DAY 20
Saturday June
11th 2016
Isle of Arran
to Portpatrick, Galloway Miles 120
I set off this morning with no accommodation booked for
tonight. This was again the fault of
AirBnB. I tried to book somewhere for
tonight, went through all of the process and then they asked me (again) for
verification, which involves holding a piece of government ID up to the
computer camera. I had already done this
2 weeks ago and have been booking normally, however I could not proceed without
doing it again. So I did it again. However it still would not let me proceed and
kept repeating a request for verification.
I then sent them an email, via their website, asking for assistance and
explaining what was happening. I
received a reply in 5 minutes saying (something like) ‘Your business is
important to us and we care about you very deeply and want to love you to bits
so that you will only ever give your business to us and also your first born children
and grandchildren. We love you so much
that we are handling your problem and will be back to you at the speed of
light.’ I fell asleep waiting for a
reply and still don’t have one this morning, so, no place to stay tonight. So, AirBnB, let’s hope you get competition
very soon that is much more efficient and customer friendly than you are!
The Holy Isle next to Arran is ecumenical, but is apparently
owned by a Buddhist Monastery based near Dumfries that have two centres on the
island, one ‘closed’ and the other ‘open’.
Saint Lamlash who gives his name to the Bay was an Irish monk who was
brought up in Scotland and lived as a young man in a cave on the Holy Isle in
the 6th century. He later
became a Bishop in Ireland. He is credited with introducing the Roman calculation
for determining the date of Easter
My B&B last night was actually wonderful, not surprising
really as the young women called her B&B “Alice’s Wonderland.” She is a Buddhist and had lived in a retreat
on the Holy Isle for a few years, before moving to the larger island of
Arran. Her hospitality and her welcome
was warm and friendly. If only she were
typical of the other AirBnBs that I have stayed at – and AirBnB the company,
was as customer friendly as she is! The room was clean and tidy and I slept
well. I declined the cooked breakfast as
I had eaten well at the local inn, the Pierhead the night before. (At last a Scottish Pub that is doing it
right and providing good food and clean interior). I choose the muesli for my stomach and my
waistline’s sake.
It was only when I got to the Pub last night that I realised
that I had been on Arran (briefly) once before and possibly even had a drink at
this pub. When living in Cheshire a
number of years ago, we went sailing one weekend with the CEO of the
advertising agency that we worked with.
We anchored in Lamlash Bay overnight and went to the pub by dinghy. I recall going back to his sail boat and
getting a very wet bottom as a lot of air had gone from the dinghy and it
sagged where I was sitting!
My stay this time was also brief. I saw a fair bit of the island yesterday but
as it was grey and drizzling this morning, I tried for and got an earlier ferry
to Ardrossan on the mainland. My map
pages are now going down in number as I turn the pages, so I must be on the
homeward stretch.
Ardrossan is clearly a holiday town with a very long sandy beach
that stretches all the way to the next town of Saltcoats. On a sunny day no doubt this beach will be
well used. At Saltcoats I stopped to surf the web to find a B&B for
tonight. I came across a small hotel
called Harbour House in Portpatrick on the Rhins of Galloway, which is where I
wanted to head today. As Harbour House
is the name of our home in Vancouver, it had to be a sign. It was, they had one room left, so I booked
it.
I continued on the coast road from Saltcoats and the next town
was Irvine. This brought back memories
of when I was early in my career at Beecham.
I once visited our antibiotic manufacturing plant there. It was then very much an expanding “new
town”. I could not tell which of the
tall factory vents that are there now (if any) was the Beecham plant. Certainly Beecham no longer exists as a
separate company; the assets are today part of Glaxo SmithKline. I saw a sign for the Maritime Museum and
though I did not go in they had made the whole area look very nice. It seems as if the old buildings have all
been smartened up and it makes it a nice area.
I next drove into Troon.
Troon is famous as the home of the “Royal Troon” Golf Club where the
British Open has been held. The entry
into the town brings into view a long row of houses all faced with a brown
coloured stucco which makes them all look a bit depressing. If they were painted in different colours, or
even all white, they would lift the look of the whole of town. Troon seemed surrounded by golf courses and I
could not tell which was the Royal one.
Last time I was in Troon was at the same time I had been to Arran. At that time the Ryder Cup was being played
and as we sailed into the harbor we met coming directly towards us the RAF Red
Arrows aerobatic team. They had been performing over the golf course, but we
would like to think that they had actually been sent to greet us.
My next stop was the large town of Ayr with again an excellent
and expansive beach. I stopped here at
Asda (no Tesco in sight) but was met by a very strong smell as I got out of the
car. It smelled like horse manure. I suppose this is what they call “Ayr
pollution!”
