Neatly on the Hill

21.1C sunny and bright with some cloud cover and fairly hazy.  Moderate Easterly breeze.

Grocery shopping this morning, then we went the ten miles or so South to Southend. Just by the village of Southend is Dunaverty Bay which has a good beach. We stopped there and had a wander along the beach to the old boathouse and lifeboat station (operational between 1869 and 1930). Above the boathouse is a rocky outcrop which was fortified as early as AD500 when Dunaverty was an important stronghold of the Kingdom of Dalriada. Later the site was the scene of a siege by covenanters in 1647 when royalists sought refuge in what was by then Dunaverty castle. Dunaverty Castle itself was dismantled in 1685 after being held against the King by the Earl of Argyll during an abortive uprising.

We came back along the top of the dunes overlooking Dunaverty golf course, before going down to the beach to walk back to the car. From the car we walked along the Keil shore road past the ruined art deco Keil hotel which was completed in 1939, just in time to be requisitioned to serve as a military hospital. It opened as a hotel after the war, but closed in 1992, and since then has stood empty.

Just nearby is the site of Keil House which was originally an enormous Tudor mansion. It much later became the Kintyre Technical College. A serious fire in February 1924 has left only a ruin. Not far beyond is a small derelict house which stands neatly on the hill between some colourful gorse and trees on the slope behind. We walked further along to Keil cemetery and had a look round and in Kilcolmkil (St Columba's) chapel. St Columba's Chapel is popularly believed to be associated with the nearby landing of St Columba and 12 of his followers at the start of his exile from Ireland in 563. From the cemetery we followed the shore road back round to the car.

Lunch was quite late today.

DMC-LX7 f/2.8 1/640 sec. ISO-80 18mm (35mm focal length 90mm)

Note: Extra is Dunaverty bay and Keil from the boathouse below Dunaverty head.