BRIDGES ON THE RIVER DEE

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Each time we come to Scotland we find something different to amaze us. This time of course the amazement centers on Baby Ben. He’s absolutely beautiful. Grandpa’s post will tell us more. That’s because this month I'm the one who says something about
On Your Way Home. And I’ll do that by telling about an amazing hike I took yesterday.

The Schneider car has room for five, not six, so yesterday Char and sons went to visit a friend while Grandpa, Jord and I took a drive to the picturesque and charming village of Ballater. Its claim to fame is that it’s next door to the royal hideaway of Balmoral Castle.
While the guys played golf I decided to explore the area. I’d heard there were some ‘lovely’ walk/rambles nearby so I stopped in at Tourist Info. The lady at the desk told me, in singsong Scottish, that her favorite hike takes you five miles (8 km!) into the foothills nearby. It’s called the ‘Seven Bridge Trail’ because you cross the River Dee seven different times. So I started out. The scenery was spectacular! The directions said that I’d cross a footbridge (bridge #2) and after that I’d take a turn uphill.
Well my idea of a footbridge is like the one in the photo above (bridge #4) so when I came to an uphill turn I thought ‘This can’t be the turn. I haven’t crossed any footbridge.’ So I kept going and going until I found myself in a horse pasture. Then I kept going until I couldn’t go any further. I was literally in someone’s backyard.
So then I realized I MUST NOT have noticed when I crossed the real footbridge so I backtracked to the uphill turn. I followed that until I came to a road. But wait, I was NOT supposed to be at a road! So I decided to take another look at the directions! And I realized I hadn't read them right - I WAS supposed to be at a road.

Needless to say by that time the map said I was a quarter of the way done but an entire hour had gone by. And now I wasn’t having a good time or enjoying the spectacular scenery.

So by now you’ve guessed what the analogy is to On Your Way Home.

Recognize all footbridges for the
opportunities they are to point you on your path.
Read the directions. They'll get you to where you need to go.
And then you'll enjoy the scenery because you're On the Way Home.
BTW - after I took the advice above, it really was an amazing hike!