> >Hi Donald and Friends - > >Dalmally
Church is beautiful. The square shaped clock tower with
the >attached octagonal church is very unusual but beautifully positioned
on its >small rise of land. > >My gran and I parked in the
parking lot of the church and had a wonderful >lunch of Scotch broth and
soft rolls in the car as we watched the sheep in >the adjourning
field. After lunch I scrambled up the hill and through the >gate in
the stone wall to enter the cemetery. I only walked through the
old >section - closest to the church. > >My first impression
of the church and cemetery is difficult to describe. >Immediately I felt
overwhelming excitement and yet even more pronounced was >the deep sense
of peace or balance that washed over me. Somehow I knew I >had "come
home." > >The air in Dalmally, to quote my gran, "is sweet" and
combined with the soft >Scottish mist that was falling created an almost
theatrical atmosphere. >February is a wonderful time to visit the
Highlands if you are interested in >capturing a feeling of what it might
have been like years past. The stark >form of the bare trees against
the low hanging gray sky, the intense green >of the grass, the mounds of
rust colored dead bracken and everything around >you water logged all
combine with the beautiful clear air. Time stops. >Your senses are
overcome with the rugged beauty of the land. I wanted to >taste the
rain, listen to the "squish" of my shoes in the soft ground, touch >the
moss covered stones, fill my lungs to capacity with the fresh cool
air >and photograph all that I saw and do this all
simultaneously. > >Dalmally Church and cemetery is beautifully
kept. Dunoon cemetery struggles >with an outrageous level of
vandalism (and an apparent apathy to it.) There >was no evidence of
such a problem in Dalmally. > >The high gloss red double door is
very welcoming. > >Donald, all the stones in the old section face
East - do you know why? I >have heard tales of "The Gates of Heaven
always being open in the East." >Some stones would be easier to view if
they were inscribed on the other >side. It is difficult to squeeze
between the stone and the side of the >church when the stone is 6 inches
from the building to read the inscription. >So there must be a very
important reason for this. > >For anyone visiting Scotland - Argyll
is worth the visit. I thoroughly >enjoyed the Loch Awe area.
Kilchurn Castle, at times described as gloomy, >has become my favorite
piece of real estate. It is currently up for sale - >asking price -
bids over 150,000 pounds. Worth every penny as far as I
am >concerned. A group of Germans were looking at it while I was
there. >Wordsworth was also impress with Kilchurn and wrote the
following: > > "Child of a loud-throated war, the mountain
stream > Roars in thy hearing; but thy hour of rest > Is come, and
thou art silent in thy age, > Save when the winds sweep
by... > >Personally I think Kilchurn and Loch Awe deserve a little
more exciting >poetry - but hey I'm not Wordsworth. > >Time to
get on. > >Have a great day. > >Juli > >[
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