When I saw a rider on a horse jumping over a natural stone wall in front of a castle, I was hooked on this equestrian tour. Having ridden jumpers and fascinated with castles, this seemed to be the perfect horseback vacation for me. A remote location in Scotland with ten people as the maximum number on the ride also appealed to me as I wanted this to be my “I want to be alone” riding vacation and was not particularly interested in mingling with people. Little did I realize that I would meet the most interesting people who would become life long friends.

DAY  ONE

A man from Ireland joined me in the two hour drive north of Glasgow to our hotel.  Along the way we stopped at Loch Lomond.  “Loch” is Scottish for “lake.”  The pristine loch was huge with is boundaries extending to the horizon.  Then we travelled through the “Rest and be Thankful” mountain pass where the land seemed to dive away from the road.  As we drove along the shores of a sea loch, I could see the puffs of smoke from a train which was skirting the opposite shore.  I felt like I was in the Harry Potter movie.

Before dinner, I strolled through the little village which offered many “touristy” shops and a tour of the local jail as one of the attractions. Yes, this was a remote location but it was also peaceful. The town was located on the shores of Loch Fynne.  The lake’s silver waters against peaked hills entreated your mind to become still. And the hotel had a spa!

At dinner, I met the rest of the ride - the former photographer to Prince Charles, an environmentalist who was based in Eastern Europe with a major oil company, a Scottish innkeeper, a Scottish banker, and my partner in the van owned a racing stable in Ireland.  Worried that I would be riding with inexperienced riders and young children, I was very pleased to find my comrades were seasoned riders of my age.

Our equestrian tour guide was a stately woman who had led these horseback riding vacations for over 15 years. She queried about our riding experience and tallied our height and weight in order to assign us to our horses. She too seemed pleased of our advanced riding experience.  From the glint in her eye and her mischievous smile, I felt this could be the ride of a lifetime.  I was to find that she would not disappoint me.