Conquering Holy Isle
Posted: Wednesday, 05 October 2005 |
It was almost not raining on Monday morning so conquering the Holy Isle seemed like a good idea. We got the rib over, which in this weather is an adventure in it鈥檚 self. We dropped in to see my friends at The World Peace Centre which was lovely as Sunil was leaving for a climbing exhibition in Croatia the next day so last chance to see him for a long time, then set off around the island. We communed with the goats and had brunch in St. Molios cave.
Me communing with goats
The Holy Goat
Karma Jig
View from St.Molios Cave where we Brunched
When we got to the tailbone of the island we began our assent, passing Lama Yeshie鈥檚 retreat house and scrambling over a few rocks. Diane and I took turns whining, 鈥 this isn鈥檛 a path, it鈥檚 a flaming waterfall.鈥 鈥淚鈥檓 not climbing that without a rope!鈥 and, 鈥淚 forgot I get vertigo Arrgh!鈥 However Ed, who is half mountain goat noised us along and eventually we reached the summit! Hurrah! We are brave mountaineers! Then we looked over to remember that there are another two humphs to climb鈥.
AssendingHoly Isle, it's a bit steep.
This is the most remote lighthouse on Holy Isle and can't be seen from Arran. It is now a Buddhist womens three year retreat.
Summit Trig Point. Made it but too scared to stand up.
View from summit of Holy Isle with buddhist prayer flags to the left. There are prayer flags in the most inaccessable places and Buddhist Gods painted on the rocks. We also made stone towers on the beach.
Lamlash Bay from top of Holy Isle
The rain has settled into driech steady drizzle by now so the ground was a wee bit moist. Half way up the second humph I started to slide backwards and had to resort to hands & knees but the view of a heard of wild ponies from the top of the second humph was well worth it. By this point Diane had fallen er鈥ehind over bosom and turned into a mud monster so I chose the sliding down on my rear for the final decent. We finally made it back to the boat by 5.30. Diane was so muddy she had to nip behind a rock and strip before putting on waterproofs for the ride home. As we had had a short ride over we took the long way back going right round the island so we could see the inaccessible west side of Holy Isle, it was stunning! As we got faster the waves seemed bigger and deeper with the boat slamming down between waves. Ed & I are tall enough to stand up and cushion ourselves with our knees but poor Diane was bouncing in the saddle like a jelly. At one particularly big wave I thought we were all going to get pinged right out of the boat as we all flew into the air. I landed fine but Ed banged his knee and Diane bruised the F*nny (American for bottom)! We decided to take it slower after that. We arrived back and went to return the waterproofs but Diane only had her plunders on underneath so had to keep them on as we repaired to the local hostelry for refreshments. We had planned to party the night away but as Diane was melting we chose to nip home to get changed and all ended up going to bed by 9pm shattered! What a great day! Haven鈥檛 laughed so much in ages! Will post Tuesday鈥檚 excursion next. Holy Isle does have internet access but as it is predominantly a Buddhist retreat they aren鈥檛 too into blogging. They can however be contacted at www.holyisland.org
Kings Caves & Machrie Moor Standing Stones
Posted: Wednesday, 05 October 2005 |
Yesterday we went to Blackwaterfoot to walk to The Kings Caves from the golf course.
We were a wee bit stiff so set off the easy route across the golf course and round the back of the basalt cliffs (which do a bit of a giants causeway hexagonal pillar thing). The Kings Caves were inhabited on and off for about 5000 years and the celtic carvings are still clear on the walls although the cave paintings have long been washed away. Famous residents include Fingle the Giant and Robert The Bruce, King of Scots who resovled, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again." While watching a spider trying to build it's web ot the mouth of the main cave. The photos don't do them justice as the braken is very high just now. The caves soar about 20ft high in places and go quite deep. Couldn't get the ones inside to come out so just took pics of the smaller ones. Couldn't get far enough back to take the bigger caves as the tide was in but will try again in the winter.
The basalt cliffs are in the background, too far away to see sorry.
After a good mooch round, beach picnic and stone tower building (it's addictive) we carried on along the beach and up along the forestry path to Machrie
This is The Mull of Kintyre taken from the beach in front of The Kings Caves. The sun is low as it's about 4.30pm
This is taken from the forestry walk with the Kilbrannan Sound in the background.
We came up onto the coast road and walked towards Machrie then crossed over and hobbled the last mile up to the standing stones (We were a bit stiff by this point after yesterdays exertions, so much so that I was struggling with a rediculously easy style. The Machrie Standing Stones are always worth the tiny effort of wandering up there.
