A day on Arran

James and I went to Arran today to have lunch with Maggie and Mark, we haven't seen them for a while so it was good to catch up. We set off in good time for the 9.45 ferry and were soon tucking into rolls and sausage which is a tradition of ours on the Arran ferry. When we got to Brodick we saw a disturbing sight; the main road at the front was taped off by the police and there was a police van with a large dent in the front of it. We asked a shop assistant what had happened and she said that there had been a rugby sevens competition yesterday and in the evening one of the players had been hit by the police van. He was helicoptered to the Southern General so let's hope he recovers. We went for a walk along the front, through the edge of the golf course and along the beach to the Wineport Bistro, where we had a drink. It's a really nice wee restaurant with a real fire, very cosy. Back along the beach we went to meet Maggie and Mark, they took us to the Cruize Bar Brasserie which is in the Auchrannie Hotel. It was very smart and we got a great table by the window. We have stayed at the Auchrannie years ago, including once for a special birthday of Maggie's, and it brought back good memories. Lunch was delicious; I had the smoked haddock and leek risotto which was excellent. We had a great chat and a laugh over lunch, swapping stories about what we have all been up to. Later they gave us a lift back to the ferry terminal and we were soon heading home on the ferry.
A further treat was in store because Jamie has come home for a couple of days. We phoned ahead to ask him to heat up the dinner and Grandma came round too, and all six of us had a jolly evening. Grandma was on good form, I think that she's feeling a bit better. Jamie was telling us about his rowing exploits and Grandma was teasing him about his tattoos; it was a very pleasant and lively evening. After Grandma went home Jamie suggested that we watch "Silent Witness" (which I remember Terry Wogan used to call "Witless Silence"!) and it was very good. I must say that this has been a lovely day! 

Gorse smells like coconuts and Contagion

Today James and I walked 21 km from Ballantrae to Girvan - not one but two sections of the Ayrshire Coastal Path! We saw lots of interesting wildlife such as eider ducks, shags standing on rocks with their wings spread out, fulmars nesting, gannets, oyster catchers and robins. We saw sheep and lambs and a herd of cows feeding from a circular feeding station. We also saw a sad little memorial in memory of Archibald Hamilton and his crew from Kingscross, Arran, who drowned near there in 1711. There was a verse on the memorial:
Ye passengers who e'er ye are
As ye pass on this way
Disturb ye not this small respect
That's paid to sailor's clay.
The best part of the walk was when we walked up a hill between Lendalfoot and Girvan which got us away from the coastal road and had lovely sea views. We could see Northern Ireland, Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre. We could see up the coast to Turnberry lighthouse and Hunterston Point. And as I have mentioned in the blog title we noticed - not for the first time - that gorse smells quite strongly of coconuts - and a wee bit of peach too. Talking of peach, I had a delicious peach smoothie at the Pebbles Bistro outside Lendalfoot, this was a nice treat as we don't often pass cafes in the course of our walks. However the walk did have its drawbacks. The beaches that we walked along varied in gravel / sand content and some of them were very trudgy! We seemed to spend forever walking along the beach at Ballantrae. And there was quite a lot of walking along the verge of the road which was noisy and for quite a while we had to walk behind the crash barrier. The quality of beach walking improved towards the end of our walk although by that time I was quite tired. We jumped on a bus from Girvan back to Ballantrae and it was amazing to see how far we had walked. James was master of restraint during the walk after our (brief) falling out on Monday; I could tell that he was trying very hard not to be impatient at my speed. Only once did he let out a groan (when I lay down unexpectedly beside the path out of exhaustion) and he quickly stifled it and encouraged me to keep going. By the time we got back to the car I was feeling very jolly, both James and I had pink faces from the sunshine. 

I phoned ahead to ask Davie to run a bath for me and James got us a Chinese meal and we all watched a film called Contagion about a virus which kills millions. Despite being studded with top stars, and interesting to watch, the plot was very unlikely. It had some good ideas though, and was well-structured, because we didn't find out until the very end of the film where the virus had originated. This turned out to be a bat in China (!) which bit a pig, and then the pig was served up as a roast dinner to the first human to catch the virus. A relaxing end to a good day. I also want to mention that I am very pleased with Ally just now. He is being very pleasant to me and Davie (he is always pleasant to James and Jamie) and he invited David to go to the cinema with him and his friends today. 

Ally and the interesting travelator

This morning Christopher and Jodie popped round for a coffee with their beautiful boys; Theo, Euan and Isaac. James and David were both at work so only Alasdair and I were at home; Ally was really nice with the wee boys and I think they enjoyed playing with him. They are so lovely and remind me of my own boys at that age. Jack got a lot of attention from them and was quite tolerant, although eventually he left the house and was seen disappearing up the garden, glancing over his shoulder at our visitors as he went. Ally and I then went into town where Ally had some things he wanted to buy, including suit covers, a hoodie and some underwear. We then had lunch in TGI Fridays which felt a bit wrong without Davie, however we still enjoyed it; Ally ate a huge full rack of ribs with prawns! He was so pleased with the Ralph Lauren underwear that he got in TKMaxx that he actually took it out of the bag to show me them during lunch! We then decided to surprise Davie by picking him up from work at the riding stables. We got there just before he finished for the day and saw him hard at work sweeping out a stall, he looked so sweet. On the way home we got Davie a Mcdonald's meal to make up to him for missing our TGI Fridays trip (he said "You betrayed me!" when he found out!) and we also went to a Tesco's in Ruchill to get a few things. It was on the top floor of a shopping centre and when we were leaving we were able to take our trolley down an inclined travelator to reach the ground floor. But what was really interesting about it was that the travelator was magnetic, so the trolley was held firmly in place and didn't roll down the slope, even if you let go of the handle. Ally and I enjoyed testing this. Now we are all watching a film called "Paris je t'aime" which is in fact eighteen short films set in different parts of Paris. Some are amusing, some depressing and some are just weird. 

