Exploring the Isle of Arran

 After some amazing vegan banana pancakes at the Dell-Mar B&B in Moffat, 

we bid our hostess, Susan, farewell

and set our sights for Ardrossan, to take the ferry to Brodick on the Isle of Arran.

I had prebooked several weeks ago, and made certain to leave quite a bit of time to allow for any issues with traffic.  The information at hand showed the time of the last calling (2:50 PM) , and what time the ship departed, (3:20 PM), but nowhere did it say when we should begin to queue up.   

We figured that we had a couple of hours to explore, so we parked the car and decided to take a stroll around the village of Ardrossan.  I was impressed with some of the unusual architecture of the buildings in the main part of town.

and was thoroughly surprised when we turned the corner and looked in the distance. 

The houses stand in a crescent, making the scene a bit more dramatic from this vantage point.  Of course, there was the standard life saving device....just in case someone needed it.

a war memorial, which is typical of most villages

and interesting houses lining the crescent.

Walking back towards town, the scene is equally beautiful. 

and I found the ship on top of the church's steeple to be entertaining. 

Once again, we were blessed with amazing weather upon which to enjoy all of this beauty. 

Here you can see the Isle of Arran in the distance.

We passed this unique building on our way to the ferry, but had no idea what it was. It certainly did stand out in the distance from atop a hill that we had climbed.

The Castle Ardrossan was atop the hill, with views of the sea as well as the land.  As you can see, it is only ruins at this point in time, having been destroyed by Oliver Cromwell.

And an obelisk stood upon the hill as well, although I can't tell you why it is there.

By now, we figured it would be in our best interest to head back down to the ferry.

As I mentioned previously, we had no idea exactly what time we should get in line for the ferry, so I looked at the time line for departures, and although one was scheduled to depart shortly, I had presumed that the cut off time would be half an hour before departure, similar to our schedule. 

So, we went to the booth to hand in our tickets, and the woman in charge looked at our tickets and said, "Darlin', we can put you on this one that is sailing earlier."   So there we had it.  Not only was I "Darlin'", which I found to be quite endearing, but we were on a ferry scheduled to arrive an hour and a half earlier than planned!

That was certainly a pleasant surprise. 

And, before we knew it, we were checked into our hotel,

admiring this lovely view from the room.

as well as this picturesque view from the front.

We decided that since we had extra time on our hands, that we should get out and explore, so we headed out the door, and began walking up the street. 

Once again, there were amazing houses situated along the road, each having an amazing view of Holy Island in the distance.

And, much to our surprise, we stumbled upon some sea life that was unique, and somewhat amusing.

This fella gave us quite a chuckle as he rocked back and forth after finally managing to maneuver his way onto that raft. 

These creatures are in the area known as the Lamlash Bay No Take Zone, where it is prohibited to do any type of fishing at all.   But, lucky for Marty, a short distance from the zone is a perfectly acceptable section for attempting to cast a line into the sea.   And he might just try his hand at that tomorrow morning. 

In the meantime, we enjoyed a lovely dinner in the hotel, in a cozy spot by the window.

And once again, I ordered dessert.

Cranachan Cheesecake.  Don't judge me....I shared with Marty.  

Plus....I'm on holiday.  Calories don't count....right?  

Well, I certainly do hope that's the case, because you should have seen the welcome treats awaiting us in our room when we arrived!   Little packages of Scottish Tablet, all tied up with a pretty bow.

Certainly a welcome surprise!

A Day Engraved in History

 Today has been an historic one, and even more so for us, as we are amidst the people whom Elizabeth served as Queen.  It's a day of strong emotion for many, and we did spend some time watching ceremony, particularly the last hour in St. George's Chapel.  What an amazing tribute.

Of course, we are on holiday, (or we wouldn't be gallivanting) and we have obviously had to make some adjustments to our planned schedule.  We struggled with what would be appropriate, out of respect for the sovereign and her subjects, and decided what would be best for us, would be to get out into nature, and take in the sites of this quaint village called Moffat.

So, after we watched the ceremonial procession into Westminster Abbey, we headed out into the village to take a stroll along the river Annan.  