If you look closely my face has melted in this one... a bit spooky?
For scale
Tree huggers beware.
Don't tell me this has nothing to do with willie worship!
Then we all hitched back to Blackwaterfoot for lashings of ginger beer!
We were a wee bit stiff so set off the easy route across the golf course and round the back of the basalt cliffs (which do a bit of a giants causeway hexagonal pillar thing). The Kings Caves were inhabited on and off for about 5000 years and the celtic carvings are still clear on the walls although the cave paintings have long been washed away. Famous residents include Fingle the Giant and Robert The Bruce, King of Scots who resovled, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again." While watching a spider trying to build it's web ot the mouth of the main cave. The photos don't do them justice as the braken is very high just now. The caves soar about 20ft high in places and go quite deep. Couldn't get the ones inside to come out so just took pics of the smaller ones. Couldn't get far enough back to take the bigger caves as the tide was in but will try again in the winter.
The basalt cliffs are in the background, too far away to see sorry.
After a good mooch round, beach picnic and stone tower building (it's addictive) we carried on along the beach and up along the forestry path to Machrie
This is The Mull of Kintyre taken from the beach in front of The Kings Caves. The sun is low as it's about 4.30pm
This is taken from the forestry walk with the Kilbrannan Sound in the background.
We came up onto the coast road and walked towards Machrie then crossed over and hobbled the last mile up to the standing stones (We were a bit stiff by this point after yesterdays exertions, so much so that I was struggling with a rediculously easy style. The Machrie Standing Stones are always worth the tiny effort of wandering up there.
If you look closely my face has melted in this one... a bit spooky?
For scale
Tree huggers beware.
Don't tell me this has nothing to do with willie worship!
Then we all hitched back to Blackwaterfoot for lashings of ginger beer!
Lochranza & Brodick Castle
Posted: Thursday, 06 October 2005 |
On Wednesday we decided to explore closer to home so started the day by hitching to Lochranza as Diane and Ed wanted to see some red deer and Lochranza is lousy with them and the sandwich shop at the pier does great bacon & brie butty.
Outside the village shop
"Ger orf moy laaand!"
A total disregard for the Highway Code
We had a play about in Lochranza Castle (Viking fort 13th century) which is a ruin but for some reason is being re-pointed??? That鈥檚 why there is constant scaffolding up. The castle has great spiral staircases inside towers that open onto half a room where the floor has fallen away etc. There is still a prison and bit of room left. It was inhabited until early last century when the east tower fell into the sea. We were going to go to Huttons Unconformity at the cock of Arran but it was too wet underfoot and far too windy so we plumped for lunch at Pirnmill, possibly the best tearoom in the world.
In the afternoon it looked like rain so we went home and wandered up to Brodick Castle. I live just off the drive to the castle so we walked up the drive past the ubiquitous standing stones (they are everywhere). Brodick Castle isn鈥檛 a ruin, the Dukes of Hamilton used it as a hunting lodge and for a few years before she died in 1957 was the home of the Duchess of Montrose. After The Duchesses death the castle was turned over to the treasury in lieu of death duties and in turn was given to the National Trust.
Standing stone in the field behind my house looking up towards Glen Rosa, or at least it would be Glen Rosa if a blooming great cloud wan't sitting in it. There are usually very good mountains in this view but the were hiding yesterday.
I forgot to take photos inside but it鈥檚 all furnished pretty much as it was left with a few fine collections of art, silver, china etc. They have kept the dodgy papier-m芒ch茅 figures that proliferate in most Scottish castles to the bare minimum and have avoided the temptation to stick a concrete visitors centre in front of it. We had a good chat with the guides who gave us lots of gossip about the previous inhabitants and told some good ghost stories then we went for a wander through the gardens to the Bavarian Summer House
Intrepid Diane
The
Giant Rhubarb
The summerhouse has a fairytale look from the outside and is built on a rocky outcrop so the only way in is over a wee bridge. It is entirely decorated with acorns as you can see from this photo of the ceiling.
The ceiling of the Bavarian Summerhouse completely encrusted in cones
We had afternoon tea in the castle tearoom then walked up to the Duchesses bathing pool which is the base of a fairly good waterfall on the lower slopes of Goatfell, then from there we wandered down to Rosa Bridge where we saw two adders then walked back down the south bank of Rosa Burn through Glen Rosa. We carried on into Brodick for dinner over looking an Arran Sunset. Slept like a log last night.
Brodick Bay, Brodick is Norse for wide bay
Goatfell
Goatfell again. X
Outside the village shop
"Ger orf moy laaand!"
