MV Loch Ranza

14.1C with occasional showers through the day, some heavy. Bright spells. Moderate WNW breeze with occasional gusts to 31 mph.

Apothecary7's day off. We went to Glenbarr in time for "Art in the Hothouse " at 11am. Once Apothecary7 had gone inside with her art materials Maeve the Deerhound and I went to Tayinloan.

At Tayinloan, where the ferry goes to the island of Gigha, Maeve and I wandered along the beach to the wreck of Island Queen. Islay and Jura were visible and fairly clear. I took some pictures of the wreck. Some close up ones today looking at small details. We wandered further along the beach and in the same area as last time I found a few more pottery pieces with colour. Maeve had a good run around on the sand. By the time we got back to the pier where the ferry comes in it was almost 1pm and the ferry was arriving.

We went back to Glenbarr for 1.30pm. Apothecary7 and I had lunch. Maeve waited in the car.

Back home we settled Maeve in the house then walked along to see the exhibition I mentioned yesterday. Campbeltown - Success built in stone, which tells the story of the town through its architectural heritage concentrating on the boom times of the late 1800s when there was farming, herring fishing, shipbuilding of ocean going vessels, and a huge expansion in whisky distilling leading to there being more than 30 distilleries in and around the town. The distillery owners commissioned Glasgow architects to come and build them large houses and several other buildings were commissioned for the town around the same time including churches, a large social club for the well to do, and blocks of tenement flats. It was quite a small exhibition, in the one of the town's original small churches, but a must see. There were great photographs of buildings with information on the architects. Best of all were two slide shows running on projectors which showed the way of life of people from all sections of society.

On the way back home we passed the bookshop and the town hall and The Curiosity Shop. Apothecary7 went in to look at a couple of large vases with metal banding which could be seen as we passed the door and while she was inside spotted a rather large round glass jar lurking under an old table. Roughly spherical in shape and approximately 30 cm in diameter. It is lovely old glass with a dimpled surface and some bubbles in the glass and the marks left by the supporting rods when it was put together giving it plenty of period character. Apparently she just had to have it.

E-PL5 f/11 1/500 sec. ISO-200 26mm