Isle of Arran Adventure

In what turned out to be one of our favourite days so far, Brandon and I made a trek to the Isle of Arran on Wednesday. We began very early to catch our 6:40am train to Glasgow where we fortified ourselves with caffeine and changed trains heading to Ardrossan. As the train steamed along steadily west, the sky became clearer and bluer and when we finally came to our stop at 9:20, we were confused by the big yellow warm thing in the sky. I'm not really trying to be funny - it's seriously been that long since we've seen the sun in Edinburgh! We didn't see much of Ardrossan, really only the pedestrian walkway from the train platform to the ferry terminal. Due to Brandon's perfect scheduling, we boarded the ferry at 9:45 and were on our way.

Looking back at Ardrossan

A chilly Brandon

And a wind blown Carmen

Passing the ferry going the other way

It was windy and a little chilly but we stayed out on the deck instead of inside the ferry. We both felt totally fine when outside but were almost instantly dizzy and a little motion sick when we were inside and could really feel the motion of the boat. As the weather board inside the ferry terminal told us, the sea was slight and with the sun beating down the 50 minute crossing was over in no time and we had landed at Brodick on the Isle of Arran.

First sight of Brodick

Everything we'd read before going told us that Arran is basically Scotland in miniature. The north of the island is similar in landscape and look to the highlands and we noticed this as soon as we stepped off the ferry. Brodick sits in the shadow of Goatfell Mountain which we didn't climb, but apparently is a short four hour hike.

Goatfell Mountain and Brodick Castle

We decided to look into renting a car for this adventure and though I was nervous about the concept, Brandon assured me that it was going to be the only way we would be able to make the most of our day on the island. The rental place was right at the ferry landing - conveniently located within the gas station/convenience store/garage - and we totally lucked out and were able to rent the only automatic car they had available which meant we both could drive. After a quick reminder to stay to the left and that the signal lights were on the opposite side of the steering wheel than we're used to and we were off. I drove first and oh man, that was so much fun! I'm not sure how to describe the roads other than to say that they were narrower, twistier and had less of a shoulder than the old road between Acme and Linden had. I know that won't make sense to a lot of people, but trust me, that's pretty narrow and pretty twisty. I have no idea what the actual speed limit is on the island but the potholes, buses, tractors, pedestrians and bicycles all meant we weren't able to do more than about 30 miles per hour all day.

Our wee car!

Having so much fun driving

We'd made a plan to head north out of town towards Brodick Castle, but somehow I turned when I should've stayed straight and we ended up on the road that cuts diagonally across the island. Not a big deal, we would've gone that way eventually. That meant our first stop was at Blackwaterfoot, a tiny town on the west coast of Arran. Here, we ate our lunch and planned our attack. A quick stop in the self sanitising public toilet and we were back on the road. This time it was Brandon's turn to drive and we found out way to the King's Cave trail.

Blackwaterfoot

Brandon's turn!

The view from the parking lot of the King's Cave trail

I don't know the whole story about the caves, but one I do know involves King Robert the Bruce. On the run from the English, he took refuge in a cave. Here, feeling defeated and fearing the human cost of fighting for Scottish independence was too great, he sat on the verge of giving up. But one night he sat watching a spider trying desperately to complete a web. Being blown about by the wind, the small spider tried and tried to make his web only to be have its efforts destroyed. Bruce was inspired; thinking that if this tiny creature could begin over and over again in what seemed like such an insignificant endeavour, then he could indeed lead his country to fight again. Spurred on by this, he lead the Scottish army to a massive defeat of the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. And this is just one of many caves that may have been the very site of this historic tale.

Along the trail

Putting aside the story, it was really interesting to stand in these caves. I don't know why it always amazes me to witness the power of water, but I was amazed none the less. We avoided walking all the way into the first opening as there was a small bird stressing out about people being so close to her nest.

It's hard to tell, but the height of this cave was well above Brandon's head all the way around.

And this opening was tall enough to walk through as well.

My Google search once we got home turned up this info: Historically the caves may have been inhabited by ancient man, and there are fragile ancient carvings on the walls. These consist of early Christian religious images, and Pictish symbols. It is thought the caves were visited by early Christian travellers.