A total disregard for the Highway Code
We had a play about in Lochranza Castle (Viking fort 13th century) which is a ruin but for some reason is being re-pointed??? That鈥檚 why there is constant scaffolding up. The castle has great spiral staircases inside towers that open onto half a room where the floor has fallen away etc. There is still a prison and bit of room left. It was inhabited until early last century when the east tower fell into the sea. We were going to go to Huttons Unconformity at the cock of Arran but it was too wet underfoot and far too windy so we plumped for lunch at Pirnmill, possibly the best tearoom in the world.
In the afternoon it looked like rain so we went home and wandered up to Brodick Castle. I live just off the drive to the castle so we walked up the drive past the ubiquitous standing stones (they are everywhere). Brodick Castle isn鈥檛 a ruin, the Dukes of Hamilton used it as a hunting lodge and for a few years before she died in 1957 was the home of the Duchess of Montrose. After The Duchesses death the castle was turned over to the treasury in lieu of death duties and in turn was given to the National Trust.
Standing stone in the field behind my house looking up towards Glen Rosa, or at least it would be Glen Rosa if a blooming great cloud wan't sitting in it. There are usually very good mountains in this view but the were hiding yesterday.
I forgot to take photos inside but it鈥檚 all furnished pretty much as it was left with a few fine collections of art, silver, china etc. They have kept the dodgy papier-m芒ch茅 figures that proliferate in most Scottish castles to the bare minimum and have avoided the temptation to stick a concrete visitors centre in front of it. We had a good chat with the guides who gave us lots of gossip about the previous inhabitants and told some good ghost stories then we went for a wander through the gardens to the Bavarian Summer House
Intrepid Diane
The
Giant Rhubarb
The summerhouse has a fairytale look from the outside and is built on a rocky outcrop so the only way in is over a wee bridge. It is entirely decorated with acorns as you can see from this photo of the ceiling.
The ceiling of the Bavarian Summerhouse completely encrusted in cones
We had afternoon tea in the castle tearoom then walked up to the Duchesses bathing pool which is the base of a fairly good waterfall on the lower slopes of Goatfell, then from there we wandered down to Rosa Bridge where we saw two adders then walked back down the south bank of Rosa Burn through Glen Rosa. We carried on into Brodick for dinner over looking an Arran Sunset. Slept like a log last night.
Brodick Bay, Brodick is Norse for wide bay
Goatfell
Goatfell again. X
Thanks for the lovely comments!
Posted: Friday, 07 October 2005 |
Mike, will do with waterfall, where is there a library?
Posted: Friday, 07 October 2005 |
Kildonan, Eas Mor Waterfall and Black Loch
Posted: Tuesday, 18 October 2005 |
Finally managed to escape the drudgery of work and made it down to the South End on Sunday! And it wasn't even raining!!! So stopped to take a photo of Seafield where I spent the summers as a wee girl for my Mum as she wants to paint it. My Uncle lives there now. That's his very cool Toyota pick up truck parked outside.
I am extra pleased with this picture, not because it is any good 'cause it isn't but because I managed to airbrush out Wendys camper van which was encroaching on the right hand side, cool!
It was a bit of a misty day thanks to the sun so it's not as clear as usual. That's Bennan Head in the back ground. If you walk along beach (there's a new path with wheelchair access) past the village shop you will come to Seal Bay, which is covered in seals, preferably alive (the dead ones ming). There are also a few families of otters along here so good general wild life watching place as lots of passing dolphins, porpoise, whales and basking sharks. If you go even further along the beach you can still find the ruins of a village that used to be there thanks to the clearances. If you go even further along to the very end of Bennan Head you will find a cave that you can walk and climb through right up on to the top of the cliffs. Haven't done this in over 20 years so don't blame me if you fall and break your neck or the tide comes in and drowns you. Aparently it's a wee bitty dangerous. We couldn't be bothered, we just wanted to see what Mike was on about so jumped back in the car and drove up Auchinhew to the new car park.
We dumped the car and started off up the redicuously good path! Wasn't expecting that at all! When I wiz a lass it was wellie boots and sucktion mud all the way! We used to start from lower Kildonan and climb up past the schoolhouse and through the "new" forestry. This is a great big piece of chocolate cake in comparison!
We found Eas Mor very easily and yes Mike it is very cool indeed, had no idea it was there!
Then we decided that as it was only a mile or so to the loch we may as well keep going. It's so much smaller than I remember!
