Down Under in Kintyre

With #2 son and his girlfriend heading off yesterday, today was the first day in well over a week that we didn't have people staying or festive functions to organise. It was chill-out time in a now empty house.

As both Mrs B and I felt a bit flat, I thought it would be a good idea to go out in the car and try and find some sun. It seems like ages since we last saw it proper and the urge to get out was heightened by the clouds thinning and some small patches of blue appearing in the sky. We decided to take the forestry road from Brackley over the top of the peninsula to the wind farm and on to the west coast. As we dropped down to Tayinloan it brightened up and we found the sun we were hoping for. After a picnic lunch in the car watching the Ghia ferry being loaded (2 cars and 2 foot passengers!) we headed down to Westport Beach for a walk.

The wind from the south west was bitterly cold and we had to walk briskly to keep warm. As the waves crashed on the shore they created lines of foamy spume that were blown by the wind into foam balls that rolled along the beach before breaking up and disappearing.

I was hoping for a nice sunset and things were looking good as the sun turned orange and illuminated the spume on the water and beach as well as the grassy sand dunes in front of us. For a few seconds the colour was quite intense and made the beach and dunes look like a scene from the Australian outback! However, it never lasted as the sun was quickly covered again by some thin clouds.

I did take a few shots just before the sun disappeared behind thicker clouds on the horizon and thought about posting this one. However, the ozzi colours won!

It was another great walk on our favourite beach on chill-out day!