Glen Affric and Fyrish

When we first arrived in Scotland we met up with Bill and Rebecca Van Doodewaard for a daytrip to Glen Affric. The weather wasn't ideal so we opted to go to other places and had an enjoyable day nonetheless. Our desire to see Glen Affric didn't waver so when the McFarlanes invited us to spend the day with them and asked us where we wished to go we knew what we wanted. Ross and Amy live with their 5 lovely children in Conon Bridge, near Dingwall. Amy homeschools their children and Ross is an assistant minister in the Associated Presbyterian congregation in Inverness. We had a delightful time with them and saw some glorious scenery.

The early heather is out. In a couple of weeks the hills of Scotland will be bathed in this purple flower. Already now you catch glimpses of heather on the hillsides and we imagine what it will be like in a couple of weeks. We have to imagine because by then we will have departed bonnie Scotland. The thought is painful to us.

We never really tire of the scenery. The rows of hills are beautiful and at different times of the day the same place provides a variant view.

When we first arrived here and travelled from the Inverness Airport to Tain our dear friend Roderick pointed out a monument high up on a hill near Evanton and told us the story behind it. The monument at the summit was built in 1783. Sir Hector Munro of Novar was at one time Commander of the British Forces in India. His most famous victory there was at Negapatam, after which battle Dutch interest in India all but ended. When he returned home he provided work for destitute local people following upon the Highland Clearances. One of his projects was the construction of the monument, which is a replica of the gates of Negapatam, scene of his greatest triumph. You can just make it out in the following picture. It stands about 300m above sea level and on a clear day commands a lovely view of five counties. If you follow the trail it is a 2 mile hike from the carpark to the summit. Every time we passed the hill on the A9 highway we would express our desire to climb to the top. Well, Friday morning appeared without a cloud in the sky so we thought we would go that afternoon. And so we did.

The walk climbs steadily to the summit, first through pine forest and then through open moorland above the treeline. At times we despaired of reaching the top, particularly since you couldn't see the monument until the last 15 minutes of the climb. The children were superb and our arrival made everything worthwhile. We thought often of the illustrations of the Christian life our climb afforded; more on that in sermons over the next few years.

We met a local man at the top who proposed a different way down. We took it, at times wondering if we should have. We think it added one mile to our 4 mile ascent and descent. Thankfully when we came to forks in the trail where we would possibly have taken a wrong turn, our friend had marked arrows in the trail directing us where to go. We had spoken to him about the gospel and were hoping that he wasn't maliciously leading us back to the summit. Thankfully, he led us on the right path back to the carpark. A resounding cheer was heard when our Land Rover was spotted. Joshua even ran the last number of metres to the Landy. We were thankful for our wonderful, though tiring, trek.