“Archibald Maclachlan the Peacemaker”

This week our day trip from Glasgow took us to Lachlan Castle on the edge of Loch Fyne, it’s one of our favourite trips. It’s a circular tour so can be done in any direction. We left home around 12 noon and headed up the side of Loch Lomond, before turning over to Arrochar at the head of Loch Long. We then stopped at the top of the ‘Rest and be Thankful Pass’ for a picnic lunch. After lunch we continued over the pass and along the glen until we came to the sign for Dunoon, and turned left. We followed the road through beautiful St Catherine’s before reaching Strachur, where we turned right. Just a few miles outside Strachur we turned right again onto a single track road signposted for ‘Lachlan Castle’. This road runs for 15 miles down the lochside to Otter Ferry. It’s the most picturesque little road imaginable, with lots of twists and turns, so you have to drive with care.

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At Otter Ferry we had afternoon tea from our flask along with some home baking, and then headed a further twenty miles down the Cowal peninsula following the signs for Tighnabruaich. There the hillside was covered in Rhododendron bushes in full bloom, absolutely gorgeous. We stopped at Tighnabruaich for a seat by the sea, looking over to the Isle of Bute; the wind had dropped away and it was just lovely to sit in the peace and quiet. Later we headed for Dunoon, on the way catching views over the Kyles of Bute, before boarding the Dunoon to Gourock ferry (circa. £22.00 for car + 2 pasengers) . We then drove to Greenock where we joined the M8 motorway for the drive back to Glasgow, and were home for 7pm. You can see the pictures attached.

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My middle name is McLachlan (Son of Lachlan), which I got from my mother’s side of the Family, so it’s always good to visit a part of the ancestral homeland! 🙂

I was fascinated to read on the information board at Otter Ferry the short story of Archibald Maclachlan who lived back in the 1760’s, and to see that he was known as the ‘Peacemaker’. I thought of Sunday’s sermon at Greenview Church when our Pastor Colin Adams was pointing out how counter cultural Christianity is, as it calls for reconciliation within families and communities and between peoples and nations, and ultimately which offers reconciliation between God and man. (Sermon link below) On the other hand todays thinking widely circulated on social media suggests a very different approach as the picture below shows.

As later in bed I thought of our day, the words of Francis of Assisi, which we often sing, came to mind, and this son of Lachlan thought, how good it would be to be known like Archibald as a ‘peacemaker’.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying that we are born to eternal life! – Francis of Assisi

Brothers Reunited – Genesis Ch 33