Well on Friday the heart won out and we ended up travelling up the side of Loch Lomond in the pouring rain on the way to Oban. A fact I didn’t know was that Oban whisky is a particular favourite of the Swedes, so a trip to see where it was made became a must.
The rain followed us on and off most of the way up to Oban, however we did manage to stop a couple of times at the head of Loch Long, the ’Drovers Bridge’ and the ‘Rest And Be Thankful’; Inverrary Castle was closed, so that will have to wait for next time, however around every corner Scotland treated our guests to delightful panoramas. Road works meant we were running a bit late so we stopped off at the Crinnan Canal for lunch before completing our journey to Oban through Kilmartin Glen with an all too brief look at the standing stones and burial chambers. We arrived at the distillery just after a tour had left, time for some careful negotiations, which I am pleased to report worked and within a few minutes the lovely man at the distillery had got his boss out of the office and had arranged a special shortened tour just for us which included a couple of tastings during which Susanna discovered that did like whisky after all!
If there is one thing that can cause particular concern when driving an unfamiliar car it had to be leaving Inverarry just as the petrol light came on and wondering how far the car would get us. I wasn’t greatly concerned as the needle was actually nowhere near the ‘E’, but then it decided to start flashing at me, obviously it was attention seeking and just wanted to make sure I had seen it, as we comfortably made it along a now sunny Loch Lomond and past Dumbarton to the petrol station.
We arrived home in time to turn around and head back out to the church for a Scottish evening, with Haggis, neeps and champit tatties, scotch pies, salmon, Scottish Cheeses and a whole array of Scottish cakes and of course a Cloutie Dumpling. Having seen something of Scotland it was now up to Laila to share with us something of the beautiful Island of Tjorn, off the West coast of Sweden and Klovedal in particular, with a power point presentation. We soon learned that the two parishes had much in common, gifts were exchanged and as the evening drew to a close with a good old fashion Scottish sing-song friendships had been well and truly made.
Yesterday, Saturday, was spent at Diocesan Synod, which was a relatively quiet affair this year but gave Susanna, Laila and Johan a further taste of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and together we discovered even more that we had in common. While having changed back to ‘Baby’ Johan and I discovered yet again we were travelling in a car without any petrol! In the evening the some of the Vestry met up with our visitors to discuss what the future might hold, lots of ideas were exchanged and I don’t imagine it will be too long before Kolvedal will be seeing some Scottish faces, there was even some talk of a possible joint blog, if that happens you will hear about it here.
It was a joy to share our worship this morning and there was a wonderful reminder about how God knows no boundaries when parts of the service were said in Swedish. Then back to the Rectory for lunch Scottish style, Scotch Broth, Venison, and Cranican (a dessert of cream, whisky, honey, oatmeal and raspberries), followed by tablet with our coffee. As the snow started to fall they headed out to the shops or for a walk, before we head off later this evening for Evensong at the Cathedral.
The past three days have been a joy and a privilege, tomorrow Susanna and Laila head back home, via some shopping in Glasgow, while Johan and I head off to a conference. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I am blessed with sharing some time with them again and I know I am not the only one from St Mark’s to hold such sentiments. As they say in Scotland ‘Haste Ye back!’
