Thursday 15th -- Oban to Arran

Today we leave Oban. Once again, the gps has us turning down a dead-end street. After some tricky maneuvering and a near miss with a stone wall, I get back on track. Down to the main road, ignore the gps, we drive out of town.

Weather: There was heavy rain last night. As we leave our b&b the rain has stopped. The rest of the day is fine and, very occasionally, sunny. The only rain is a heavy shower in the early evening. The temperature crawls up to perhaps 16C, I'm sometimes chilly in a short-sleeved shirt and light jacket.

We stop at Arduaine Garden. It's more formal, more maintained, than Angus's yesterday. No better, I think, though Deb appreciates the labelled plants. Again, we get lost while trying to follow a lightly marked trail.

Walking out the path passes a bistro(!?). We stop for coffee, which we drink outside. It's cool but comfortable and the view -- over yet another loch -- is beautiful.

Then we drive non-stop to the ferry at Clanoigh. Not quite non-stop, I occasionally pull over to let other traffic past.

I realise what is really different about Scottish country roads compared to Australian: there are always large trees leaning over the Scottish roads. Yes, the scenery is completely different. But the driver barely sees the scenery -- for the trees.

Soon after I realise this, getting close to Clanoigh -- the trees run out.

I turn -- despite Deb's instructions -- into the wrong ferry terminal. We are on a narrow country road, there are several ferry terminals. A few miles later and we are at the correct terminal, there's not much here. Parking area, concrete slipway into the water, marked bays for cars to queue for the ferry. We are first in the queue, we park facing down into the water.

While waiting for the ferry we look for the Kintyre Trail, a walk track that passes here. There's an old stile to get from field to carpark and that's about it. No signposts, no trail markers.

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We see the ferry leaving Lochranza on Arran, it's not very far away. It arrives, lowers a solid steel ramp, we drive on. Out of the car, inside to pay, we sit down -- and the ferry is already on its way. It's very smooth, we can hardly believe that it's moving.

I wander round the ferry. There are seats on the two decks above us, metal seats, outside. The ferry must be able to carry a couple of hundred people, today it's a couple of dozen.

I chat with a fellow passenger, a geologist. He says Arran started as a volcano, a big granite "pluton" pushed up. And "Hutton's Unconformity" changed the way that people understand geology. I'll be reading up on that but not writing any explanations.

I spot a dozen or more dolphins in the water! By the time I get downstairs to tell Deb, they are gone... ah well.

random memory: We don't see much wildlife. We have seen a rabbit... and a hare, while we were looking for a geocache. That was days ago.

We land at Lochranza and are off the ferry within minutes.

We stop for a late lunch, scones, at the Lochranza Hotel. Very nice, great view across the water. Then drive on.

From looking at google maps I know that Arran is Lochranza, Brodick, Lagg Hotel and nothing else... Wrong! There are several not too small villages down the coast road. Lots of people, accommodation, hotels... it's a busy holiday island.

It's a very pleasant drive down the coast. The road is narrow but two lanes. Constant twists and bends, I watch the road like a hawk, constantly nervous. But there is not too much traffic. I stress, but enjoy the drive.

btw: Our street gps has a feature that may be new, it beeps in warning. When road signs indicate, narrow road, sharp turn, oncoming traffic may be in the middle of the road... the gps beeps. I guess the warning locations are in the gps. I've not noticed this in Australia, here the beeping is every minute or so... lots of warning spots.

We drive through Brodick to look at the ferry terminal, we'll be back there in a few days. Then on towards Lagg. And on and on and on... It's 13 miles (I think) but the road makes it seem a lot further.

After what seems like an age I comment to Deb, The phrase that comes to mind is, "the arse end of the world." It's beautiful... yet it seems that we are driving beyond all civilisation. Okay, except for the village at Whiting Bay, the cottages everywhere, the hotels... It just feels like the middle of nowhere.

And we reach our hotel. After 4pm.

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Lagg Hotel. Google has trouble finding Lagg, it prefers to call it Kilmory. The hotel is old (1793? I'll check that.) Very nicely done up. We're in a Garden Room, upstairs, overlooking a garden and a stream, possibly a brae. Very peaceful.

We eat dinner in the hotel, very nice. Having driven the roads... we may eat every meal in this hotel :-) The assistant chef was knocked off his motorbike, he's now in hospital, the owner is helping. It doesn't hurt the quality of the food, we enjoy it all.

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Deb borrows a book of 25 walks, three are near Lagg. We'll check the weather tomorrow before we choose between walking or castle or distillery or brewery. Or cheese factory. All good choices :-) ... for tomorrow.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
             Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." … Blazing Swan Survival Guide

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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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