Usually the prospect of a weekend away in Scotland would be an appealing one but I had a strange feeling of unease before departing for a friend’s wedding on the banks of Loch Lomond. It was hard to say why but my feelings turned out to be entirely justified!

The Hotel

The wedding reception was to take place in the Cameron House Hotel which was a little beyond my
budget and so I opted for the Duck Bay Hotel next door. On arrival I was impressed by the location which could hardly have been more picturesque but things quickly went downhill as I presented myself at reception. Pretty much the first thing I was told was that there would be a wedding in the hotel that night and that I may be affected by the noise. As I would be next door for most of the evening I didn’t think that this would prove to be an enormous problem but I was wrong about that.

I took myself off to my room which I was expecting great things of as it hadn’t come cheap even if the price tag wasn’t quite as lofty as the Cameron House Hotel. I was quite horrified to open the door onto a room the size of the average cupboard with barely enough room to circumnavigate the bed. The bathroom was tiny and the furnishings rather average. How depressing!

The Wedding

The weather was a little fresh to say the least and by the time I got to the church for the wedding ceremony I was suffering from bad case of goose bumps. I didn’t linger for long outside the church after the wedding and beat a hasty retreat to Cameron House for the promised reception drinks and snacks which turned out to be rather good. This was followed by an excellent meal and my mood had lightened. After dinner I headed to the bar for a top up and nearly fainted at the price of a drink! A night of inebriation was clearly out of the question. I wasn’t exactly feeling joyous and decided to return to my own hotel rather early.

The Other Wedding

This move turned out to be a mistake. The wedding reception at Duck Bay was in full swing and the noise pollution in my room was so bad that I might as well have been in the middle of the function room. The furniture was positively vibrating and to make matters worse a buffet was being served a few feet from my door and the queuing guests were all drunk as skunks and screaming like banshees. What a nightmare!

The staff at the hotel were completely unapologetic about the disruption and muttered something about having warned me. I pointed out that this warning had been delivered long after I had booked and paid for the room but my words fell on deaf ears which wasn’t surprising given the racket which was enough to effect anyone’s hearing for life!

In the midst of all the goings on the beauty of Loch Lomond rather passed me by and I ended up making my way home in weary fashion the next day. After stopping off in The Borders to buy an ornament for a friend’s collection, I was heartily glad to get back to England where the M6 seemed surprising peaceful in comparison!

Article by Sally Stacey