Gigha and Davaar off the Mull of Kintyre           8^th February 2018

 

Gigha

 

We left home just before 10 after taking the grandchildren to school. It was a drive of sunshine and showers. There was the most spectacular rainbow spanning the motorway and ending in a field with a backdrop of lightly snow sprinkled mountains. A good spot to dig for that pot of gold!

 Traffic was light through the Lake District but still the lorries made so much spray you couldn’t see as you passed them. We drove through low clouds and missed quite a lot of the scenery. Tebay was good for a driver change, a stretch and a sandwich.

Our next stop after petrol near Glasgow was at Tarbet by Loch Lomond. There was a little cabin with a few chairs and a refreshment kiosk. The lady there hadn’t heard of Davaar, the small island we would walk to from Cambeltown and had never been to Gigha (pronounced Gia) I noticed a picture of a capercaille and asked if she’d seen one as it is on my wild life bucket- list but she hadn’t, though said she’d love to spot an otter. There’s a family just down by the loch but you need infinite patience or immense good luck to get a glimpse. I remembered waiting at Brodick, Arran , for the boat and the family of otters swimming in the harbour for all to see. We were lucky!

The road from Tarbet towards Cambeltown is winding and hardly wide enough for the huge lorries that hurtle down it, taking up more than their fair share of the tarmac. Several places have road repair going on and the first held us up quite a while as we had to wait to be taken by convoy. The roads her are very damaged by the icy conditions. Water seems to run in streams across the road from the banks and when it freezes…! They need more drains.

Just before our first night stop, Inveraray, we arrived at the humped backed stone bridge. Traffic lights made it one way. How did they manage with horses and carts? It seems very steep and the summit is “blind”. On the way back home Japanese tourists stood here taking photos of the loch. A lorry would have squished them!

It was ten to four and we decided to visit the famous Inveraray jail before going to our B and B. We were surprised when we were told it was too late as it was supposed to be open till 5pm. Maybe we could try it on the way home. The town is mostly comprised of 18^th century black and white buildings at the side of Loch Fyne, the longest in Scotland. The mountains around the Loch are covered in snow and the day is closing in. After deciding to eat later in the George hotel we drive the little way to Newton Hall and look for the car park down a track at the back. We are glad we didn’t wait till dark as it wasn’t apparent where we should go. I waved to someone in the house who came and opened the door and made us welcome. From the front you can see it is a converted church with large arched windows. Our room was downstairs and looking very appropriate for Valentine’s day- a lot of red. Shame it wasn’t the 14^th. The high ceilinged and spacious room was generously heated by radiator and an extra heater. It was a lovely stay with delicious home cooking.

The George was old fashioned with a maitre d who had to be the one to greet and seat you. With log fires and beams it had a welcoming atmosphere and the staff were friendly. Our meals were lovely, despite the wait as they were very busy. We are surprised by how many tourists were here on a Thursday in the dead of winter. I had a crayfish bisque and Bob a fisherman’s soup. To follow Bob had the chunkiest piece of gammon and I a huge plate of Spaghetti Bolognese. The best thing was we had a large plate of beautifully cooked vegetables (not the normal Scottish root vegetables. I like green on my plate).  Well, we do intend to do some exercise tomorrow!

It was tipping it down with rain when we left and our coats were sodden despite us trotting the short distance back to the B and B.

 

9^th February

 

We both slept well and enjoyed a cooked breakfast while watching the loch as the sun rose. Our car was encased in ice despite the sun. We left at 9.30 with Bob driving in case the roads were hazardous. We drove through several snowstorms but with it laying only on higher ground. Sometimes we were under blue skies with a view later to Gigha. The ferry was leaving Gigha and the sea was various shades of turquoise. We were going to take the bike across and leave the car on the mainland but when the clouds brought a sudden burst of rain and the wind was so biting that we decided to take the car. Next It went dark and the sea turned an inky colour as rain fast became a blizzard.  We waited with a hot drink in the café at Tayinloan as the next ferry would leave at 12.

The ferry was docking and there was only us and a lorry carrying live fish waiting for the green boarding light. The boat is quite small and there wouldn’t have been much room for another vehicle. It was £24 return for us and the car, which I thought very good. There was somewhere warm to sit inside and we chatted to the crewman (the man who wasn’t steering the boat) who travelled all over Scotland as a relief worker for Calmac. He told us the next boat back would be at 3.30 and then 5.30. He said in the summer the Boatyard restaurant with its Michelin stars pulls in a lot of trade and the boats are busy. He also said the hotel does deals for dinner bed and breakfast for under £60 for 2 during the winter.

It was a twenty minutes ride on the boat. The island was in sun again and the crossing was smooth. Although cold, as soon as we parked in the tiny ferry car park we decided to build the bike and cycle. There was a man repairing a strimmer at the back of his van brimming with tools. He was the only other person around. He was surprised we’d been in a snow storm. It seems Gigha has its own microclimate.

