The hostel itself was described by Hera as quaint. It was in two parts. One part was raised above the ground on piers. The entrance was up some steps to a building just behind the other. There were sixty-four beds, a members’ kitchen and a hostel store, but meals were not provided, so that conditioned our shopping. We went back with the food for the next day, but bought our supper from the hostel shop.
On enquiry of the warden at the hostel we learned that although Carbridge and his party had not cancelled their booking, they had not yet arrived. Perth and the students, as they had told us, were booked in for three nights. The office girls were booked in, too, but did not turn up, so we assumed that they had decided to take the train straightaway and we did not expect to see them again unless they were at the hostel in Fort William when we arrived there.
It looked as though Carbridge’s party had been reduced to four, himself and Todd and the brother and sister Jane and James Minch, but Perth that evening gave it as his opinion that the couple would leave The Way after Tyndrum, as Jane was footsore and James had quarrelled with Todd.
‘The quarrel was about Jane, I suppose,’ said Hera. ‘I don’t trust men where girls are concerned.’ But it was at me she looked. I laughed, and she went on: ‘Never mind that. We’ve got to pass Carbridge as soon as possible. If he’s got the two Minches in tow and poor Jane Minch with sore feet, we may be able to pass him between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy. After all the walking they’ve done, even Todd and Carbridge may be inclined to slow down a bit from now on.’
‘We shall never pass them if they’re camping and we are staying the night at a hotel,’ I said. ‘They’ll be away at first light and I’m certainly not going to get up at dawn and miss my breakfast. Who cares about Carbridge when a Scottish breakfast is in the offing?’
‘You are a pig where food is concerned!’
I grinned and told her to bear the fact in mind when we were married. All the same, I resented the unnecessary slur and said I would go for a walk. I strolled out with the intention of taking a look at the route we should be taking next day. I walked alongside the loch, but had not gone far when I met the Minch brother and sister. Jane was limping. I stopped.
‘I thought you were pushing on,’ I said. James indicated his sister.
‘We thought the same,’ he said, ‘but Jane can’t go any further without something being done about her feet. Like lunatics, we’ve brought no first-aid stuff except a crepe bandage and some of those bits you stick on to cuts. We’re going back to the hostel to see whether we can pick up something more useful.’
‘I’ve got stuff,’ I said, ‘and she’s done enough walking.’ With this, I picked up the slightly-built girl and carried her like a baby. When we got to the hostel, I produced my kit and ministered to her small, tender feet. I knew all this would irritate Hera and it did, but I found I did not care. Looking after Jane was like caring for a child. I found it a pleasant experience. Her brother then took her up to bed.
Perth and the students arrived a bit later and the youngsters soon turned in, but Perth still stayed up. Looking out of the window he said, ‘Losh! Look who’s here!’ It was Carbridge and Todd. They had noticed that the weather was changing and, as they had not cancelled their booking at the hostel, they had decided to go back on their tracks and seek beds instead of camping out.
Hera congratulated them upon their common sense, at which Carbridge said, ‘Your commendation, fair one, is as the voice of the turtle dove,’ and he began to sing, as he showed signs of putting his arm around Hera:
‘If the heart of a man is depressed with cares,
the mist is dispelled when a woman appears.’
I did not allow him to finish. I leapt from my chair and choked the song into guttural incoherence by clutching his throat.
‘That’s enough of that, old boy, old boy!’ I said savagely. ‘Don’t push your luck!’ I flung him aside and he caught his heel and sat down hard on the floor. Perth took my arm.
‘Get ye to bed, man,’ he said. I looked at Hera, but she was looking at Todd.
Todd said to her, ‘This is no place for you. Now this has happened, you might be better off staying at the hotel for the night. Let me take you over to it and book you in. I was even thinking of taking a room there myself.’
‘Belt up!’ I said, furious with myself to find that I was shaking. ‘If she needs to stay in the hotel —’
‘All right, all right. Message received and understood,’ he said. ‘Don’t get your underpants in a twist. It was only a suggestion.’
‘Then keep the next one to yourself,’ I shouted. Hera turned her back on me.
Carbridge picked himself up. ‘Well, really!’ he said, dusting the seat of his trousers. ‘No need for that, old boy, old boy.’ He made for the men’s dormitory, for which the students had already left the common-room. I suppose he had decided he wanted no part in a further rough-house.
Perth took me by the sleeve again and said, ‘We’re all a wee thing weary, I’m thinking. The laddie meant no harm. Ye’ll see it in perspective come the morn’s morn.’ Before going to bed, however, I insisted on having it out with Todd.
The party of four were off at eight the next day. Hera and I breakfasted together, but it was a silent meal. The weather had held up, after all, and I wished with all my heart that Carbridge and the others could have known that it would, and had held on their way instead of returning to the hostel. The warden was not very friendly when I collected our membership cards, so I guessed that some account of the happenings had leaked out, although nobody but the people concerned had been present at the time of my outburst.
Perth and the students had also gone out early and Hera and I were off by nine. The walk was by way of Strath Fillan through forest and across a river. Then we were out on the moors with the mountains hemming us in. As the road to Tyndrum began to rise, we could look back at Ben More and Stobinian, and as we looked ahead we had a view of Ben Challum before the track sloped downwards to a stream.
The Way climbed again after that and, as we had made good time since leaving Crianlarich, I warned Hera that we had better look out for Carbridge and his party, but when we got to the bridge on the River Fillan and had had a look at the ruins of St Fillan’s Chapel a bit further on, there was still no sign of them.
In a village called Clifton — after a property magnate who had the right to mine the lead which was discovered near the place at some time in the eighteenth century — we found a shop which stocked food, so we replenished
