Kerrs Folly

Today was a day of reflection or put another way; Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. (Ferris Bueller)

The rain was coming down like stair rods, but I don't mind the rain, it was warm, almost like summer rain today and I decided that I needed a change of scene, somewhere quiet to think and plan and contemplate what ifs.... This sounds ominous but some of my pondering was very happy some maybe not quite so much!! Loch Lomond in the rain is perfect for solitude, not today the clammering of tourists all intent on that slice of Highland life.

I actually parked at Aldochlay, a hamlet about a mile and a half east of Luss for I wanted to shoot the statue of the little boy there. I had the whole lochside to myself not seeing a soul, I opted to leave the waterproofs in the car content to enjoy the feeling the warm rain wash over me and so it proved; alone with my thoughts the cathartic effect of the rain was to wash some troubles away and put others into perspective, allowing me to see a way forward dependant on yesterdays results!!!!

The statue... Wee Peter stands on a stone pedestal in a cove at Aldochlay, legend evolved that it is a memorial to a child drowned in the loch, but it was in fact erected in 1890 by a local stonemason called William Kerr. The story of the drowned boy was one hammered into me as a child as we drove past on the way to Carradale, despite the fact I swam at a competitive level I was always being told don't swim in the loch, you will get tangled and drown, strangely enough I was encouraged a few hours later to train in the open waters of the Mull of Kintyre!!!!

William, his brother and sister had been orphaned and had been brought up by a family in the Luss area. At an early age William left Luss for London and became a successful builder, the statue now known as Wee Peter was designed to be incorporated in a new house he was building; the client did not like the statue, and it was taken back to the builders yard where it had been left lying in a corner for many years.

William decided to return to the lochside where he had spent a happy childhood, bringing with him the statue which he then erected in the loch perhaps to remind him of the happy days he had spent there The origin of the statue being christened Wee Peter is lost in the ether of time. Viewed in Large you can see the 1890 scribed into the plinth and what appears to be the name Kerr beneath

You can see the rain and the light was shocking but I am afraid the purpose of today was not a great Blip but a clear head and a calm mind...Enjoy