The Dream, The Challenge, The People
by Bob Kranich
(Excerpt 30)
“The Lodge Called Folkestone”. You may wonder why the first half of the book is about my many adventures throughout the USA. Well, this first part explains just why my interests changed from hot rodding cars to backpacking. How the idea of a lodge came about, and just how the lodge came to be in North Carolina and next to the Smoky Mountain National Park, Deep Campground to be exact.
Now we’re off to England, Wales, and Scotland with my good army buddy, Ed Clement.
England, Wales, and Scotland
The countryside of Wales was very scenic and interesting. Wales was laid back. We stopped at a small country restaurant, and ate our lunch outdoors. What a beautiful experience. At times we had to slow down for herdsmen moving their cows to a different field. They always had the ever present Border Collie helping to herd the animals. We experienced so much during our visit to England, Wales, and Scotland. I will mention a couple of memories and situations. We arrived late evening at the Snowdonia National Park which is in Wales. I was trying to put up our small backpacking tent with the help of our Mini’s lights. A man came over and said in a strong Scottish brogue, “Hey man, can I lend ye a torch?”
I replied, “What?”
He repeated, “Can I lend ye a torch?”
I said, “What?”
Irene said, “He wants to let you use a flashlight!”
I replied, “Oh, yes thank you.”
In my opinion, this shows international and worldly friendliness. I never cease to wonder at that of the lake at a small town called Fort Augustus. In this part of Scotland, everything was small and sparse. We were on a small paved two-lane road on the west side of the lake. There weren’t many cars, people, or towns.
Loch Ness is approximately twenty three-miles in length, one and three-fourths miles in width, and a whopping 788 feet deep. Our plan was to take turns driving a couple of miles, stop, both of us get out, and just look at the lake. We hoped to see the Loch Ness Monster. It is famous because it is thought to look like a giant sea serpent. There have been numerous sightings since the sixth century, but none conclusive.
When we got to the northern terminus of the lake, which is at a town called Inverness, we started down the eastern side. On this side of the Loch, the road turned into a small, one lane at times, with just gravel as a surface. Talk about secluded. We didn’t even come to any towns or cars on that side. The end result was, no Loch Ness monster was seen. But we probably did something few people have ever done, traverse the entire lake in one day looking for the monster. We were satisfied.
Our next destination was Edinburgh to meet Ed and his wife at her relative’s house. Off we went. Every place we visited, the history was so obvious. Very old stone houses and bridges were everywhere. After all, in the United States, we can count at the most 400 years of history, but in England, we’re talking thousands of years!
We arrived in Edinburgh. Ed and his wife were already there. We met the relatives, had a meal with them, and stayed over night. The next day we all toured the fabulous Edinburgh Castle. The Scottish Parliament building was built right in the near vicinity. We were right in the center of Scottish government.
We didn’t stay that evening because we all had to meet back in London at Ed’s wife’s parents’ house, and then go back to Europe. Before we did that, we had to also sell our Mini back in London. But there was still one place we wanted to visit, Stonehenge.
From the Author
This is a new book. It is about the Lodge I built in the Smoky Mountains, near Bryson City, and Deep Creek campground, North Carolina. Having been from Florida, I know that a lot of Floridians love to visit the Smoky Mountains National Park. Therefore hopefully you will enjoy my story of the building of “A Lodge Called Folkestone”.
