Peelies travels

In the morning it didn’t know whether to rain or not. We put on wellies and waterproof trousers and walked a little further along from the end of the road. There was water everywhere but the emerging view to Jura and Scarba and also up the coast was beautiful. There are so many islands and inlets that a map is needed to work out what is where. We never did see the Paps of Jura due to cloud but we could see over to Luing and Seil, where we were due to visit someone later in the day. The marshy land off the end of the car park was full of standing water. As it drained over the edge, down the rocks and into the sea, it formed a great temporary cascade. Below us, at a holiday cottage I assume, a few small children were crabbing off a small pier. They’d obviously caught something big because it was the squeals of excitement that first attracted our attention and binoculars that explained what was happening. Moving up the coast towards Oban we turned to go to Seil. There’s the most amazing b...

It really was a beautiful overnight spot and with great timing, the rain stopped and we walked along the road for a couple of miles. One or two vehicles passed and as is normal here, everyone waved. The coastline is rock and sand with steep slopes just inland from the road. Copious rain meant water everywhere and new streams tried to get over or under the road whichever way they could. We posted a card in the loveliest letter box too, saw some highland cattle and then admired the view from our spot. I really wanted to try a drive across at the peninsula on the other side, from there to a point further round the coast. However it’s only a track and a sign clearly said “No” at the point where we would have turned to it. We stopped for picnic lunch at Tayvallich, well actually the west side which is Carsaig. Tayvallich is a fantastic natural harbour on Loch Sween whereas Carsaig is on the Jura side. It’s only half a mile between them. A local lady, of pretty much four score and ten, was i...

Sunday in Machrihanish was quiet. A few golfers were on the course and we walked past some nice ‘links’ houses to the beach around the corner. There we disturbed a herd of wild goats who put on a fence jumping display, with the coolest of the lot ambling along and effortlessly clearing the bar. I found plenty of washed up rope for my collection of ‘useful bits’ and we loved the mix of rocks and deep sand. Later we walked for two miles north along the main beach, which is alongside the dunes separating it from the airport, although nothing seems to happen there in these sad CoVID19 times. Someone has already been here... All good things come to an end and as predicted by the Met Office app a few days ago, it started to rain in Machrihanish on Sunday night. We had already decided that rain or shine, we would move north. However very wet rain is troublesome and we had to do as much prep as possible the night before. Actually ‘moving off’ with our setup only takes about 30 minutes but you ...

Just waking up twice at Skipness to this sight makes the trip worthwhile and as happens frequently, it’s a wrench to leave. However, a favourable weather forecast helped the decision and we headed for The Mull of Kintyre. There are just two roads and we stayed on the eastern B road which is mainly single track but with copious passing places. It’s quite a drive, with lots to see, including the west coast of Arran and the odd timber lorry. These trucks, hauling cut forests, are far bigger than you expect to see on these roads and the drivers do expect you to see them, as they don’t stop. Logging is a huge industry and eventually you do get used to huge swathes of land having been cleared, with the stumps still showing. It appears that the replanting is done in between these rough remains. Maybe the idea is that in twenty years or however long it’s been, the stumps will have rotted down. Along the way we see plenty of houses and farms, some of the houses are really special; very Scottish...

If our toilet were bigger I think we’d still be at Skipness. It’s obviously a popular spot for camper vans and ‘mohos’ as they call themselves on the Scottish Motorhome Campervan Adventures fb group. There were five of us strung out along the one mile stretch and judging by the fire marks and stone rings there had been many more over the summer. Skipness is a tiny hamlet just behind the beach, with a mix of dwelling types ranging from the older detached stone houses, one or two simple rendered bungalows to some lovely terraced cottages. A nice modern build looked very nice too. The surprise of the day came after we continued the walk out of the hamlet and turned into the drive along to the castle. It turns out that Skipness castle is an amazing 13th C wonder, that is well maintained in a ruinous sort of way. We were happy to wander freely around, looking at features such as ‘water pipe into kitchen’ and ‘latrine chute’, which were fortunately on opposite sides of the fortification. We ...