A Little Yellow Boat in the Kyles of Bute

7.5C with sunny sunshine all day long. E/NNW/ESE zephyr.

We had a drive up the coast road to Tarbert, then we took the CalMac ferry MV Catriona across to Portavadie and from there drove the short distance to Tighnabruaich on the Cowal peninsula.

We had a walk through the village with Maeve the Deerhound. As we walked along we noticed that the cafe was closed and the restaurant (Botanica) was only open from 12 til 2pm, so we wandered back to the car and left Maeve to enjoy the view so that we could go and get lunch. Lunch was so good we immediately planned to forget dinner and get something much lighter to eat in the evening once we got home. We probably sat for a while longer than we meant since there was no rush. The young lady serving recognised us from having visited the cafe in the village on previous occasions so we were made very welcome and we had a blether with her and a local lady who sat at a nearby table.

After lunch we got Maeve from the car and had a walk along the shore road as far as the boatyard and a little further on the footpath which is part of the second section of the Cowal way. Along the way we like to look at the houses, to enjoy the view across the Kyles to the Isle of Bute, and the long view down the Kyles with Bute on one side and Kames on the other and right down the water to Inchmarnock and Arran (and the Holy Isle) in the distance. We could see there was still some snow on the tops of Arran. From Tighnabruaich we see the other side of Arran than the one we see from Campbeltown, with a clear view of Goatfell and the ridge down to Corrie and the other hills on the North East side of the island.

We got the ferry back across from Portavadie to Tarbert mid afternoon and were back home around 5pm. All the way back South on the West side of Kintyre we watched an amazing sunset develop as we passed Jura and Islay and Gigha. We could see all the way down to the Mull of Kintyre with glimpses of the Northern Irish coastline appearing and disappearing on the Southern horizon.

DMC-LX7 f/2.8 1/320 sec. ISO-80 18mm (35mm focal length 108mm)