DAY 6: ON THE ROAD AGAIN- THE JOURNEY TO THE MULL OF KINTYRE AND GATEWAY TO THE INNER HEBRIDES

Friday 26^th July

This 7-hour JOURNEY began with an unscheduled detour to take Lord Ruskin to the Academy Vets Practice in Stranraer to check that he was on the mend and had no lasting ill-effects that could cause problems when island hopping later on. After 3 injections and a brief skirmish in the waiting room with a Siamese cat – well… it was presented like a ‘dog’s dinner’ in a posh pink designer cat-carrier and surely intended as bait to test Ruskin’s levels of recovery… I felt comforted that he was nearly back to his old irrepressible self.

Hugging the coastline for much of the route, the first dramatic sight was Ailsa Craig (“Fairy Island” in Gaelic), a giant muffin shaped island that seemed to follow me as an intriguing presence on the horizon for over an hour. Now an RSPB Reserve and home to thousands of seabirds including 40,000 gannets, the island was the safe refuge for persecuted Catholics who escaped there during the Reformation. Its granite is also used for making the finest curling stones.
Also of note was the Isle of Arran, shaped like a kidney bean, and taking centre stage in the Firth of Clyde. The island marks the transition point from the Lowlands to the Highlands of Scotland. Driving from the slower pace of life of rural Ayrshire headlong into the screeching motorway traffic of Glasgow, was a sudden jolt that flung me back into the 21^st century. Crossing over the mighty River Clyde Bridge my thoughts drifted from the grey and dilapidated relics of this former industrial powerhouse, to the city’s magnificent 19^th century architecture seen on previous visits, such as the elegantly streamlined Art Nouveau designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and the dynamic cultural developments that have rejuvenated Glasgow in more recent times.  Emerging on the other side, the natural world beckoned once again, with the familiar sights of Loch Lomond, and with it the towering and majestic mountains that have stayed with me from other tours. However, this time my JOURNEY was to take me further westwards into new territory, through the Argyll Forest, up the ‘Arrochar Alps’, along the claw-shaped Cowal peninsular and along the low-lying shores of the breathtakingly beautiful Loch Long and Loch Fyne. Making progress in this sort of terrain requires patience and care as the roads are narrow and meandering, but it was an exhilarating drive and rare to see another vehicle. The stunning scenery and constantly changing light as the weather switched from rainstorm to brilliant sunshine were uplifting. I love to see new places, and for me this JOURNEY opened up new horizons of a part of Scotland that was totally unspoilt and devoid of the horrors of the ugly face of tourist development. Having said that, I could not resist stopping off at Inverary for a whisky crunch ice-cream and photo-opportunity with a picturesque sailing ship in the harbour! 

By 6.30pm ‘Bellulu’ was settled in for the night at Corran Farm overlooking West Loch Tarbert, happily coping with no electricity, main sewers, television or mobile phone signals.  I fell asleep with the setting sun and far off cries of the seagulls that called me onto the next stage of my adventure early the next morning, and my ferry crossing to the Inner Hebridean Islands of Islay, Jura and Colonsay.