Along the way, we passed some interesting buildings

The narrowest hotel in the world (that's what the sign outside claims),

and the narrowest street in the country (well, that's what the map says)

Just a little ways past this church is the path to the river

and the sign for the Annandale Way.

At times it was fairly narrow

but it was easy enough to follow, as it was flat, if just a bit rocky in spots.

There were beautiful ripples of water

and apparently some brown trout spotted in more than one spot by Marty.  

Did that surprise you? 

I spotted this little bird, bobbing up and down in the water, making for a few entertaining minutes. 

Then he dove into the water and began to swim downstream.  I have no clue what type of bird this is, and its the best photo that I managed to capture. 

Along the trail are farms with sheep.  Lots of them.

Such breathtaking beauty to follow along the way.

And did I mention sheep?

I could hear a rooster in the throws of crowing, and a chicken clucking around, looked up and saw this. 

They aren't real....I realized that when I posted the photo.  Now I'm wondering if there actually was a real rooster and chicken. Would someone actually take the time to play a recording of bird noises?  Guess I'll ever never know. 

 

After passing by, we turned onto the road to make the trek back to our B&B.

Along the way, we admired the varied architecture of the stately homes that stand on this street. 

This last one shows a date of 1875 inscribed above the window, giving you a time frame of just when they were built. 

The houses all stand across from a luscious glen which boasts those gorgeous views.

The style of the homes change as one heads closer into town.  Most are white with varied colored trim around the windows.  The white on the exterior really shines when the sun is beating on it. 

Since nearly every establishment was entirely closed for the day, we felt fortunate to come across a local chippy where we picked up a Fish and Chips meal for our lunch, which we enjoyed while sitting on a bench near the War Memorial Statue in the middle of the village. 

I have to say....it was pretty fabulous!

Walking along the narrow streets, we stumbled upon a building that featured a statue of King Robert I perched on the top of the roof of a turret. The building itself stood out among the others on the street. 

And then there was the theater a bit further up the hill. It appears to feature live performances according to the billboard out on the street.

The vistas were really quite remarkable as we walked along.

I'll admit that our day was quite serene with few people on the streets due to the situation of the day, so our walking experience was relatively easy and uneventful.  We would certainly have missed a good bit of the charm of this village had we carried on with our original plans, which would have taken us out on the road instead of exploring the town. 

We both commented about how nice it was to keep the car parked for 24 hours.  We've been pretty much running since we hit the ground eight days ago. 

Now, before I sign off, let me just mention two important factors that were responsible for us being here in the first place.   The first involves our accommodations here in Moffat. We are staying at the Dell-Mar B&B.

It's no accident that I booked a room here.  I had stumbled upon Susan via Facebook, a couple of years ago, and her enthusiasm regarding hostessing guests caught my attention.  I found myself looking for her updates and thoroughly enjoying her laughable antics.  I showed them to my husband, and he commented that if we ever were able to get back to Scotland, we needed to stay here.

So, I made it work. 

And, to give you a bit of an idea of her sense of humor, this hangs in the breakfast room:

I don't know about you, but that really had me chuckling. 

Our experience here is everything that I would have expected from following her on Facebook.

And now, you might be wondering about the second factor.  

It's actually the pub at the Black Bull Inn.  Soon after our last trip to Scotland several years ago, Janie purchased this hotel and pub, and started a Facebook Page as well.

It seems that this is the oldest hostelry in Moffat and one of the oldest in all of Scotland. In addition, it has ties to Robert Burns, and that was what caught my attention when she began posting on Facebook.  I  found myself enjoying her updates and decided to follow her adventures as well.  It seemed only fitting to enjoy dinner in this charming pub while we were here, so I reached out to Janie and asked for a reservation, which she was happy to oblige.

We found ourselves settled in a comfy padded booth, with an interesting view of Bull Heads

and we thoroughly enjoyed our pub food, and I even decided to splurge on dessert.

I ordered the Moffat Mess

which, let me just say, was quite delightful!

So, cheer's to Janie at the Black Bull, and to Susan at Dell-Mar B&B.

They both welcomed us with open arms and helped to make our stay that much more enjoyable.

You just can't ask for better Scottish hospitality than that!