Today was a bit of a damp squid, as predicted it rain almost all day, so we had a day in at the cottage although I did nip out in a break in the rain to get petrol ready for tomorrow.
Rain, Rain, ooh Sun, More Rain
Castle Power
Thursday 8th August 2019
Today was forecast to be best weather for the week so we headed off north once more in our summer best for our tour of the power station.
This time we took the road to Oban it was good to have a different view but can see why satnav took us up Loch Fyne last time it is a better quality road if a little futher.
It was an interesting tour, they take you by bus from the visitors centre up and a little way into the mountain, then there is a short walk to the viewing platform where you can see the top of the turbines. They explain how it all works, when and how the power is generated, can start producing power within 28 seconds if generators already switched on, they also had screens showing how much power was being produced at the time by solar, wind, nuclear, hydro, gas etc.
After the tour we had some lunch in the cafe and continued slightly further north to visit Port Appin and Castle Stalker.
Castle Stalker is the castle featured in the Monty Python Holy Grail film, it is privately owned although they offer tours a few times a month with prior booking, it was fully booked for the days we were there.
On the way back to the cottage from Castle Stalker we stopped in Oban to see McCaig’s Tower, it was built to imitate Rome’s Colosseium. From here you can see seaward panoramas over Oban and it’s port, the largest port in north west Scotland.
Neolithic Remains
Wednesday 7th August 2019
Today we started out at Kilmartin Museum which is only 6 miles from the cottage, it has interesting items and the history of the Kilmartin Glen which has monuments scattered throughout it. Kilmartin Glen is famous for its archaeological legacy, there are over 800 ancient monuments, including burial cairns, rock carvings and standing stone.
After the museum we went almost next door to Kilmartin church which has on display two crosses within the church and a collection of sculpted medieval graveslabs.
We had some lunch in the museum cafe before go to explorer a bit further, was good timing as it started to rain while we were eating so we managed to miss the shower altogether.
After lunch we went to visit Carnasserie castle, which stands on a hill north of Kilmartin and was built in 1565. It is a very steep half a mile trek up to the castle from the car park alongside the road but the castle and views are worth it and there a few seats to get your breath back.
On the way back from Carnasserie Castle to the cottage we stopped in Kilmartin Glen to view some of the standing stones and took a detour to see Crinan Ferry. We had wanted to see the gates to James Bonds childhood home in Skyfall at Duntrune Castle but the castle is privately owned and you can’t see them from the public road.
We also had to go on a small road across the Crinan canal to get back.
For dinner we went to the seafood bar and pub in Crinan itself, weather forecast for the rest of the week is not good so best evening to visit.
After dinner heading back to the cottage I saw a highland cow.
Steamer Kelpies
Tuesday 6th August 2019
The forecast for today was for it to be wet with showers all day, however we woke up to a bright sunny sky. On the suggestion of the lady we are renting the cottage from we went to visit Aridsaig and more specifically the Steamer Terminal. At the moment the Steam Terminal has a copy of the Kelpies in miniature on display, having seen the originals on our last Scottish holiday we wanted to see these too. There is a miniature model person on the base to show the scale compared to the originals.
The Steamer Terminal has a very nice cafe so we also had our lunch here and watched the crane unloading the logs off lorries in the harbour at the same time.
After lunch we went for a walk in Aridsaig and saw the lighthouse and lots of small boats.
We headed back to the cottage then as it was starting to come over dark, and about 3pm the rain that was predicted to be with us all day arrived.
Powerless
Monday 5th August 2019
Today we had a longer day out, heading north to visit the Crauchan power station. Along the route realised I had left my memory card in the laptop so only had my phone to use for photo’s doh!
The satnav didn’t take us the way I had intended to go and instead sent us up along Loch Fyne so we took the opportunity for an unplanned visit to Inveraray where I picked up some Edinburgh rock to take back as a gift. As we started to head back to the car the rain started, and it was heavy, luckily I had my waterproof jacket and an umbrella for Gavin in my bag.
We continued on to Crauchan power station but unfortunately when we got there they had no more tour slots available 🙁 We are planning on being back up this way on Thursday to visit Oban (only half an hour away) so have booked on a midday tour for then, we can ring and cancel if we change our minds. They do have a rather nice cafe at the power station so we had some lunch before starting the journey back.
For the journey back we consulted the map rather than trusting the satnav and we did manage to find the road I wanted to go on. It was 24 miles on a single track road, which I hadn’t realised, alongside Loch Awe with beautiful views. Fortunately we didn’t meet too much traffic and there were enough passing places, but it wasn’t the easiest of drives.
South Kintyre
Friday 3rd August 2019
For the next week we have booked a cottage on the Crinan canal, however we wanted to see some of southern Kintyre before we headed up there. So we left Carradale where we overnighted and headed south to Southend. Southend is a small collection of local services in beautiful scenery. Close by is Dunaverty Bay a beautiful sandy beach curving around Dunaverty Point. There is a lifeboat station with operated between 1869 and 1930.
After a lovely stroll along the beach and back we carried on towards the Mull of Kintyre, well me made it about half way! The road was so narrow with a very bad surface and it just got worse and steeper if we had carried on. Even if we had made it there was a long steep walk to get to the lighthouse or the memorial and we wouldn’t have had the correct footwear.