A lovely lunch

I had a lovely time today when I went out for lunch with Jackie in Shawlands. I had been into work for a couple of hours and then I collected my car from a garage to which I shall never take my business again. I don't want to dwell on the details but I was completely ripped off and I was furious. So I was looking forward to relaxing with Jackie. We had a delicious lunch and a great chat and a laugh. She is a lovely friend as well as a brilliant colleague. It reminded me of the days when I was part time when the children were small and I used to go out for lunch on a Thursday with some friends who I met when Jamie was in primary school. I really enjoyed it. We ate in lots of south side restaurants and it was quite cheap because everyone was paying just for themselves. When I went back to working full time I used to feel a bit wistful on a Thursday lunch time but I soon got used to my new routine. Today however was a great holiday treat and I really enjoyed it. 

My working boy

In all the excitement of our trip to Rothesay I haven't mentioned that this is an exciting week for Davie too - his first week in the world of work. Having finished at Belmont on Friday, he started a three month placement at Riding for the Disabled on Monday, and I am extremely proud of him because he has been very positive about this new departure. So far so good; he has been grooming horses, sweeping out stables and leading the clients' horses as they ride. He says he is enjoying it and that he gets on well with his colleagues. I hope that this will be good for his skills and confidence. It sounds like he has had a good start. 

Nearly stranded!

Well it has been quite a night and day! After our lovely day of good weather and walking yesterday, things did not go to plan! First of all I was kept awake almost all night by a VERY upset tummy. I will not go into any details (you will be glad to know) but by the morning I was exhausted, feeling wrung out like a wet dishrag. And then, instead of the continued good weather that we were hoping for, we opened the curtains to find sleet lashing against the windows and a windy, choppy sea. Even James didn't want to go walking in that, and in fact it was James who made the decision not to. (Honestly!) We had a nice hotel breakfast and then headed to the ferry terminal which is very near the hotel. But when we got there the ferries were not running because of the wind! We were (temporarily) stranded! Some of the other passengers were worried about missing flights that they were travelling for. One old guy told us a story about a friend of his in the 1950s who ran to catch a ferry when it was about four feet from the pier. First he threw his bag on and then he jumped after it, landing on the ferry with a great cry of triumph. To which the ferryman said, "We're just coming in!" James went over to a newsagent and bought a newspaper for himself and a Hello magazine for me, and we spent a pleasant hour or so catching up with the news (and in my case the celebrity gossip - something I'm not proud of but enjoy - I see that William and Kate have been skiing at Courchevel!) The ferry restarted at 12 and we were home just after 1 o'clock. After lunch I went for a sleep; when I woke up mid afternoon it was snowing heavily! What a difference from the warm weather last week! 

Walking the West Island Way

And so it is the Easter Holidays! We have had a good weekend. On Saturday we took Ally and Grandma over to Crawford & Son to collect Ally's kilt, waistcoat and jacket. He looked very smart in his Anderson tartan kilt and gave Grandma a big thank you hug right there in the shop, which I thought was very sweet. Then we went to Rouken Glen Garden Centre for lunch. We bought some asparagus bulbs which James planted later; you are not supposed to pick them for the first two years but then they produce crops for twenty to thirty years! We also bought some cat mint for Jack (his drug of choice!) which we have planted in a basket on the patio; he is enjoying having a nibble at it. Michael and Lil came for dinner on Saturday evening and we had a great evening with them. And on Sunday we had lunch in Carluccio's with Heather and Ewan and heard all about their ski holiday in Cervinia, which sounds wonderful! Their photos of the Matterhorn were stunning and they had plenty of snow, sun and skiing. Grandma came for dinner and we watched the film "Warhorse" which I thought was trying too hard to be an epic - parts of it were good. However Grandma was convinced that the horses were really being injured and she thought it was very cruel! Davie showed her the statement at the end that no animals had been injured while making the film, but I don't think she believed it!
Which all brings me to today. James and I were going to go walking and camping in Perthshire for a couple of days this week but the weather forecast was for cold nights and rainy days. So we changed our plans and we have come over to the Isle of Bute where we are walking the length of the island (the West Island Way!) over two days. And instead of a tent we are spending tonight in a rather nice hotel in Rothesay called The Victoria Hotel. Today we walked north west from Rothesay to Ettrick Bay and then north to Rhubodach where the ferry goes across to Colintraive on the Cowal peninsula. Rhubodach is pronounced "rub O dach" with the emphasis on the middle syllable, not Rubadub as we called it! It was a journey of 19.5 km and it was quite challenging for me. The weather was warm and sunny, unlike the forecast, we only had one shower. We saw a golden eagle soaring around a field and lots of cute little lambs with their mummies. James & I had a pleasant time chatting as we went along, although we had one brief falling out when I heard James muttering to himself that I was going too slowly (he mutters to himself but it is meant for my ears!) We travelled back to Rothesay by taxi with a lovely driver who told us that when Rangers and Celtic fans from Rothesay go to a football match in Glasgow they all travel in the same bus, which drops them off some way from the venue! How refreshing! After a rest at the hotel we went for a hearty dinner at the Waterfront Bistrot which was a friendly place with huge servings. Now we are in our comfy hotel room and James is fast asleep already.