Sunday 17th May

Today we knew that the weather wasn't going to be too great.  We donned our waterproofs and headed on out for a local walk on Carradale Bay.  The rain was indeed very on and off, and we spent the walk sheltering under various types of trees as it only seemed to rain for about 5 minutes or so before clearing up for another half hour. It was very wet underfoot - unsurprising as it had rained recently anyway.  The view was nice when we could see Arran, although it was looking very mysterious under all the dramatic clouds.

Eventually we reached the beach and walked along it, I picked up some sea glass which was a decent size so I might be able to turn that into a pendant to wear.  We cut through the gorse - which was in full flower and there was LOTS of it pretty much everywhere - to go back inland towards our cottage to finish our walk.  When we did, we dried off a little and had some lunch before heading out again in the car to Skipness.  We visited the Castle (ruined) here and the nearby Chapel of St. Brendan which was also a ruin, however we did notice some recent gravestones in its grounds.

Heading on back to the car, we decided to have a wander down a path leading into the woodland next to it - we noticed bluebells and aliums so we thought we would have a look.  It was a short walk but it turns out that there was a river babbling along, and there were so many wild aliums in flower - we had never seen quite this many in flower before and the smell was rather potent!  Again, the rain came and we headed on back after reaching the end of the trail which was actually part of the river itself, so. we could have continued if we had wanted to cross it.  Back in the cottage, we dried off for a second time and settled down as the rain eventually settled in.  Home made spaghetti bolognaise for dinner warmed us from the inside out!