The Pilgrimage Before The Pilgrimage
Back in 2024 Lorraine and I completed a faith-inspiring pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland with Little Coracles, a pilgrimage program created by my niece and a colleague of hers. That 2024 Iona experience led me to jump at their 2025 Pilgrimage opportunity in Ireland (which I've mentioned in a previous entry). But an unexpected thing happened to me on the way to Ireland. To set the stage I have to go back five years to my retirement as a full time Episcopal Priest after 31+ years of active duty (bear with me - there is a good story here).
Retirement, which was supposed to be a gateway to world travel, happened in the midst of the COVID 19 lock-down. Farewells were shared as parishioners slowly drove by the church where Lorraine and I sat in lawn chairs set up across the sidewalk from their parade. There was a basket where farewell gifts could be deposited (and later disinfected with Clorox wipes). One present was a gift certificate to a local independent bookstore. Thankfully, reading was something that could be done during lock-down!
So, in September 2020, I was introduced to DCI Daley in the Scottish detective series written by Denzil Meyrick. Meyrick's series (now numbering 12 books) were set mostly in a small town on the east coast of the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland's west coast. The town of Kinloch was inspired by Campbeltown, where Meyrick lived and worked for many years. By the end of the first book I was in love with Kinloch and the people who populated Meyrick's mysteries. I began dreaming of a chance to visit Campbeltown and walk the streets of Meyrick's fictional village. I even began corresponding with him about the possibility of visiting the town (something good coming out of Facebook!). I even floated the possibility of perhaps meeting him for a wee dram in Glasgow on the way there - to which he responded he would be honored.
Denzil reminded me a couple of times that Campbeltown is "a small, provincial place, with its own charm." He suggested I consider staying at the Argyll Arm Hotel, the place and staff that inspired the County Hotel in his books. He and I exchanged a few messages through early November 2024. In March 2025 I wrote to fill him in on my final plans for time in both Glasgow and Campbeltown, and the hope that we might meet over drinks. Uncharacteristically for Denzil, a week or more went by without a reply, so I tried again, without success. After a short search, I learned that Denzil Meyrick, age 59, had died rather unexpectedly in early February of 2025. I felt as though I had lost a friend - even though we never conversed beyond Facebook Messenger. I found myself heart-broken in a way that didn't seem rational, but it was every bit as real as if we had known each other for years.
My plans
were already in place - airline tickets and hotel reservations (I
couldn't get into the Argyll, but stayed at the Ardshiel). Denzil had
told me it was a "nice little hotel with a really good whisky bar" (and
he was right). Taking Denzil's advice, I flew into Campbeltown on a Logan Air de Havilland Twin Otter Turboprop (seven rows of seats), only a 45 minute flight rather than the six - eight hour arduous bus trip down the spine of Kintyre.
The first person I met in town was a cab driver who took me from the airport (basically a one-room building) to my hotel. I told him my tale which had morphed from possibly meeting my "pen pal" to hoisting a wee dram in honor of his memory. The driver had known Denzil, and had actually worked with him at one time - possibly it was at Springbank Distillery. "Denzil loved this town," the cabbie told me. The person who checked me in at The Ardshiel told me the same thing. Later that day I dropped in at The Argyll Arms, and explained that though I wasn't staying there, I had a purpose for visiting. The
woman who welcomed me warmly said, "Oh, Denzil! We're all in his books, you know. Every one of us here. I bet you can tell who I am!" I'm pretty sure I could (why didn't I suggest she might be Annie, who managed the bar at The County through most of the books?). She pointed me to their small bar where Denzil, the hotel staff, and various townsfolk, would hold forth over drinks. Later that night (after a couple of great whisky tours and tastings) I came back to hoist a glass in honor of my friend.
That evening I found myself sitting across the barroom from a couple of locals as I quietly toasted my friend with a Glen Scotia 10 Year Old Single Malt in a small glass (Denzil's first book is titled,
Whisky in Small Glasses). As I stood up to leave the two called me over. "Did you enjoy your whisky?" they asked. "You must be an American," he said. "I can tell by your hat!" I wondered if he thought I was trying to look like a cowboy? That brief exchange became the beginning of a delightfully unexpected conversation which turned to the topic of my lost friend. "Oh, Denzil," the woman said. "He was our next door neighbor for some time." Her companion added, "Denzil was quite a character!" He mentioned that more than once, so it must have been true! They told me how he had bought a failing bar to save it. I'd later meet the part owner of the local launderette who had bought the building after Denzil moved away. He and I spent the entire wash cycle talking about his love for the town. "There are two reasons for moving to a new place," he said. "A new job or a woman. For me it was both." His wife had grown up in Campbeltown.
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I was walking back to the hotel, talking with Lorraine on the phone, when Lorraine commented that this was a pilgrimage of its own - a pilgrimage on the way to my planned pilgrimage. It didn't start out that way, but as I continued to meet the wonderful and welcoming folks of Campbeltown, I realized the truth behind Lorraine's comment. In 2020, and across the ensuing years, I had fallen in love with Kinloch. In mid-June 2025, I fell in love with Campbeltown - the Campbeltown that Denzil Meyrick had known and loved.
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