13th day, Wednesday 15th

 Gargunnock - lucky 13th day? 🍀

(Yet again, WTF's that? ) 

I'm here to visit more old friends. This was always an important part of my GE intentions, discussed at length with Cate before she became too unwell to enjoy sharing my plans. Anyway, Gargunnock is a small village outside Stirling, and home to Johnny and Jan Loudon. Like David Clough, Johnny has been part of my life since as long ago as primary school in Glasgow in the 60s. Also the bunch of reprobates who were later to become Delta Force had attended his and Jan's wedding, and much later those of their daughters, so they mean a lot to me. And as I arrived at their house I encountered my first snowfall of the trip, though it didn't last long. This did not stop us walking to their local pub, where I was treated to good local produce for dinner. Back at the house we reminisced about the music we had shared over the years, sang a few old songs, and toasted the memories with a delicious malt from the local distillery - thanks, guys🥃 👍

Winding the clock back to this morning, I breakfasted (alone) at the Aaron Hall Guesthouse, and passed most of the day waiting for the van to be fixed. My host, Carolyn, was quite unconcerned about how long it would be before I could leave, and she was happy to let me sit in the lounge with my small backpack ready loaded, reading and drinking coffees for as long as it might take.  In fact it wasn't until after 3pm that Clark's called to say the job was done and the handle functioning again. I walked the 10 minutes back, paid the bill (over £400 😱) and rearranged the van's contents, which had been left in a shambles to allow internal access to the back door. The drive then to Gargunnock was just over an hour, in light sleety rain, and I was pleased to get inside, greeted by my old friends ❤️❤️.