Skip to main content

Cowal

I broke the collapsable bowl that we use for everything, by pressing my finger into the soft bit, as I lifted it when it was full. I can see how hard life must have been before bowls were invented, as many chores were needed before we bought a replacement fixed type. I’m expecting better with this one made by Addis as it has a ten year guarantee. I’m confident about it’s construction but not in my ability to find the receipt if needed.

The drive to the Cowal peninsula and the village of Tighnabruaich passes an amazing lookout. From here the view is south over the Isle of Bute, with the two Kyles on either side. 

There were one or two vehicles in the pull-in, with a local fuel tanker and driver who was eating his lunch. I assumed that he is there frequently and it’s all a little normal. After he’d finished his sandwich however, he climbed down from the cab, crossed the road and then took a selfie! He said that sadly he doesn’t get to drive this route much.


We drove down and went to the Five West cafĂ©, named after the closest line of longitude that must be here somewhere. It is a lovely place and was doing a good trade inside, with contact tracing recording and the proprietors wearing visors. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was on the side, along with plenty of other stuff for kids. The Five West cafĂ©

Then we looked at Millhouse which has, in bygone times, been a gunpowder factory. There are a few small separate buildings as you would expect for safety reasons but it was still a dangerous industry. A plaque shows that the 1860s were particularly eventful.



There had been several deaths in 1863, 1866 and 1870 but also a ship was lost in 1864. A dangerous business certainly.

At the southern tip of this peninsula is a beautiful beach which requires a fifteen minute walk through very marshy ground. The view of Arran is fabulous. Goat Fell dominates.


Looking north towards Carry Farm, our overnight spot, the mountains indicate what lies beyond.




The wind dropped to nothing and we had a bbq of venison burgers, chicken, small courgettes and peppers. This then became a camp fire and we sang songs to keep up our spirits. 🤣


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The empty map of Macedonia and into Greece

Continuing south towards the Serbia / Macedonia border, the satnav warned of a lack of detail, "do you wish to continue with this route?" However we are not intrepid explorers and Macedonia comes with a few " be careful" warnings, so we decided to stay on the motorway :-) We didn't explore Serbia; it will wait for another trip. So it was on to the border. Here, passport and V5 were required again and also proof of insurance. We didn't have any of course. When we rang the UK insurance company call centres prior to the trip, most had no idea where these countries are. They don't understand non-EU. "Macedonia - can you spell that"? The nice man at the passport office was already expecting me to say that I would buy my insurance at the "Green card office" and he handed back one passport and the V5 and put mine in his pocket until I had the necessary paper for the Landy. Unfortunately in spite of the Land Rover being classed as PL...
9 comments
Read more

"I'm the dog"

El Berro and  Camping Sierra Espuña  are nicely positioned for walking in these 'low' Sierras and of course the obligatory GR XYZ  long distance path crosses the village. The campsite people gave us a couple of short walk suggestions, written on A4 and translated by some English guy, Michael Ball. We waited until the end of the afternoon, so that the temperature was somewhat manageable and then picked one of the ~1 hour walks that start at the campsite. The walk is so simple that there's no description, just a small diagram that's well annotated with the type of path (wide main track / footpath), other markers (gate, incorrect route, fence). You can't go wrong, can you? Well the first part was easy. Follow the path out of the village, up a valley, through woodland, up and up. Then reach the ridge and the marked ring of stones. Don't turn right, carry on straight across. Then wander through a few trees and down to a dry riverbed, at which point you walk the (ve...
6 comments
Read more

Our Landy

Here is our new Landy. It's a 1996 Defender 110 County Station Wagon. The engine is the 300Tdi which is a straightforward diesel that doesn't have an ecu so we won't need access to computer diagnostics in order to fault find. It was bought at the end of 2014 in 'restored' condition, but we soon discovered that the restoration was wallpaper and in fact it required some serious work on the drivetrain, hubs and brakes. The jobs done: Rear half-shafts and drive flanges Front n/s CV joint and drive flange Front ventilated brake discs One old and one new front disc New brake callipers fitted to each corner Rear lower link arm bushes Front radius arm bushes New shockers all round Front turrets replaced with galvanised versions New transmission brake shoes ( after replacing the failed rear transfer box oil seal). Replaced the rear body cappings with galvanised - hence the silver coloured band around the body. Galvanised capping, supports the r...
9 comments
Read more