After the madness of the first week, it was time to escape to Arran for some much needed rest and relaxation. I did a big shop on the Sunday so that we could get an early ferry on Monday from Ardrossan and be in Lochranza by lunchtime. We were away just after 8.00am and on the boat by 10, and as you can imagine, William was enthralled with it all. He's too young to remember our last trip over so this was like a first time for him. We had breakfast on the ferry and Iain reckons they were the best square sausage and potato scone rolls he's had in his entire life. We got up to the house by lunchtime and spent the rest of the day pottering around and making ourselves at home; beds made, fridge stocked, fire on, gin poured. Ahhhhhhh. :-)
We woke on Tuesday morning to beautiful blue skies. As we'd found a pretty solid hiking child carrier in the upstairs wardrobe, we figured we would be able to get out and do some walking and if necessary, William wouldn't need to walk the whole distance. We had breakfast, pottered a little then got our walking gear on. We'd decided to do the Fairy Dell loop around the very tip of the north of the island, following the coast clockwise and then coming up into the hills before dropping back down into Lochranza bay. It was glorious. We had a few snacks with us which we had on the beach before heading into the hills and William earned himself an ice-cream at the Whin's Cottage shop on the way home. It was a 5k loop and he did remarkably well, preferring to do the climbs on his own but enjoying getting carried on some of the the longer flat stretches.
With no proper lunch in the bag, and feeling quite energetic, we decided that we could just continue our walk all the way down to the distillery where we could grab a bite and (in much the same fashion as William) a well earned pint. It was settled. And it was the best decision we could've made. They had cider on tap, GF food on request and the seats we had were right next to an Aladdin's Cave of IKEA toys so William was more than entertained while we cashed in our exercise for the day. Remarkably, while we were enjoying our post lunch dram (it would've been rude not to!) a French family sat down at the table across from ours. They didn't have much English and the wee wummin serving them, forby having a broad west of Scotland accent, couldn't speak a word of French so up stepped the Ginge to help them all out. Quite amazing really! The Frenchies couldn't believe we lived in France and reckon they were pretty grateful for the assistance.
The rain was stoating down while we ate but as far as I remember, we managed to get up the road before it set in for the rest of the day. Time for an easy dinner and a good go on the gin. Happy holidays!
We woke on Wednesday to pretty dreich weather. We knew we needed to do something to keep William amused so we decided that a trip to the Auchrannie pool would do the job perfectly. We drove down to Brodick and spent the late morning splashing around in the water. He's gaining more and confidence and its great to see him in enjoying it all. I'd done a wee bit of research into decent GF cafes and restaurants in Brodick and decided upon Crofters. I opted for the fish and chips and this must be the best GF fish and chips I've ever had. Even Iain was astounded at the quality of the batter. Absolutely incredible. The rest of the afternoon was spent pottering around Brodick (in the sunshine!) and stocking up on more GF treats from the Co-op. Oh, and gin ;-)
We knew the weather was going to stay reasonable for the Thursday so, buoyed by Tuesday's efforts and not hampered by our gin consumption, we decided to tackle a bigger walk before our time on the island was up. We had a pretty late breakfast (amazing GF Warburtons bread from the Co-op in Brodick!), got our stuff together and got out by late morning. We'd chosen to head over the hills behind the cottage towards Laggan. Iain and I went to the top of these hills years ago when we first went to Arran but we'd really only gone as far as the summit before taking some photos of the mainland and returning home. Today we were fully prepared with lunch, loads of snacks, water and the appropriate summer clothing: waterproofs!
William did amazingly, walking loads of the initial route up to the highest point before getting in the carrier as we made our way down to Laggan cottage. We kind of expected the cottage to be some sort of romantic hideaway but, disappointingly, its an abandoned dwelling that's seemingly only being used by the most desperate of walkers looking for shelter from the notorious Scottish weather. However, it was natural place to stop for lunch so we found a couple of comfy rocks and got stuck in. It was time to make a decision. Track back, or press on and complete the full 11k circuit. William was in good spirits and we were feeling pretty chipper so it was the full loop for us! There was quite a bit of rocky scrambling before we passed round onto the northern tip and it was a bit tricky for Iain with the carrier but we all got through. The views to the Mull of Kintyre were spectacular and Iain and William even managed a wee paddle. You can tell what sort of temperature the water was by the look on Iain's face! With a decent walk under our belts it was a much enjoyed shower, gin and dinner when we got home. Great day.
And so we found ourselves at Friday and packing the house up again to head back to Glasgow. We'd had no luck trying to book onto a morning ferry from Brodick so decided the best use of the day would be to get a morning ferry from Lochranza to Claonaig and drive back to Glasgow via Inveraray, the Rest & Be Thankful, and Loch Lomond. All things considered, it's not actually that much longer than driving back to Brodick, getting the big ferry to Ardrossan and driving back up to Glasgow, and it's a helluva lot more scenic!
It was just a quiet one on Friday night as we were heading over to Jinty's on Saturday morning for a catch up. Mum kindly offered up her house for anyone else that wanted to come over (kinda like a parent endorsed Empty) so Cat, Divsy, Isla, Ruairidh, Ross, Vicki, Rosco, Harris & Archie joined us with a special guest appearance from Catster's Grandpa, Bill. Talk about a houseful! Jinty was loving it. We were all there from about 11am and when lunch rolled round and we toyed with just getting some Greggs in, someone suggested the Black Bear (I think, Iain) and at the sniff of a couple of cheeky day-time pints, the boys pushed for a Pub Lunch. It was great. We had a massive table, the boys had a few beers, the ladies had a good blether, the kids were easily fed and there was GF on the menu. Win:win:win:win.
We kept things pretty low-key on Saturday night as we needed to be away early on Sunday for our lunchtime flight from Edinburgh. Ryanair had been in contact to say there might be delays at security so to arrive in plenty of time (ie 2 hours before the flight). We got there as instructed, and there wasn't a single Ryanair member of ground staff to be found and all the desks were closed. Typical. As you can imagine, there were a lot of French folk hanging about shrugging. Shambles. The flight ended up leaving a bit late but it was all good and we finally landed in Toulouse in the late afternoon. William feel asleep just as we started our descent. Aaaaargh. After a short coach ride to the train station, we commandeered the help of a ticket sales guy to work the self-service computers for us to make sure we were buying the right tickets. He seemed to think there was a problem with the price that was showing up and he did a few tricks to make sure we got the best price. Score! It wasn't long until our train was due to leave so we found the platform, got on, and found some seats. Iain nipped off to grab some food before we headed off and that was it. Two relaxing hours back to Pau. So easy. This might be the way forward. Just the ability to be able to get up and wander around with William after being on a 2 hour flight made all the difference. We will definitely keep this transport option up our sleeves for future trips. We got back into Pau and just jumped in a taxi up to the house. Done.
Another great trip back to The Motherland but also great to be back in the warmer of Pau. I'm so spoilt with living abroad that summers in Scotland would break me now. But Glasgow will always be home and its always great seeing everyone. Until next time!
Lorna :-)
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