Dunure
The road continues right along the coast and I pulled off at the
little harbor village of Dunure, with its ruined castle on the cliff edge. Leaving Dunure I saw a sign for Culzean
Castle and noted that it was in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. Having just taken out membership (while at
Culloden) I thought I would get some value from my membership and stop and have
a look at the castle. It is certainly a
magnificent building with beautiful grounds.
I have to congratulate the very efficient, pleasant and helpful staff
who work here. At the entrance gate I
said that I did not yet have my membership card but did have my receipt which I
had to get out of the back of the car.
“That’s alright, don’t worry. It’s raining so you just drive right on in
sir”. Later in the house I asked a young
lady where a certain room was and she said “Let me show you” and walked me to
it.
One outstanding display in the house is that of the armaments,
old pistols and swords. They are
displayed on the wall in huge round circles I was told that there are 716
pistols and over 300 swords. These would
have been part of the arms for the private army that would be raised, if
needed, by the Lord.
I didn’t have time to stay too long at the castle as I still had
miles to go. I continued to follow the
coast road and coming around a bend entered the village of Turnberry. Unlike Troon the row of houses that greet you
here are all very smart. A hundred yards
further on I found out why. The entrance
to the famous Turnberry Hotel and golf course proudly displayed on smart
signage that this was now Trump Turnberry!
I have stayed at the Turnberry hotel about 4 times, but never to
play golf; always at a conference. My
first time there was soon after I joined Beecham and they held their national
conference there. At age 23 I can
remember feeling awed by the splendour of the place, I had never stayed at such
a glamorous hotel.
I understand that Donald Trump is coming to Turnberry on June 23rd
which also happens to be the day of the UK referendum on whether or not to
leave the EU. I have been asking my
B&B hosts which way they are thinking of voting. Apart from my host of last night, on Arran,
all of them said they are voting to leave.
This is clearly not a fully representative poll, but I did find it
surprising that I have only found one vote in favour of staying. The official polls are saying that it is very
close, but is likely to be just in favour of staying in the EU. They say that older people are likely to vote
leave and younger people to vote stay. There are a considerable number of
undecided voters, who say that they just don’t understand the arguments, or
even trust, what they are hearing in favour of staying in or leaving. Like so many voting situations, the last 24
hours will be decisive as to how people make up their minds. If a leave vote does win the day this could
spell the break up the United Kingdom as the Scottish politicians have said
that they want to stay in Europe and if Britain opts out, then they will hold
another referendum to decide whether Scotland should become independent. If this happens then the Welsh, who have a
separate Parliament, may also do the same.
Girvan was the next town on the coast. Again another neat and tidy town, but as you
leave on the roundabout they have a big wooden sign, saying, “Haste ye Back”
which on its own makes sense. But below
this they have another set of words, which seems to counter the first
ones. This says. “What’s Yer Hurry”. Well if they want you to come back, they
shouldn’t express surprise that you are hurrying.
Stranraer was my next objective on the coast. I passed through the
small villages of Ballantrae and Cairnryan and then came to Stranraer at the
head of Loch Ryan. This is a major ferry
port for traffic to Ireland. It is actually also a very nice town and here the
buildings facing the harbor are all painted in different colours: blue, pink,
green, yellow and white. (This is one colour per building, not all on the same
building!) It all seems very much in
keeping with a seaside town and I couldn’t help thinking how much Troon would
benefit from colouring itself up.
Milleur Lighthouse
Stranraer is the start of the Rhins of Galloway an area of the
coast that runs south east and north west and is very much given over to
farming. I turned right and went up the
coast to the top most point, Milleur Lighthouse, which is an entrance and exit
point for the ferries from Stranraer. At
this point the sun came out and the temperature climbed to 20 degrees. Further back where I had come from it still
looked grey so I got the impression that the Rhins of Galloway had its own
microclimate.
Galloway Cattle Drive
The southern most point of the Rhins is
the Mull of Galloway and I will be visiting this tomorrow. I entered Portpatrick and immediately saw my hotel on the sea front. It was buzzing with people outside sitting
having a drink or a meal in the sunshine. Portpatrick is
charming and I daresay, as evidenced by what I saw today, a popular place for
people to come for the weekend.
I cooked myself a vegetarian pasta for my evening meal, sitting
up on a point overlooking the town. My room is very good and has, I am glad to
say, a TV so that I can sit and watch England play Russia in the first round of
the Euro 2016 football tournament in France.
I enjoy the international matches, but the TV news tonight showed the ugly
side of football with rioting and fighting amongst English, French and Russian
fans in Marseille. The benefit of
England losing in the early stages of such a competition (which usually happens)
is that there are a lower number of casualties!
Tomorrow I will reach the English border and then on Monday I move south,
through the Lake District and into Wales. After that I enter North Devon the
county from which I started this journey.
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