The Loch is officially known as Loch Garbad but is known locally as The Black Loch because a long long time ago the people who lived in what was at the time a glen were famous for their partying. Then one Halloween they threw such a shindig that the Black Devil who lived under the glen rose up in a fury with the noise and threw the glen into the sea leaving behind the Black Loch and plenty of peace and quiet. If you look at a map of Kildonan and look at the shape of the Black Loch and look at the shape of Pladda (Island just off the coast of Kildonan) you will see they are exactly the same shape, proving the truth of this cautionary tale. Partys near the Black Loch are still generally quiet affairs... just in case...
We sauntered back down and went for a look at the library. The walls were covered in childrens drawing so it's obviously being enjoyed! Sorry the photo is so blurred. The roof is made out of Turf which could do with a mow if you ask me!
Here's a photo of the gorge the Eas Mor waterfall runs into, it's hard to explain how impressively deep it is as there are ancient trees growing in the gully at the bottom. so what looks like bushes at the bottom is tree tops. Not bad! My mate Wendy said it looks like America. She's never been to America so please don't complain.
This is the end of the Gorge looking out to sea. On a clear day you could see to Ireland from here but today you can barely see Pladda which is the thing that looks like a blob in the sky. That is in fact an island but the horizon was having a duvet day so no way of telling where the sky and sea meet.
The floor of the wood was covered in an excellent array of funghi! We had the usual," Do you think it's safe to eat?" Conversation but decided probably not or it would've been picked by now.
It was a pleasant hour and a half walk, much easier than the full day expedition of my youth but not as exciting, still... probably just as I'm beginning to creak.
I am extra pleased with this picture, not because it is any good 'cause it isn't but because I managed to airbrush out Wendys camper van which was encroaching on the right hand side, cool!
It was a bit of a misty day thanks to the sun so it's not as clear as usual. That's Bennan Head in the back ground. If you walk along beach (there's a new path with wheelchair access) past the village shop you will come to Seal Bay, which is covered in seals, preferably alive (the dead ones ming). There are also a few families of otters along here so good general wild life watching place as lots of passing dolphins, porpoise, whales and basking sharks. If you go even further along the beach you can still find the ruins of a village that used to be there thanks to the clearances. If you go even further along to the very end of Bennan Head you will find a cave that you can walk and climb through right up on to the top of the cliffs. Haven't done this in over 20 years so don't blame me if you fall and break your neck or the tide comes in and drowns you. Aparently it's a wee bitty dangerous. We couldn't be bothered, we just wanted to see what Mike was on about so jumped back in the car and drove up Auchinhew to the new car park.
We dumped the car and started off up the redicuously good path! Wasn't expecting that at all! When I wiz a lass it was wellie boots and sucktion mud all the way! We used to start from lower Kildonan and climb up past the schoolhouse and through the "new" forestry. This is a great big piece of chocolate cake in comparison!
We found Eas Mor very easily and yes Mike it is very cool indeed, had no idea it was there!
Then we decided that as it was only a mile or so to the loch we may as well keep going. It's so much smaller than I remember!
The Loch is officially known as Loch Garbad but is known locally as The Black Loch because a long long time ago the people who lived in what was at the time a glen were famous for their partying. Then one Halloween they threw such a shindig that the Black Devil who lived under the glen rose up in a fury with the noise and threw the glen into the sea leaving behind the Black Loch and plenty of peace and quiet. If you look at a map of Kildonan and look at the shape of the Black Loch and look at the shape of Pladda (Island just off the coast of Kildonan) you will see they are exactly the same shape, proving the truth of this cautionary tale. Partys near the Black Loch are still generally quiet affairs... just in case...
We sauntered back down and went for a look at the library. The walls were covered in childrens drawing so it's obviously being enjoyed! Sorry the photo is so blurred. The roof is made out of Turf which could do with a mow if you ask me!
Here's a photo of the gorge the Eas Mor waterfall runs into, it's hard to explain how impressively deep it is as there are ancient trees growing in the gully at the bottom. so what looks like bushes at the bottom is tree tops. Not bad! My mate Wendy said it looks like America. She's never been to America so please don't complain.
This is the end of the Gorge looking out to sea. On a clear day you could see to Ireland from here but today you can barely see Pladda which is the thing that looks like a blob in the sky. That is in fact an island but the horizon was having a duvet day so no way of telling where the sky and sea meet.
The floor of the wood was covered in an excellent array of funghi! We had the usual," Do you think it's safe to eat?" Conversation but decided probably not or it would've been picked by now.
It was a pleasant hour and a half walk, much easier than the full day expedition of my youth but not as exciting, still... probably just as I'm beginning to creak.
Where will I go this evening?
Posted: Thursday, 27 October 2005 |
Arran ExPat wandering the world, residing in Cyprus for now with the odd visit home.
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