Tuesday, 25 June 2013

I loved Loch Voile, where I have discovered a beautiful secluded cove which I named Christina's cove. As it is quite a walk from the nearest parking spot, I only found it by chance one day, walking along the shore looking for pieces of old pottery, as to me it was fascinating to guess how old every small piece was. I was also collecting them to make a mosaic when I got home, as a memory to my wonderful days spent at the loch. When I found this small cove, I walked through the dense bushes up to the road to see if there was a place where I could park the Panda. There was, well, not a legal parking, as it is the entrance to the pine forests on the slopes of the mountains which the trucks transporting the logs used, but I parked the small car in a corner, and out of harms way.
Loch Voile is not as popular as Loch Earn, a few kilometers away, and is usually very quiet, except for a few fishermen, or now and then a family having a day out. But nobody ever came to my cove, and I used to take one of my one pound barbeque contraptions, some lamb chops, or chicken, and lay reading or sketching while my body soaked up the sun, and my nose enjoyed the smell of my meat on the coals.
My beau's house overlooked the glen of Balquidder, and although he gave me the key to go there when I was tired of my workplace, I didn't use it much, just now and then I would have a coffee on the back porch from where I had a good view over the glen and part of the loch.
The Balquidder glen is of course believed to be enchanted, and looking at the woods surrounding the loch, with their ancient and gnarled roots entwined over the hollows in the banks of the  streams running down to the loch, I sometimes expect a fairy or a goblin to come out and talk to me. It was also easy sometimes when the wind blew, and the trees started whispering, to imagine the shouts and noises of the many feuds that were settled here beneath the Braes of Balquidder, between the feuding clans.

The mountains guarding this beautiful glen are called The Braes of Balquidder, and I always felt that they were keeping a watchful eye on all that happened down in the glen.
Of course, Balquidder was also the home of Rob Roy MacGreggor, whose lands were taken by the duke of Montrose, after which Rob Roy became a vagabond, stealing from the landowners, and giving to the poor and oppressed. He was caught and jailed, and after his release he lived in Balquidder until his death, and his grave can be seen in the front of Balquidder church.
There is a beautiful song about the Braes of Balquidder that is usually sung with Gusto whenever there are a group of people with a guitar and accordion, and it goes like this: (hope I remember the words correctly)
 'Will you go Lassie, go, to the Braes of Balquidder, where the blueberries grow, among the bonnie blue heather, where the deer and the rae, lightly bound together, sport the long summer day, among the Braes of Balquidder.' Chorus:Will you go Lassie go, to the Braes of Balquidder, where the blueberries grow, among the bonnie blue heather.'
Bonnie means beautiful, and Lassie is a young woman.

No comments:

Post a Comment