Bonny, Bonny Banks

 "Ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland afore ye, me and my true love shall never meet again on the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond." I hummed the tune as I strolled along the pebble shore of the loch; ignoring the grim meaning behind the classic Celtic tune - if you haven't heard it, give it a listen and come back I recommend the version by Alastair McDonald.

    A light rain was well underway that afternoon as I landed in Glasgow. I was there to visit my friends Iain and Gina who live near Glasgow. Exiting the airport, I met Iain and he welcomed me to his country. This trip had been a while in the planning. Since I had found out that I would be heading to the UK, Iain had invited me to come to visit him in Scotland. When my Christmas plans to Germany were foiled, I had planned to fly up north and spend the holidays with Iain and Gina. This, however, proved fruitless when the PM of Scotland announced that Scotland's borders would be closed to all non-essential outside travel around the holidays. I had to cancel my flight and spend the holidays at my flat instead. My opportunity came as my job ended and I had ten days before my visa expired and I had to head back to the States. I organised it with Iain and rebooked the flight.

    Everything I had heard about Scotland in the summer was true: Scotland is wet in the summer. A rain jacket was an essential item in England and I found that in Scotland you shouldn't dare leave home without your rain jacket. As Iain and I drove through the rain we caught up and chatted about what we had planned for the next couple of days before I returned to Oxfordshire. We were headed for a village called Luss which sat along Loch Lomond. We parked and took a stroll out to the loch. I stood at the edge of the loch and looked out over the water. The fog rolled in as the rain turned to a mist, the air smelled fresh but dense. I pulled out my phone and hit the play button as the Bonny, Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond played through the speaker. 

    The grim story behind the song is that there is an old Celtic legend that says that if someone dies in a foreign land, their soul will return to his homeland by the "low road". The song was inspired by two Scots imprisoned in Carlisle, England during the Jacobite Rebellion. (See Callis I - Introduction for more on the Jacobite Rebellion and its relevance to Hadrian's Wall) The two Scots were told that one of them could go free and the other would be killed. The Scot who would be killed looked to his friend and said the words of the chorus of the song. That he would take the "low road" and be in Scotland before the other who would take the earthly "high road".

    We continued walking along the shore at one point skipping stones into the water, it turned out that we both were much better at making splashes than skipping stones. As we walked, we found a small deposit of what Iain called sea glass and we stopped to admire the colours and way the glass reflected and refracted light. Soon, the drizzle turned back to steady rain and we decided to find a place to have tea and some food. We got back into Iain's car and drove into the village of Luss and we went into a cute little cafe and ordered some tea and clotted cream on scones. Iain told me to take a picture of the cafe and send it to my uncle who Iain had shown around a few years before. Iain informed me that he, my uncle and aunt had been in the same cafe when they came to Loch Lomond. After we ate, Iain pulled out a small board game from his bag and after he told me how to play, we played a game of it before we departed to explore some more of Luss.

    We walked a nature path and upon finding a postbox Iain snapped a picture of it. I asked why and he explained that it wasn't common to see postboxes with the Queen's mark on them as many Scots who are pro-independence will remove them. We continued walking around until we decided to head to his house for the evening and get a fresh start on the next day. The next morning we would leave early for Edinburgh. We drove away from Luss and headed back for Glasgow.

-TDB