ONCE UPON A DREAM; Loch Lomond Bliss!

I'm just back from my break in Tarbet, Loch Lomond and it was wonderful!  Although it rained buckets everyday, the weather did nothing to dampen my spirits and I would rather be in Scotland in the rain than in my home town in any weather.  Tarbet is a very remote place, which I loved - just the hotel on the Lochside and mountains all around, so no mobile signal at all and nothing else there - no shops or cafes or anything like that - just loch and mountains and the hotel.  I saw the magnificent Ben Lomond, which I prefer to Ben Nevis to be honest, because Ben Lomond seemed to have more of a pointy top, which is how I always imagine mountains to be - pointy at the summit. Ben Nevis is more of a dome. 

The Scotch mist was incredible this year - swirling around constantly, hiding the mountain summits one minute and then revealing them the next.  It was like watching a dance of the weather gods and it was very tranquil and relaxing.

I went to some pretty places; Inverary and Luss again, then Helensburgh which I'd never been to before and it was a lovely little coastal town. I liked it a lot.  I also spent a day in Glasgow.  It was nice enough, but not my favorite place in Scotland.  They have far too many pedestrian crossings and it takes so long to get anywhere because you're constantly having to wait on the little green man or get killed by all the traffic!  I got annoyed with it after a bit.  But I did like Glasgow Green and the terracotta fountain and the museum on the River Clyde that had lots of old carriages and buses from the days of horse-drawn transport.   

The Clyde is very pretty, though it has a haunted feel - you can still see the bones of old industry and the ship yards where the ships used to be tied up and it reminded me of home and how the loss of the steel industry has changed the city and forced it to become a new version of itself.  Something similar seems to have taken place in Glasgow too. I did like the Squinty Bridge - such a cool name for it.  Glasgow feels like a capital city, even though it's not. But I prefer something more rural.

The highlights of the trip took place right in Tarbet itself.  I went on a fabulous boat ride, cruising along on Loch Lomond on a boat called Lomond Princess.  We went past the ruins of an old croft house that legend states is where Rob Roy and his wife Mary lived - I like to believe that's true.  It's a wonderful place to live and suits the legend of Rob Roy perfectly.  Again the weather wasn't great, so I couldn't sit on the top deck like I usually do on boats - I like to feel the wind on my face.  Instead I sat in the boat out of the rain, with a yummy hot chocolate the captain made for me.  It was a lovely trip and another thing that I can cross off my bucket list - sailing on Loch Lomond. 

The second highlight was all the lovely people I met there, especially the barman in the hotel - he was great fun.  He looked just like a Viking - 6ft4 tall with long blonde hair and green eyes.  He's the cocktail bar tender and he can do all the Tom Cruise stuff - I was very impressed by him, as I could never manage to do any of that - any juggling I did behind the bar was always unintentional and ended up in broken glass!  He was very handsome and charming and I had such fun being with him, chatting in the lounge after his shift was over and bonding over the shared experience of being bar staff.   For the first time ever, I sat waiting for bar staff to finish shift so our date could begin!  It always used to be my ex-finance waiting for me. This time I was the one waiting for the Viking to cash up etc.  

I'd been very stressed out when I got to Loch Lomond and he helped me to relax, enjoy the moment and worry less.  He just made me feel more comfortable in my own skin and unapologetic for my place in life. I'd been feeling invisible but he saw me and made a beeline straight for me, determined to get my attention!  I had been quite sad before, but he made me happy again.  We made each other happy and had a good laugh, drinking gin and trying to speak different languages which was hilarious as languages are not my strong point. I butchered French, Italian, Gallic and Hungarian all in one night. I don't expect his fabulous gin cocktails and the red wine helped my language skills at all.  

He's a great guy and I feel lucky to have met him and to have got to know him a bit.   It's always nice when you meet a perfect stranger and just click with them.  It feels like Fate has thrown you together for a reason - in this case so that we could drink gin and compare bar-tender stories into the wee small hours.  We didn't get much sleep - bar staff work unsociable hours, which means that their own social lives don't start until midnight at the earliest, so it was pretty late on when I got to bed, but worth every moment of sleep deprivation for the fun we had. Good thing I'm a night owl. He was quite a souvenir. 

I'd like to go back to Tarbet again hopefully but next year I'm off to Dornoch and the Orkneys. Maybe I'll try to squeeze Tarbet in again before then.  All in all, I just had the best time. After all, who wouldn't enjoy a bit of Viking romance (and language lessons) amid the beauty of Loch Lomond?

There are those people who find their bliss jetting around the world and taking off to the other side of the globe lock, stock and barrel - well good for them. As for me, I'm always going to find my bliss in the Highlands and I'll take the romance of Scotland over the jet-setter thing, any day of the week.  There's no competition, you just can't beat it. 

The best things always happen to me in Scotland - he's one of them
and now every time I drink gin - I'm going to smile and think of him! Bottoms up - or I should say - Slainte! 

xxx