Day 6: More hiking and a GREAT conversation in a pub

The plan for today was to hike from Tyndrum to the Bridge of Orchy, and then take a taxi back to spend a second night in Tyndrum (since all the accommodations in Bridge of Orchy were already full).

The hike wasn't difficult, not the way Day 2 or Day 4 had been. Mostly the route followed an old military road from a couple of centuries before, so it was rocky and closed to cars but pretty much straightforward. But my feet still hurt from the day before, and after an hour I told Debbie I was giving up and going back to the hotel. (Of course the walk back took another hour.) The first thing I did when I got back was to take a nap. After that, I know I spent part of my day writing up notes on the trip so far. I forget if I ever bothered to get lunch.

Debbie called me early in the afternoon to say that she had already reached the Bridge of Orchy, and didn't really feel like sitting around for a few hours until the taxi was scheduled to pick her up. So she hiked on another two miles from the Bridge of Orchy as far as the Inveroran Hotel. Then she called the taxi company to let them know where she was, and to ask for a ride back to Tyndrum whenever it would be convenient.

In the evening, Debbie kind of wanted to go back to The Real Food Café, where we had eaten the night before, so she could have fish-and-chips again. But she also wanted to go out for a drink first. (Wait, what? Debbie?? Maybe there was more to the discussion that I've forgotten.) Anyway, early in the evening we walked over to the Tyndrum Inn. Debbie had identified a cider that was gluten-free, and we each ordered a pint; then we looked vacantly around for a place to sit down, until three locals at a table waved us over to sit by them.

It was a delightful conversation. They asked us where we were from, and we explained we were Americans hiking the West Highland Way. We chatted a bit longer and then they asked us if we had kids. Oops. So we explained that we weren't married.

"Oh-ho!" Great cheer resounded around the table.

Debbie corrected them. "No, it's not like that—in fact, he has a girlfriend back home."

"Oh-HO!! And does she know about this trip you two are taking?"

One of us answered, "Yes she does."

"She must be very forgiving."

Debbie said, "Yes, she is."

Then they asked Debbie, "Are you friends with her too?"

She replied, "No, we've only met by Zoom." (This is because Marie has joined the Zoom meetings of the UU Sangha once or twice—no more than that—since Debbie began joining them on a regular basis. In much the same way, she had accompanied me to Sangha in person once or twice when she was visiting me. But those in-person visits were pre-COVID-19, and therefore pre-Zoom, and therefore Debbie was unavailable because she lived a couple thousand miles away.)

All this turned the conversation in a direction that focused on Debbie and me specifically. Several times over the next few minutes, one or the other of these locals shook his head and remarked that we really look like a couple.

We tried to explain, "No, but we've been friends since 1993." (One of them laughed, "When I was two years old!")

A little later, when one of them repeated that we really look like a couple, Deb explained, "We tried that but it didn't work, so we went back to being friends." I inserted the qualifier, "That was many years ago." 

This explanation provoked serious consideration, instead of the good-natured joshing we'd gotten until then. "Most people can't manage that." Then we talked about kids for a while, and after some time our new friends drifted into the other room to play pool. Debbie and I finished our cider, and then walked down the street to get dinner.

I have some thoughts about why they were so certain we looked like a couple, but I'll save them for a later post that summarizes my insights about our relationship in general during this trip. As far as the narrative is concerned, we got dinner and then walked back to our hotel and went to bed.