Beautiful Scotland

I had a very long day. I've not been in the house long. While I am waiting for dinner to be ready, I thought I'd get this stuff onto the blog.

I was out very early this morning. Driving 100 miles to Ardrossan and the ferry terminal to catch the crossing to Brodick on Arran.

These are the photos of the ferry coming in.

Then, being bored I took a photo of my faithful canine companion. She is looking very alert and interested in what is going on. Polly is a terrific car dog. She spends most of the time asleep. You can see her fancy dog harness. I use this to clip her to the seatbelt. Safety first!

When we got to the island, the clouds parted and the sun came out. There were still a few picturesque wisps of cloud on Goatfell. I think the island tourist board commission somebody to keep a wisp or two on the top for visitors' photos.

For me however it was nose to the grindstone. Off to Shiskine to see the Doctors Grassie on their last day of practicing medicine on the island. This husband and wife pair of GPs have now retired. A delightful couple that have managed a nice practice at the centre of this island for many many years. It will be a shame not to see them anymore. I hope that the new husband and wife pair, the Hamils and their little girls that are filling the Grassie shoes find the same contentment there.

This is the view coming back from Shiskine. Looking down onto Brodick Bay. Basking sharks can be seen in this bay on still warm summer days.

After my other appointments it was well past lunch time. After giving Polly a nice walk, a pee and a sniff at a gull carcase, I went off to buy an overpriced pre-packaged sandwich and some pop. I drove on over to a point at the end of Brodick Bay where the seals hang out. It can be a bit of a hit or miss thing with the seals. Naturally when I was there with my family, there wasn't a seal to be found. Today however with just a sleeping dog for company, I had much better luck. There were up to 13 seals at their hangout today. I took some photos, but I could never get all of them in at one time.
You can see it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.

On the way over to this point where I view the seals, I had to brake for two partridges then again for another red squirrel. While I was watching the seals and listening to them bark to each other, there was a little nuthatch hopping up and down the trunk of a tree (the same tree that owns the branch in the above photo). The seals were doing that thing where they leap in and out of the water that I have only ever seen dolphins do before. It was very nice to eat my late lunch and watch all of this.

Arran is a wonderful place. They make so many fine things on the island. They raise their own beef there, make cheese, brew beer and distil whiskey. There is also a chocolatier and Arran Aromatics, makers of really really nice soaps, bath oils etc. I picked up a few souvenirs to take back to the mainland. Let's overlook for the moment that our mainland is just a larger island.

This is the last picture I took today. Compare it with the one up near the top of this posting with the wisps of cloud. Isn't Arran is a beautiful island?