Taylor Diaries
Off to Kintyre

Part 2 - Saturday, We managed to pack the cars, load all the passengers in, say our good byes to Jim and Margaret, in the next caravan, set up our Satellite Navigation and sound systems and pull out onto the open road all within 3.1/2 hours of getting out of our still beckoning beds. I must admit we were a little late so the police very kindly shut the road to save us that annoying 15 seconds waiting for a clear exit.

We experienced bright sunshine which contributed to the varying climatic ecosystem inside the car aggravated by the random use of our air conditioning, the judicial opening and closing of windows and the reproduction of sauna like conditions on the rare occasions when we both closed the windows and turned the air-conditioning off. 

All went well after the initial realisation by Sam, Sophie and Alfie that they were now trapped in a metal box on wheels for the foreseeable future.  As the howling abated into the traditional “are we there yet?” and “How long have we got to go?” along with other pleadings and cries for mercy, we slowly settled into a tense cease fire, punctuated by the occasional explosive cries of anguish from the back all the way to Loch Lomond. 

With the sun continuing to shine upon us we disembarked alongside the loch, overlooked by Ben Lomond, a tall sort of mountain in the rugged and picturesque category. We consumed large quantities of carbohydrate and carbon dioxide impregnated liquid refreshments before once again rounding up the kids and hearding them back into the waiting vehicles all ready to convey them to a new wonderland just south of Ardrishaig.  We drove and drove and drove, we even passed ‘Rest and be Thankful’ but did not take the advice.  Eventually we finally found ourselves driving through Ardrishaig and on down the shore road; then just as we were about to give up completely the sign pointing to the cottage appeared on the right hand side.

I can no longer remember what it said but it was a most welcome sign; we flipped 90’ clockwise and up the drive to our new base for the next two weeks, our cottage is the closest in a terrace of three bungalows. 

The rain abated, the loch, tree and Wendy house came into view; I endeavour to capture the scene set out before me with my Olympus digital camera with integrated zoom lens.

The living area included a kitchen at one end and a sitting room at the other with a leather suit, the type you have to warm up yourself, in Sophie’s words. There were three good size bedrooms and a large bathroom with no windows but it did have an extractor fan.

Sunday 26 July in the year of our calendar 2009.  The computer clock shows the time to be 7 hour and 45 minutes past midnight. All is quiet; the rain has been falling all night and continues unabated this morning but rising relatively early meant I could go on the Internetless computer for an hour before the rest of the house hold awoke.

The ground is waterlogged, everyone is asleep in their beds and I am not much better myself.  It is silent the blanketing rain has obscure everything, even the loch, not 200 meters away has vanished.

Kirsty crept out of bed, she replaced her presence there with a ‘Fimble’ but judging by the cries from her room Alfie had discovered the subterfuge and was not amused. Sophie stumbled into the living room having only just awoken from a sleep so dramatically disturbed in the middle of the night.

Tarbert, Loch Fyne

By late morning things improved enough for us to pile in to the Disco and head down the peninsula to Tarbert, Loch Fyne. We were all very taken by Tarbert and spent a very enjoyable time on a stoney beach with its own wee burn. We also did a little exploring, watched the ferry and partook of refreshments at the Lucky Cat Art Gallery.

After a picnic beside the sea we travelled many, many miles to Carradale along a single track road. Unfortunately we did not spend long in Carradale so it did not get the chance to live up to my expectations, built up over many decades and of course the Carradale herring boats that used to come to Girvan have long since vanish.  We had a choice now 24 miles back to Tarbert along the same single track roads or 14miles to Campbeltown and a potentially faster road back. We chose Campbeltown, the views were stunning and varied but hours in a car following on from hours yesterday proved very difficult for Sam and Sophie.

We eventually got home around 8:15 pm. Tomorrow as little car as possible.' But at least we have now made a good reccy of the peninsula.

We went all over the place, went to Kilmartin, that is a wow place, as we drove along the road between trees and high hills with the Crinan canal on our port side, suddenly the whole vista in front of us opened up, a huge low level most beautiful scene unfolded in front of us with Kilmartin rising up at the north end; Kilmartin is definitely another place that needs to be revisited.

A real serendipity highlight was lunch at Oban, it was certainly one of the crowning features of the week, I think Sam would endorse this view, pancakes, cream and ice cream!  The last time we were in Oban we had our baby daughter Kirsty with us, this time we not only had our Kirsty but we had her children, our grand daughter and grand sons.  Last time we saw little of Oban due to the torrential rain, this time the torrential rain held off until departure time when it decided to emulate the previous visit.

Later we went back to Ardrishaig and watched yachts going through the locks.

Pink Teddy Got Some Good Photos.