To be honest, this may be a bit of a cheat. We didn't leave home specially for this wee walk. It was Sharon's birthday and, as usual, we went away for a few days. As it happens, this walk was done on the day before her birthday, but it was certainly the most enchanting of the walks we did whilst we were away it, so it qualifies as our weekly walk!
The day did not, however, start well! There was a long and convoluted saga around getting some nice food for a picnic, which I will not go into here. Suffice to say that we did get something to take away in the car after some sweary words and angst.
Then, off we set on the scenic route I had chosen for the day.
It wasn't long before we found ourselves beside the picturesque Loch Nell. I expect that the name Loch Nell is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Loch Na h-Eala - The loch of the swan. In any event it was very quiet and tranquil and helped to sooth the morning's troubles away.
From there we carried on to Balgowan woodland where we had a view over the loch from height.
We also watched a couple of Buzzards soar away. Or were they Eagles? We weren't entirely agreed, but they were pretty spectacular at the time.
The next turning in the road was to take us along Glen Lonan, but this was denied to us as the road was closed! The morning picnic travails were threatening to follow us for the whole day!
This was a bit of a pity, as the road through Glen Lonan is known as the Road of the Kings. For centuries, Scottish Kings were buried at Iona. They would pass through Glen Lonan on their final journey and the glen is full of cairns and other archaeological remains testifying to the importance of the route.
So, we took the long way round to Angus's Garden, which was pretty enough and the sun was shining. The vagaries of traffic circulation and parking in Oban were, eventually, forgotten!
Angus's Garden is a semi-natural garden, created round the small Loch Angus. The garden was made to commemorate Angus MacDonald. He was a young journalist working for the Times of Cyprus in 1956. This was the time of the armed campaign to free Cyprus from British rule and unify it with Greece. The Greek Cypriot guerrilla fighters were called EOKA (The National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters). Angus was killed by an EOKA gunman, Nikos Sampson. Ironically and tragically, Angus had penned a piece for the paper pointing out the bankruptcy of the British Government approach, suggesting that the repressive measures being put in place would only lead people, who might otherwise not have done so, to support EOKA, . He even went on to say that those who argued that EOKA was a spent force must bear some responsibility for any deaths that might follow. HIs article was published the day after he was murdered.
Once through the entrance, we had a view of the loch.
We were the only people there at this point, so we made our way downhill to the water's edge. I have to say that my knee and the brace coped reasonably well with this.
It was well worth doing. The views over the loch were very calm and beautiful.
The resident swans were very interested in us. They should, of course, have been at the other loch, but they were clearly at home here!
They were Mute Swans and they are known not to be shy, and they were happy to come up to where we sat on a bench right by the water.
That allowed us the privilege of a very close view of these big, beautiful birds.
You can see how water repellent and pure white that most of their feathers are.
They followed us around the edge of the sparkling loch.
It was here that we had a look at Betty's Bell. Betty was Angus's mother and it was she who established the garden as a memorial to Angus, the year after his death.
This was no tiny wind chime or tinkling bell, but a proper big bell! We resisted ringing it, because it might have dispelled the the remarkable peace and quiet.
The bell commemorates Betty and the seat in front commemorates Neil, her husband and Angus's father.
We walked back to the swan seat and Sharon could have sat for hours looking up the loch.
We took a selfie instead!
The walkway and the bench had been built to take you across the water and marsh here. This was evidently a favourite spot for frogs, who had left spawn on the marsh grass, rather than in the water.
It would stand a much better chance of survival in the water, just like this chap, or is he a she?
On the way back to the car park, we caught a glimpse of how colourful the garden could be a few weeks later. Just look how vivid the blooms are on this rhododendron.
The rhododendron was close to Josephine's Ducks. Josephine was Betty and Neil's granddaughter, who had died prematurely in 1997. The sculpture is very lifelike. Once the water lilies are in bloom, I should think they are quite something.
Fairly nearby is a little pond, which is surrounded by these large, bright yellow flowers. These have the unfortunate name of Skunk Cabbage, for reasons that become apparent to your nose when the plant is crushed.
They look like solar lights scattered through a garden.
Skunk Cabbage is native to North America and the plants are quite remarkable. They do smell pretty bad, but this smell is attractive to a range of pollinators and early emergence of the flowers allows for early pollination, due to the lack of other, competing blooms.
That's fine but for the coldness of the air and, sometimes, the hardness of the mud they live in due to frost. This is where the really clever thing happens. The plants can generate their own heat and, so, can melt the frozen mud, frost and snow that might prevent their flowering. They can generate heat at 15 to 35⁰ C above ambient air temperature! Amazing and beautiful.
It was back up the hill for a final view over the loch, where we had an interesting wee chat with a man, who turned out to be Josephine's husband.
A final farewell to Angus's loch and garden through the cherry blossom.
After the walk it was time for something to eat. We stopped at Kelly's Pier to have our M&S sandwiches overlooking Loch Etive.
Kelly's Pier was built for the Newland Company of Furness in Cumberland in 1752-53. Ships from Cumbria carried iron ore to the pier to service the nearby Bonawe Iron Furnace. The Furnace lease was taken on by Alexander Kelly in 1863 and it is from him that the pier took its name. We went to visit the Furnace after lunch. It was impressive, but then, that's another story for another blog.
It was a really nice spot to finish what had been a really interesting, rewarding and enjoyable walk in Angus's Garden. We can understand why people keep going back.
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