The King's Cave

We battled about a gazillion flies both on the hike in and again on the hike out from the caves and we roasted a bit in the unexpected sun. But that didn't stop me from taking some photos of the flowers along the way. I was most excited to see the heather starting to bloom.

These are blooming everywhere lately

Heather!

Thistles

We continued north from here, over some of the funniest, short little hills, and stopped at the Lochranza ferry for a bathroom break. Turning back south, we pulled into a little dip in the road so Brandon could play his pipes. I took the opportunity to take some photos of the surprisingly empty road and watched the sheep running away from the noise!

My own personal piper!

While all the rest ran away, this guy seemed rather curious about what was making all the noise

From where we'd come

Where we were going. We pulled into passing spots to take photos.

Then it was back towards Brodick and a stop in at the castle. We drove in and parked but couldn't decide if we actually wanted to go in. We left, but then ended up changing our minds and turned around and went back. This time though, we were told we were too late for the last admission - exactly four minutes late. We were disappointed by this to say the least but what could we do? So back into the car and we went shopping instead. Arran is known for cheese and we bought two small samples: a smokey garlic cheddar and a crumbly cranberry white cheese that's really good.

Our only view of the castle

We returned to Brodick and searched for another item Arran is known for, knitting. We found beautiful hand knit sweaters but decided 135 Pounds was too much to spend and they didn't have any mittens I liked so we went back to the car and decided we'd call it a day. We returned to the gas station/car rental place, handed back the keys and packed all of our things that we'd spread across the back seat. Oh how lovely it was to have a back seat! Then, after a quick stop into the tourist information centre to buy our souvenir magnet, we went in search of dinner. We decided on Arran on a Plate which turned out to be one of the best meals we've had in Scotland so far.

We finished dinner just in time to walk slowly to the ferry where we boarded and claimed our seats up on the top deck. And as we sailed away from Arran, back towards the cloudy mainland, we both felt like we'd just been on vacation. Yes we were still in Scotland and it had only been one day, but being on the island and being able to get ourselves around without being at the mercy of bus schedules felt fully freeing. And even though we had two hours of train travel ahead of us to get home, we got off the ferry feeling completely relaxed and happy. What a fabulous day.

Two happy tourists on a boat

Our last look at Arran

Entering the Ardrossan harbour at the end of our day

Jenn's Visit

The rest of Jenn’s visit went by so quickly. I had a great time showing her around Edinburgh and seeing the city through a photographer’s eyes. I love watching all our guests discover the beauty here. And watching Jenn take pictures and see angles and light in all my favourite places made me realise just how much I’m going to miss this place.

One of the highlights was our trip to St Andrews. Brandon had a day off so all three of us got on a bus and headed up to Fife to see another part of the country. It took nearly two hours to get there but it was worth it for sure. We started out by walking from the bus station to what remains of the cathedral. The walls that are still standing give just a hint of what it would’ve looked like when it was one of the most important churches in all of Scotland. The day was perfect for the views with a bright blue sky helping to show off all the colours in the stone.

Brandon demonstrating how the average height has changed!

Gorgeous streets

The remains of St Andrews Cathedral

Walls and pillars give an idea of how massive this place once was

We walked along the wall down to the pier and took in the view of the shoreline. Jenn set up her tripod here and took some absolutely amazing photos before we walked back up to the cathedral and bought our tokens to climb St Rule’s Tower where we ate our picnic lunch and again had a great view of the shoreline and the castle.

This is a view of St Andrews Castle

Looking back down the pier towards the cathedral

I thought this guy was gorgeous

Thanks, Jenn, for a great photo!

The photographer caught on the other side of the lens

Back down the steep and twisty stairs and on to the castle. Also a ruin but with still quite a lot to see, we spent a bit of time here exploring. The best part was climbing down into the mine and countermine. During a rather turbulent time in the castle’s history, a group of men dug a mine under the castle with the intent to blow down the walls to gain entry. The only problem was that they weren’t all that quiet about it and those holding the castle hostage at the time heard everything that was going on. They dug down from inside the castle and after a couple of false starts and unsuccessful attempts, they found and stopped those who were trying to get in. You can’t see all that much of these tunnels now, but what you can see is pretty impressive. The countermine is crude and obviously more quickly dug while the mine is wider and has tracks for taking the rock out with donkeys and carts. No wonder they were heard!

