Sunday, July 05, 2015

Loo with a view at the Buttock of Bute.

 We set off from Rhubodach in a NW'ly direction passing to the south...

 ...of the Burnt Islands. The last time we were here we explored the vitrified fort on Eilean Buidhe but

 ...this time we were headed for a bay just to the east of Buttock Point.

At the foot of a forest and beside a burn there are two new wooden buildings. They are part of the Argyll Sea Kayak Trail.  The building on the left is a composting toilet and the building on the right is...

...is a simple shelter and fire pit. Bute Forest supply timber for burning so that you do not need to cut down any SSSI trees. There is not much camping here but there are plenty places further east.

The view from the loo looks north, straight up beautiful Loch Riddon. We were not going to explore this beautiful loch on this occasion...

...instead we paddled NW towards the lighthouse at Caladh Harbour before...

 ...turning left at Buttock Point....


Thursday, July 02, 2015

Lots of boats on the commute to Bute.

It wasa a bright Monday morning when Mike and I rolled up at the Wemyss Bay ferry terminal to catch the ferry to Bute. "Our commute to Bute" as we called it.

The mountains of Arran rose majestically above the low rolling ground of Bute. We did wonder if the ferry would arrive as one of the two ferries had burnt its turbo charger out just a few days before.

 Fortunately MV Bute seemed to have made a good recovery and she arrived right on time.

 It was with great anticipation that we left Wemyss Bay on the 45 minute crossing to Rothesay in Bute. We then drove 20 minutes north...

...to Rhubodach near the head of the Kyles of Bute. The narrows were quite busy, several yachts passed before MV Splendour a converted 20m wooden fishing boat cruised down the East Kyle. She is the flagship of the recently formed Argyll Cruising company and this is their first season. I wish them great success.

No sooner had Splendour cleared the narrows than MV Loch Dunvegan rolled up the slipway. She operates CalMac's shortest ferry route from Colintraive to Rhubodach, all 420m of it.

We wasted no time in getting ready and soon we were ready to set off on another mini adventure!