The single track road was muddy and devoid of cars going north to Port Mor. As we passed the fields flocks of grey and white geese took off noisily from their grazing. Their feet were pink so I am thinking they were pink- footed geese but they could have been greylag. There must have been hundreds along the route. The sun was lovely on our backs and mostly there was just the sound of our wheels on the road which was in a very good condition. We could see the snow- clad hills on the mainland and later fantastic views of Islay and Jura again covered in snow.

Not far up the road we passed the fish farm and obviously the destination of the lorry that came over on the ferry with us.

We passed 2 farms with cows and then a large group by the side of the road with their calves. The fields looked boggy so maybe the grass verges when they could stand on the tarmac was preferable. One calf took off unfortunately and despite us waiting to see if it would come back it just kept going until it disappeared round a bend. We hope it returned to its mother who didn’t seem the least concerned.

We passed some standing stones beside the road but thought there might be might be others across the fields according to the ordinance survey map. There was no information anywhere on Gigha- not the café, the boat, the hotel or the one shop and no signs much either. I wished I’d brought some blurb with me.

Gigha was bought by the islanders for £4,000,250 but paid for by Scottish taxpayers, in part by the National Lottery and the sale of Achamore House, the island’s mansion that was rebuilt after a fire in the 1890s. Sir James Horlick (of the night time beverage) did a lot for the island, modernising farms, building up dairy production to 250 gallons of milk a year and converting deciduous woodland into fine gardens of rhododendrons and sub- tropical plants at Achamore. The National Trust was gifted the plants in 1962.

The beaches are beautiful with fine white sand. To get to them today we would have to have crossed sodden field or muddy track but they looked tempting in the sun. We didn’t know how long we had to completely cycle the island and we thought 5 o’clock would have been to late to leave so we kept to the road until we reached the bumpy track through rocks at the northern end.

With the sun in our faces we rode back, now against the wind, so it felt a lot harder work. The foraging geese didn’t seem bothered by us on our return journey. Bob thinks that predators often come at their prey from the direction of the sun so they can’t be seen and maybe we looked more a threat too with the sun behind us, whereas now they could see we were just 2 people on a bike.

We reached the hotel passing the road down to the ferry. Next door are some buildings-The craft shop and café weren’t open and what looked like a Heritage Centre wasn’t open either as the computers were down. They hadn’t any printed facts about Gigha though, as I asked. The buildings, chalet like and built from wood, I am sure would be open and widely used in the summer. There were Gaelic and craft courses and will be a Music festival later this year.

The hotel provided us with sandwiches though we aren’t sure why they were cut into fingers- Bob’s grated cheese fell out. It was nice thick bread though and we enjoyed them. There was no one else there. Even the barman disappeared. It was the weather for hot drinks so we didn’t try the ale. There wasn’t a homely feel to the place though perhaps it just lacked people.

We carried on past cottages, bungalows and a fire station making up Ardminish. The gardens (open all year) were behind  deciduous woodland.  Gigha is said to have plenty of trees for a small island but we didn’t see many in the north. There was a drive or track off the road here, marked for the gardens. I think if we had taken it we would have come across the ruins of 13^th century Kilchattan church and nearby would have been the Ogam stone with its ancient Celtic, largely undeciphered, writing.

 

At the southern tip we could see Cara Island and rocks jutting out of the sea. Cara was the centre of smuggling activity for Gigha, Islay and Jura. There were some sheep at this end of Gigha. It is a very fertile island and the Irish were said to buy their potatoes from here to place on top of their potatoes when they went to market. The 3 second hand wind turbines from a windfarm in Cumbria are set facing west on the southern slopes. They are known locally as the Dancing Ladies. Another was added in 2011- a new one this time and it started producing power in 2013.

Going back we visited the shop at the top of the road to the ferry. Beside the door is a modern glass phonebox with a comfy chair and wall hangings to make the caller feel at home. A little girl was riding a scooter around the well- stocked but small shop. I bought a card with a local artist’s painting of an owl on one of the standing stones. We would have cycled right by it the owner of the shop said.

The ferry arrived at 3.20 and there were 4 cars to go this time with us at the front. Inside we chatted with a lady who’d been doing supply teaching at the school on Gigha. It must have been quite a journey as she lived in Cambeltown.

 The sun had shone all the time we were on Gigha and as we neared the Mull of Kintyre the clouds came over and the sea changed colour again. We disembarked in wind and rain.

We drove to Tarbert and our B and B, parking in front of the harbour. Knap House is part of a terrace with optimum use of space. Our room was small but had everything we needed. In minus temperatures it felt lovely and warm. We ate at the Argyll Arms- a steak deal for 2 with a bottle of wine for £35. Mine was fillet steak and quite big Bob’s was ribeye. It was quiet when we arrived but by the time we left it was buzzing.