A Week on the Isle of Arran

As usual we spent the first week of our holidays on the Isle of Arran, which is off the West Coast of Scotland. To reach it you have to catch a Caledonian MacBrayne roll on roll off car ferry from Ardrossan. The journey from Ardrossan to Brodick takes about fifty five minutes, and if you have used the ferry regularly you will be aware that you can travel a bit cheaper if you don't decide to go on one of the peak sailings. None peak sailings are usually the first and last sailings of the day. So we catch the 18.00 sailing from Ardrossan, arriving in Brodick at 18.55.

After driving the 3 miles from Brodick to Lamlash, where we stay at Prospect Hill Studios, we unpack and then head for a meal at the Pier Head Tavern in Lamlash. This is one of those places which service good homely meals, well cooked and plenty of it. If you visit during the season it is always a good idea to book if you plan eating there on a Saturday evening, but as we were a fortnight later than usual, we simply walked in and ordered a meal.

 

        The Pierhead Tavern                              Dining Room

After rising quite late (for us) 10.00 - 10.30, we drove into Brodick and had a lunch at Bilslands, which is the main independent "superstore/Cafe" on the island. It is situated on the front and sitting in the cafe you get superb views of Brodick Bay, the CalMac Ferry, Brodick Castle and Goatfell, the highest mountain on Arran.

Bilslands Store, which sells all manner of goods - outdoor clothing, souvenirs, books, cards, sweets, children's toys etc.

 View of Brodick Bay from Bilslands Car Park

 Brodick Castle on the far side of Brodick Bay

 Goatfell, Arran's highest mountain

Scotsmen, complete with kilts, playing crazy golf on Bilslands crazy golf course


Sunday evening found us dining at Eilean Mor, a bar bistro, which opened in April 2009. We had visited it previously, but had nearly always dined at the Brodick Bar and Brasserie, however as the Brodick Bar and Brasserie doesn't open on Sundays we patronised the Eilean Mor.

The Eilean Mor Bar & Bistro

On Monday our first "port of call" was the ARCAS (ARran CAncer Support) shop, where we deposited about half a car's worth of goods!

We then took a circular tour of the island, which is approximately 58 miles all round. Starting from Brodick, where we had left the goods for the charity shop we headed northwards to Corrie, a picturesque little village. The photo of Corrie below is the one I have as my screen saver.

We then moved northwards to Sannox (another little village on the East coast of Arran, and then up to the northern end of the island to Lochranza, which has a superb castle ruin, is famed for the deer and has a small ferry which takes you across to the Mull of Kintyre. (We have travelled on this ferry many times when we have gone from the Isle of Arran to the Isle of Mull).

 The Ferry approaching Lochranza

Lochranza Castle

Heading southwards down the western side of Arran the next place we come to is the tiny hamlet of Catacol. This is famed for its row of cottages, which was built by the Duke of Hamilton during the clearances. Each of the cottages has different upstairs windows so that when a lighted candle was put in them the fisherman could tell which person was trying to send them a message! The row of cottages is known as the Twelve Apostles!

Heading southwards the next place of any size is Blackwaterfoot. There is a large hotel here, and a few shops and some bed and breakfast establishments. Blackwaterfoot has a picturesque harbour.

At the south of the island we find the village of Kildonan, with views of the lighthouse and Ailsa Craig (the pudding shaped island nicknamed Paddy's milestone, as it is halfway between Arran and Ireland!)

 Pladda (with lighthouse) 

 Pladda

 Ailsa Craig (Paddy's Milestone) in the distance

Pladda with Ailsa Craig in the background

Dot with Ruby on the beach at Kildonan

The next village you come to heading northwards on the east side of Arran is Whiting Bay. Known as the Yorkshire of Arran because so many people from Yorkshire have settled here!

 Whiting Bay

Whiting Bay with Holy Isle to the left of the shot

Completing our circumnavigation of Arran we arrive back at Lamlash



Map of Arran showing the locations of the villages mentioned above

Charity Shops and Holidays

Charity shops are a wonderful idea. They sell all sorts of donated goods at bargain prices and the charity benefits from the sale of them. As those of you who know me will be aware, I cannot resist calling in to charity shops. They are a bit like a magnet is to metal, with me! Let's face it. I get a bargain and the charity benefits from my purchase.

Whenever we go on holiday to the Isle of Arran, I am always persuaded by Dot to go through my rather large collection of LP's, Cassettes. CD's, Video Tapes, DVD's and Books and remove some of them. These are then packed in boxes and taken up to Arran with us. These goods usually occupy about a half of our luggage space! As we arrive on a Saturday evening, they have to stay in the boxes until Monday morning, when they are taken to the local charity shop in Brodick. This is "ARCAS" [Arran Cancer Support] who seem to look forward to our visits - it seems we re-stock them every time we go there!!