After turning back from the Mull of Kintyre the road took us back through Campbelltown which we passed through yesterday. This time we stopped and found a little cafe for lunch, I had a lovely jacket potato.
After lunch we carried on towards our cottage, with a brief stop in Ardrishaig to stretch our legs and take a few photo’s.
We found the cottage relatively easy thanks to the great directions provided. It is small and cosy with one double and one twin room and has all that we need for the week. We are right next to the Crinan Canal but there is a grass bank between us so we can’t clearly see the boats going by. Once we were settled in I took advantage of the cottages facilities and put on a load of washing.
Ferry to Ferry
Friday 2nd August 2019
Today was our last on the Isle of Bute, and it was lovely and sunny again. We spent the morning in Rothesay watching the ferries and boats coming an going before some lunch in one of the harbour front cafes.
We then drove up to Rhubodach at the north of the Isle of Bute to catch the roll on roll off ferry across to Colintraive. The ferry journey took less than 5 minutes.
Back on the mainland continued our journey over into Argyll, where we got a great view out of the Kyles of Bute which flow down each side of the Isle of Bute and could see the ferry we had just been on. We made our way down to Portavadie to catch our second ferry of the day, taking us across Loch Fyne to Tarbert. It is possible to drive around the loch but it adds an extra 90 miles onto the journey.
We stopped for a short while in Tarbert which has a very pretty harbour with lots of small fishing and pleasure boats. We walked up the hill to see Tarbert Church.
Gavin did a great job driving from Tarbert down a narrow single lane road with passing places to Carradale on the Kintyre peninsula. On the way we took a small detour to visit Skipness Castle. Skipness is also where the ferry goes across to Arran from, somewhere we don’t have time to visit on this holiday.
Island Life
Thursday 1st August 2019
Today we got to spend the whole day on the Isle of Bute. The sun was shining, unlike the heavy rain we arrived in, so we started the day with a stroll around the harbour and sea front in Rothesay
As the weather was so good we took the decision not to visit Mount Stewart which was the original plan and hit the beaches. We went round the Island anti clockwise and our first beach to visit was Kilchatten Bay. Kilchatten Bay is a linear settlement of Victorian houses and villas that lies on the south west shore of Kilchattan Bay, a largely east facing bay with a mile-wide mouth offering views to Great Cumbrae, three miles to the east.
After Kilchattan Bay we travelled on to Scalpsie where there are look out places from where seals can sometimes be seen. On the way we passed an old phone box which is now a book exchange as well as having tablet, postcards, cards for sale and an honesty box. It was getting really warm by this point heading into the high 20’s and touching the early 30’s..
Once used for military purposes during the Second World War, today the secluded Scalpsie Bay is a tranquil place to relax and enjoy beautiful scenery.
The reddish sand of Scalpsie Bay is set against the wonderful backdrop of the Isle of Arran, and two viewpoints help visitors spot the area’s fascinating resident wildlife and take in amazing landscapes.
The view points were either a long walk to the beach or rather over grown so we didn’t get to seal view.
One thing we noticed on our travels was that on every sign we saw Rothesay was mentioned and sometimes in more than one direction, one say 7 miles left or 8 miles right!
Our last planned beach for the day was Ettrick Bay which we had planned to co-inside with a late lunch knowing that there was a cafe there. We both had a filled roll, shared some curly fries and had ice cream – hey why not it’s not supposed to be so hot the rest of the holiday. Ettrick Bay is a wide, sandy beach which runs for approximately a mile. Monitored by SEPA.
After Ettrick Bay we completed the loop back to Rothesay and went through Port Bannatyne. Port Bannatyne is a coastal village on the Isle of Bute, Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It is a popular harbour, with a small yacht marina and boatyard and an unusual 13 hole golf course.
We got back to Rothesay in time to heat up some soup with fresh bread and watch the sun set.
Ferry to Bute
Wednesday 31st July 2019
After breakfast at the hotel we took our luggage to the car and popped into next door grand central station for a few photographs. We have been watching a programme on BBC Scotland called “Inside Central Station” which is all about Glasgow Central Station so wanted to see it for ourselves.
We didn’t have chance to see that much of Glasgow itself but before we left we went to GSC, to go up the Glasgow Tower. The tower is 127meters tall (523 steps), weighs 500 tonnes, free standing and can be turned by 5 able bodied people, from the top you have 360° view over the Glasgow and the Clyde. It holds the world record for the tallest fully rotating freestanding structure in the world.
We grabbed a sandwich at the cafe to take with us, I had a travel sickness tablet and we headed to Wemyss Bay to catch the ferry across to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.
By the time we got on the ferry it was starting to rain and we were surrounded by thunder and lightning all the way across. It didn’t take too long to arrive in Rothesay, just over 30 minutes.
It was only a couple of minutes from the ferry to the apartment booked for a couple of nights. We met Lesley at the apartment. From the lounge we can see out over the sea front and where the ferry comes in and out. There is a CoOp downstairs which will be useful.
We went for a walk in the evening, though it was still a bit drizzily, most places were closed but there are quite a few places to eat. Gavin went for an Indian take away and I had chip shop chips which we both took back to the apartment and ate watching the ferries coming and going.