As the sun shone down on the ferry arriving from Lochranza on Arran, we were beginning to feel optimistic that perhaps we might just be in for another largely sunny stay with our friends Paul and Sue…
Second in the small queue waiting to embark, we started to appreciate the turn-up-and-go nature of the access to the mainland from this end of Arran, as we had been forewarned that the ferries operating out of Brodick, our onward route home, were subject to ‘change and cancellation’! We were struggling with the CalMac website to work out what our options might be (there was also uncertainty over the ferry we were about to catch and when it would actually move to its winter timetable) so we were looking forward to taking advice and guidance from our island living friends!
The ferry trip across to Arran was smooth and uneventful, with Mr B marvelling again at his phone tracking Evie across the water…
… that we were amongst a small and select group of travellers again (only 4 vehicles on this crossing)…
...and that again there were no shore crew to help disembark the vehicles, just the skipper’s skill in putting the ramp down in the right place, holding it against the tide, under the watchful gaze of a member of the crew…
As we drove off the ferry, we could see Lochranza castle in the distance, and although we have driven past on many occasions, Mr B had never been up close…
More of a fortified hall-house than a castle, and on the site of earlier fortifications dated to the 13thC, most of what is visible dates to the 1600s. Discovering that it had been used by Cromwell in the 1650s, Mr B was particularly animated as we have just finished reading the King’s General (another Daphne du Maurier novel and set in the English Civil Wars). Up close, as is always the case with historic and ancient monuments, its very easy to imagine the life and tribulations of the time – especially with the location here, out on the end of a narrow promontory and so very typically Scottish!
Arriving at Paul and Sue’s beautiful house is always a treat, not just because we know we are going to be well looked after, but because we can always count a noisy, tail-wagging and exuberant greeting from Clyde, their retriever/collie cross! And of course, there’s the walking – and as soon as we had finished lunch we were off to see the Lamlash (or Blairmore for the locals) stone circle on a short forest walk – of which there an enormous variety on the island! The circle is close to the main road, and almost hemmed in by the Sitka Spruce trees planted in the 30s and 40s – but recent clearance has at least given them a chance to assume some of their former majesty, where they had lines of sight, apparently, to other ancient sites on the island. Big fans of the Outlander TV series, we could easily imagine this as a location for the time portal...
Mr B is never really sure whether he has been to some of the locations we go to (Mrs B has spent much more time on Arran, and also has a better memory…) so he’s always excited to be out and about on the island. And on our next walk, along a lovely winding forestry track to the west and south of Brodick, he was indeed none the wiser of previous visits!
It was at this very bench that Mr B was introduced by Sue to an App new to him, that he will be making a great deal of use of on his mountain bike rides and walks in Sussex – how to ID a bird from its sound or photo – not one of his outdoor strengths! And as if by magic (actually Paul spotted it!), whilst answering a call of nature nearby, he saw his first Goldcrest, Europe’s smallest bird, also ID’d by its call on the App by Sue.
After dodging the rain for a couple of days, we were lucky to get one of those beautiful, autumn blue sky treats, with the Holy Isle away in the distance…
...so we headed off down the coast to Whiting Bay and then walked inland to see the Glenashdale falls – a great riverside walk up to the 140ft double drop falls, the largest on Arran…
The walk is a circular one, and as we crested the ridgeline on the return leg, we had a great view back over the coast to Holy Isle from a different perspective…
...before turning inland to the Giants Graves, a couple of neolithic burial cairns which, although we have seen them before, never fail to impress…
It’s a lovely walk and we were very lucky to experience it on a sunny day!
Usually after a good yomp, we settle in for a lazy evening – not tonight though as we were going to be taking part in helping out with apple pressing. Sharing a press with their friend Jak, Paul and Sue are now annual apple juice makers – and we were lucky to be invited to take part…
Needless to say, the juice was delicious and we were chuffed to be given a bottle for our homeward journey!
The next day the wind picked up…
...and our anxiety levels started to rise in tandem! Would we get off the island? Time to take advice from our friends, who suggested we ‘go local’: as well as the ferry we had already booked, book another on a different day and to a different port!
Once we had made our back-up booking, we had time for one last walk before we were due to sail – this time to King’s Cave near Blackwaterfoot away on the west coast. It’s associated with the legend of Robert the Bruce taking inspiration from a spider’s repeated attempts to build a web, to persevere with his fight against the English. Apparently, it was also known as Fingal’s Cave until the Victorian era, so I guess you can choose your legend!
Another aspect of going local with our strategy for getting off the island, was Mr B subscribing to CalMac’s text notification service. And as we were enjoying breakfast on our last day, his phone started pinging… our morning ferry, the Caledonian Isles, had been cancelled due to the strong winds, and the failure of one of its stabilisers needed to allow it to navigate the entrance to Ardrossan harbour! We were so glad that we had taken Paul and Sue’s advice, with our back-up boat, the Glen Sannox sailing to Troon the next day. Pleased that we had some extra time, we were busy chatting about dinner on our bonus night, when Mr B’s phone pinged again! We had been re-booked by CalMac for a later sailing that day on the Glen Sannox – yikes!
Conscious that our back-up for the next day could be delayed or cancelled with the deteriorating weather, we took the softy-southerner option and, bidding our hosts fond farewells, set off for the port, realising that when we docked in Troon, we would need to find a place to camp up for the night in the dark, not knowing the area at all.
Grateful that the later ferry hadn’t been cancelled yet, we queued up in the rain with 30 minutes to go! Until we heard a tannoy announcement that the departure would be delayed owing to a technical fault and we would be updated in half an hour… And 45 minutes later we were given an update – a generator fault was being worked on, update to follow. It was only when we noticed that vehicles on the other side of the queue were turning their hazard lights on and boarding that we realised we were good to go – at last!
The Glen Sannox, whilst much maligned for its massive overrun on costs, delays in entering service, inability to dock at Ardrossan, and ongoing ‘technical’ issues, was, for us, a real treat! Built to a high standard and with plenty of space to sit with a good forward view, the crossing was eerily silent as the gas powered engines powered us over to Troon.
Mr B had found a likely stop over on P4N in an interestingly named village on the A76 to Dumfries, Sanquhar, and after refuelling at a nearby Morrisons with the lowest priced diesel of our trip so far (£1.34 a litre), and with Mrs B at the wheel, we headed off into the unknown, grateful that we had made it back to the mainland and we were out of the woods with regards to delays to our journey home – or so we thought…
S&J 09.11.25
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