Adventures around Argyll and Bute, and maybe a bit of The Highlands.

Thanks Martin, Vince, Dave. That sounds like a journey and a half Dave. Luckily we've been very fortunate with our weather too, it seems the best times to visit the Western Isles and the Highlands are mid May to mid June and mid September to mid October. It's when the weather is at it's most settled. July and August are a no no because they can be wet and that brings out the killer midges.

Seems this weather is here to stay for the time being Vince, more factor 50 than midge repellent at the moment. £2 wasted on those candles too  

Thanks Vince, Dave. We've just been a walk up the road to see the Highland Cattle, would you believe it, when we're on foot they are nowhere to be seen. They must wait until they hear a car approaching and make a dash towards the track to look cute and block the way. 

We'll be heading that way in the morning so let's see what they're up to then  

Apologies for the delay in yesterday's offering, internet trouble. Better late than never I suppose 

 I can't believe this, another fine sunny day, this is very unlike the Scotland we've visited before. The plan today is to go South with a view to having a look at Crinan and the Crinan Canal, via a few other places of interest.

The first stop though has to be Tesco in Oban, the cash is running low so we need a cashpoint, also the fridge has run low so we've nothing for sandwiches today. After grabbing the dosh and a couple of meal deals we are ready to go. There's shopping to be done too, but that will have to be on the way back as we don't want it festering in a warm car all day.

Driving South on the A816 out of Oban we pass through Kilninver, this is where we turned off the other day to go to Seil Island and Luing, today we carry straight on towards Kilmeford and subsequently along the South bank of the beautiful Loch Melfort. The road then goes inland and it's around 10 miles to the village of Kilmartin. The Kilmartin area has more ancient sites than anywhere else in the area, in fact I think I read somewhere more than anywhere in Scotland. First off we stumble across the not so ancient Carnasserie Castle, built in the 1560's the first Protestant Bishop of the Isles, John Carswell spread his faith through the Gaelic Western Highlands from his base here. The information board makes it all sound so easy, but it bet it was anything but. I can't somehow see all the warring clans paying much attention to one mans preachings when there was murder to be committed, and from what we've learned about the area so far, that was by far the favourite pastime.

We wandered up the half mile track to the castle and had a climb around, took a few pictures, admired the views, then wandered back to the car park. I'm starting to notice a similarity between Scotland and the North Island of New Zealand  - it's empty, there are very few people here, very few cars on the roads, it's all very quiet, it's all very peaceful.

We continued South through Kilmartin, it seems the books are right, there are a lot of standing stones and cairns dotted in the fields off to each side of the road. A couple of miles after Kilmartin we branched off onto the B8025 towards Crinan, yet another single track road with the odd passing place. First we stopped off at Crinan Harbour, a dead end with a few houses, several moored boats and an elderly lady weeding around the bench we had earmarked to sit on to eat lunch. She wasn't  for moving so we ended up sat on the slipway steps.

Crinan Harbour was obviously not the place to be so we drove round to Crinan itself. What a difference a few hundred yards can make, Crinan is a lovely place. Two sea locks bring boats in from the Atlantic in the Sound of Jura to send them on their way along the canal to re emerge in Loch Fyne and the Sound of Bute, cutting several hundred miles off a journey by sea to Glasgow. We wandered around here for a while then sat outside a cafe with a drink watching the rich folks bring their yachts in and out of the locks. Secretly hoping for a mishap, but we were to be disappointed.

Leaving Crinan we followed the road along the side of the beautiful canal to Cairnbaan where we joined the A816 to go North again. Re tracing our route until we got to Craigdhu where we turned West on the B8002 along the banks of Loch Craignish, through the village of Adfern and on to Aird, which is as far as you can go without falling into the sea in the Sound of Jura. David decided to do a bit of fishing and I thought I take photos of the rusty posts on the disused slipway from as many angles as possible until I got fed up and decided to join him around 100 yards up the shore.

Now it there's an easy way or a difficult way to get somewhere, being me I always pick the later. First of all there was bog, I should have know, there grows the cotton grass again. Then there were the ankle breaking rocks, followed by the slippery seaweed and the green slime, lastly the boulders that no matter how much care you take they try to throw you off by rocking one way or the other, tipping you onto the sharp limpets which are stuck to their neighbours in abundance. Several minor injuries and the odd curse later I arrived at where David was catching nothing. He looked unscathed, it was then I noticed a path behind me from the road to where the car was parked !!!

When it got to around 4.00pm we decided it was time to head back, we still had to drive 30 miles or so to Oban and then take on Tesco. That's really all there is of note for Friday, apart from the internet has gone funny and the lady who runs the chalets is out, so this will have to be posted Saturday when we get sorted.

Saturday afternoon we have the boat on the loch again from 1.00pm until 5.00pm.

Internet problems on holiday !!! Sounds familiar

Excellent read Ruth from what was yet another seemingly busy and cultural day out. 

Thanks Dave, and here is today's offering.

 Saturday and we've been here a week today, still no sign of the weather changing, there are a few more clouds today, but it's still very warm when the sun peeps out from behind them.

The internet is back up and running, I don't know quite how I've managed this but it seems I paid £5 for one weeks internet which was for one device only. Up until yesterday we've been running (not all at the same time)  my laptop, 2 iPhones and 2 iPads on one wi-fi voucher code, apparently it's not possible to do it, the company that controls the internet for the site normally know if people try to connect more than one device and put a stop to it. Seems I've found a loophole somewhere. Anyway yesterday evening the weeks code ran out and when I went to get a new code the lady who runs the site had gone out so I couldn't get sorted until this morning. She can't work out how I've connected so many devices, but she said if it works go ahead, she thinks it's daft having to pay separately to connect individual devices in each chalet, and so do I. Anyway this time I've just connected the iPads, I don't want to push my luck with the phones and laptop too.

Sorting that took up some of the morning, the rest of it was spent mooching around and getting the things ready we needed to take on the boat this afternoon. Only four hours afloat today so that wasn't too bad.

We collected the boat from Airds Bay at 1.00 pm, a smaller craft than the other day, and even less comfy if that's at all possible. Four hours sat on a wooden plank which is a poor excuse for a seat is not funny. Anyway the fishing, oh dear, today went even worse for David than last Monday. We're not talking about it too much because it ended badly. I had 6 decent sized fish, Cod and Pollack and another odd looking thing which I can't remember the name of, and daren't ask. In the last half hour of fishing David managed 2 pathetic offerings which were not much bigger than his bait. I didn't rub it in that's not my style, the first person I told was Doug who owns the boats, then my mum on the phone, then the neighbours in the next chalet, along with Jennifer who owns the chalets, her dog, a quick text to all four children, and of course David's friend and fishing buddy. So no, I kept it all very hush hush that he'd been out fished again.

On our way back across the loch with the boat we did see a pair of eagles flying around one of the peaks so that was a nice sight. Made a change from the seagulls who are a constant presence where's there's fish around. Whoops, did I mention the word fish :) 

Anyway it's 7.30pm now, nothing much planned for this evening, maybe a walk later, possibly on opposite sides of the road. It's the longest day so there's very little chance of of it getting dark here much before midnight. There's a possibility of a visit to the Lorne Island Games tomorrow, so that should be fun.