There is, however, one slight snag. After depositing all the goods I have brought them I usually have a look through their stock and come out with a few CD's DVD's and books! It is probably a good thing that ARCAS is the only charity shop on the island, otherwise I may have been leaving Arran with as much as I left there.

After a week on the Isle of Arran we then cross Border Country and arrive for a week at Waren Mill, a small hamlet about two miles north of Bamburgh. Fortunately there are no charity shops in Bamburgh, but as we have visited this part of the world many times, I know that there is an abundant supply of Charity Shops in Berwick upon Tweed [seven at the last count!], Peebles, Wooler, Alnwick, Kelso and Melrose, so by the time we have visited all these places I have purchased as much in the way of CD's DVD's and Books as I set off from home with.

I really do kid you not! I arrived home with 43 CD's, 36 DVD's and 10 Books.

There are the usual High Street Charity Shops - Cancer Research, Oxfam, Age UK, British Heart Foundation, etc. and one or two lesser known ones. For example in Berwick you can find B.A.R.K. [Berwick Animal Rescue Kennels], and in Wooler, The Newcastle and District R.S.P.C.A. Whilst Kelso has my favourite charity - C.B.A.H. [Charity Begins at Home.] This shop is usually manned by genteel little old Scottish Ladies and has a fascinating diversity of goods in it.

In all cases, as we are on holiday and not in any rush, I can browse through the full stock of CD's, DVD's and Books and invariably come across something or other that I have wanted.

One of the prize finds this year was a digitally remastered copy of the first James Bond Film "Dr No" at the knock down price of £1.00. I also picked up a two CD set of Vivaldi's Adagios, A 5 CD set of British Music, and a 3 CD set "Orchestral Spectacular" at 75 pence each set. In the book bargains I purchased a book called "The Illustrated Morecambe" written by his son Gary, originally priced at £20.00 for £2.00

A selection of some of the bargains I got from charity shops whilst on holiday!

Holiday Retrospective!

Hello there! After a fortnight's holiday I'm back at the computer keyboard and a new blog is under way.

First a little bit about our holidays. As those of you who know us will be aware, we have been visiting the Isle of Arran and Waren Mill [Yes that is the correct spelling!] (a couple of miles north of Bamburgh) for a goodly number of years now. This year has been no exception, except that we took our holidays a fortnight later than we usually do, and we have been blessed with some glorious weather.

We visited all the usual places on Arran - Brodick, Lamlash, Whiting Bay, Corrie, Sannox, Lochranza, Pirnmill, Machrie and Blackwaterfoot. Our favourite eating place has changed from the Brodick Brasserie to Eilean Mor (still in Brodick) and on the sea front. If you want to find out more about it have a look at my entry on Trip Advisor. Below are a few holiday shots taken on the Isle of Arran during the week 29th September - 6th October.

Dot and Ruby on the front of Ardrossan, killing time before we catch the ferry



                  The view of Holy Isle from our Studio Cottage at Lamlash

                         Ruby relaxing outside the Studio Cottage

                      Some Scotsmen still wear the traditional kilt!



The Arran Cheese Shop at Duchess Court, Brodick

After a week we moved on to Waren Mill. During the week we only had one half day of drizzle! On Sunday afternoon we had visited The Barn at Beal and had a traditional Sunday Lunch.

When I got back into the car I remarked that it felt very hot. I turned on the ignition and this is what the dashboard display showed me.....

Yes, you are reading that temperature correctly. It was 23.5 degrees!


So a few photos taken whilst we were at Waren Mill.............

The "Wow Factor" of Bamburgh Castle seen from the road from Waren Mill to Bamburgh on Saturday 6th October.

 

The view from the Barn at Beal on Sunday 7th October. You can see Holy Island to the left and Bamburgh Castle to the right on the horizon.

Dot walking across the causeway to Holy Island

Evening Sky at Bamburgh. At this time of year you get some fantastic colours in the early evening sky.

St Aidan Statue, Herring Houses and Holy Island Castle

View of the Pilgrim's Way - Early Evening

The Ship Inn at Low Newton by the Sea. All the properties here, including the Ship Inn  are owned by the National Trust.

Kelso from the Millennium Viewpoint

Bamburgh, Front Street, looking towards the Castle. The building on the extreme right is the Castle Inn, one of the two places we visit for a meal when we are staying in Waren Mill.

We had a most relaxing and enjoyable holiday, usually not leaving our self catering accommodation until 11.00 am! We would then spend the rest of the day until 5,00 pm visiting, amongst other places, Berwick upon Tweed, Seahouses, Low Newton by the Sea, Alnwick, Wooler, Kelso and Melrose. Another of our favourite eating places was Russell's Restaurant in Melrose. You can find out more about this place (and see some photos on my comments on Trip Advisor.)