bijou hospital while semi-retired Andrew and I took a tour of north-west Mull and a romp along Calgary beach with ball-chasing Jet. Rain pelted down in the afternoon, so it was fortunate that we were back at his house where I gave the former PC owner a few tips on how to use his shiny new Mac. I wasn't jealous at all. The evening was more food, drink (I declined all but a glass of wine – you can have too much of a good thing) and men in Lycra plus a Netflix film. Craggy Island has it all.
I returned next day past Car Park Full signs at Glenfinnan and Urquhart Castle, which suggested a good tourist season, to find cats who hadn't noticed my absence and Matchgirl still at work. And Son of Seat needs new front tyres. At least the K100D behaved itself during the trip. It seems that reinstalling its firmware has cured its malady.
View from the road north from Lochaline.
Fortunately I'll be back on the islands tomorrow, when City Limits plays the King Haakon on Skye. That will help pay for new rubber. The down side is missing the new series launch of Strictly Come Dancing. Guess what I'll be doing on Sunday afternoon.
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