Loch Squad and the Virus
tune – Ben Armine

I walked round Loch Squad one fine April day
The country in turmoil needless to say
I sat in the leeway familiar ground
The gurgling streamlets therapeutic their sound.

Escape from restrictions perchance for a while
Nature defiant no one can defile
The Glenside a living the wild gorse in bloom
Tranquillity prospers despite doom and gloom.

I lingered a while my footsteps delayed
The landscape at ease the picture portrayed
A whole world away from the troubles around
Adhere to instructions we’re all duty bound.

Fully refreshed I walked a bit more
Across heather moorland to Alt a’Cham Loin Mhoir
A refuge concealed my thoughts to disperse
Perhaps now the time to put some words to verse.

As I sat in my haven cocooned from the world
Nature obliged, its beauty unfurled
The wind serenading – endorsed its refrain
Whatever shall be Loch Squad will remain.

Alone and secluded had time to reflect
The main things in life we tend to neglect
A waking up call in so many ways
A timely reminder to number our days.

The virus a killer, many lives it has claimed
Aggressive and rampant has yet to be tamed
We’re all at its mercy, (some still to convince)
No one protected be he ‘pauper’ or ‘Prince’.

We hope and we pray to survive it we will
In a turbulent world where nothing stays still
We think of the Bard – if the war he’d come through?
We echo his words Don Ti as aired gu robh a chliu.

This loch is conveniently placed for Inverasdale although it’s a rough walk to get there. It is known as a good fishing loch and there are three burns which flow from it.
It was first shown on Campbell’s ‘A New & Correct Map of Scotland’ of 1790 and was then spelt ‘Skoud’. Today’s OS map writes it as ‘Sguod’.

Escaping the virus when the pandemic was at its worst between 2020 and 2022 many of us found a favourite place in which to seek refuge. Hector had Loch Squad on his doorstep. This area is isolated at the best of times – to arrive at the lochside can be tiring over rough ground covered with heather. But, as Hector reminds us, once we arrive there, surrounded by nature in all its beauty and majesty, we are given time to think and reflect.
And Loch Squad and the rest of nature will endure - whatever happens.