After the castle we continued on past many university buildings to the town’s most famous attraction, The Old Course. Often thought of as the “spiritual home of golf,” the sport has been played there since probably the mid 1400’s. We saw the famous clubhouse which I can’t confirm, but I think is still only open to men and walked along the footpath that crosses one of the fairways. Jenn took some photos for her dad as specially requested and then we headed back to the main part of town for ice cream. Then after a little shopping in a very odd, very smelly and unusual curiosities shop, we got back on the bus and headed back to Edinburgh where we went home and had a great taco feast for dinner.

The famous club house on the Old Course

Hotel on the edge of the course

For the next couple of days we fit in all sorts of other city sights including Craigmillar Castle, Rosslyn Chapel and glen, Holyrood Palace and Abbey, Calton Hill, and Jenn went on a historic tour of the South Bridge vaults. We also hiked half way up Arthur’s Seat where Jenn took some photos of Brandon and I and made us feel like such superstars. Then on Monday the 11^th, the two of us boarded a tour bus to spend the day in the highlands. Originally Jenn was going to go on her own but we kind of rearranged the week’s plan when she so totally generously bought my ticket for the day as well. It was a long day of driving and unfortunately it wasn’t all that bright and sunny, but we saw loads of scenery and I was totally in love with it all. A quick view of Stirling Castle, a stop for tea bathrooms that also allowed us to fall head over heals in love with Hamish the hairy coo, and a trek across the desolate Rannoch Moor found us in the weeping glen - Glencoe. Along the way we learned all sorts of history and some of the most deadly stories of Scotland’s past.

A true Highlander - Hamish!

Hamish's daughter Honey

The fabulous Glencoe

After that, we found ourselves driving through Fort William along the shores loch after loch until we were finally at our most northerly destination, Fort Augustus on the shore of Loch Ness. We ate our lunch here, shopped a little bit, looked at the locks on the canal system, and then boarded the boat for our hour long cruise on Loch Ness. We were a little disappointed by the cruise, and not just because we didn’t spot Nessy. When we booked the tour, we were talked into adding the cruise because the girl told us that it was the only way we’d get to see Urquhart Castle. Turns out it would take hours on the loch to get anywhere near the castle. Our driver/guide, once we finally convinced here that someone in her office did indeed tell us we’d be able to see it from the boat, did apologise for the mix up but by that point there’s not really anything she could do about it.

The dark water of Loch Ness

Church in Fort Augustus

Small bridge over the canal leading into the loch

No bother, we continued on. Unfortunately though, we had to start heading back south again and in what seemed like no time at all, we were back out of the heart of it all. I’m sure that we were at one point really close to that magical hilltop I stood on back in 2008 - the one where I left part of my heart that sunny May day. I might have freaked Jenn out a bit by being so emotional about it!

We didn’t have very many stops on the way back to Edinburgh but we did have a really quick stop at a tiny waterfall where we experienced the lovely little beasties known as midges. They look like swarms of aphids but oh they are so, so much worse. They bite and those bites itch just as bad if not worse than mosquitoes. And somehow I ended up with quite a few bites on my neck and chest - both of which were actually quite covered by a t-shirt and sweatshirt. Not too excited to encounter those creatures again.

Was a lovely place except for the midges!

The day was over much too soon but it was nearly 8:00 when we made it back to Edinburgh. We had supper at the World’s End Pub on the Royal Mile and then headed home so Jenn could do some packing for her flight the next day. But just to send her off in proper style, we went back out that night to meet Brandon for a pint before bed. We had to gulp down our first drink because just after we walked in last call was called. So we ended up back at the World’s End for one more before we walked home. On the way we talked to a really friendly man who turned out to be a politician from the Isle of Man. Totally random…really great night.

The next morning Jenn and I got up early and got a taxi to Waverly Station. An hour long train to Glasgow later, we said a rather tearful goodbye at the airport bus stop. It was an amazing two weeks and I’m so, so happy to have introduced Jenn to Scotland. And now I can’t wait to see all the photos she took!