The high...and low road to Tarbert, Loch Fyne - Skipness, United Kingdom
Skipness, United Kingdom
We set out early(ish) for the big hike from Dornoch right up in the Highlands diagonally across to the west coast and 3/4 of the way down Scotland. A very familiar journey for me, as we did it as a family in the 60s every summer, latterly towing a caravan (!) and of course packed to the rafters with buckets and spades, flippers , the dog, and the tons of equipment you need for 6 weeks by the seaside. We always did that drive in one very long day....how my parents survived it with two squabbling brats in the back, I'll never know! .
The journey takes in some of the most magnificent country in the world...past Inverness, Drumnadrochit, along Loch Ness and through the Great Glen and by the Caledonian Canal...an engineering wonder built in the first half of the 19th century that links Loch Ness, Loch Lochy and Loch Linnhe.
Together, these lochs slice Scotland dramatically, along a huge fault line. the canal allows small vessels to cross Scotland from one side to the other.
Then across the Ballachulish Bridge ...in my day it was a ferry crossing that took fully five minutes, but was one of the highlights of the expedition.
Our destination was Skipness, a very special little town that looks straight over to Arran.
My mum's family came from the area around Skipness, she had holidayed there as a child in Woodbine Cottage ( now diplomatically named Kilbrannen Cottage!) in the village, which became our holiday house in the late 50s/early 60s. Kilbrannen Cottage, I have just discovered is now a holiday rental...how weird is that !
Skipness Estate, in our day owned by the Oaks family, is prospering, with the daughter of the current occupants running the amazing Seafood Cabin attached to it....quite the gourmet destination apparently (summer months only !)
Just outside Skipness is a small dirt road up the hill through some rowan trees...this leads to the remains of a house that was owed by relatives of my mum.
She dreaded her visits up there because she had to sit on a revolting old sofa stuffed with horsehair...enduring scratches on her bare legs in silence. The house was inhabited by both people and livestock, mainly pigs I think...this would have been in the 1920s and 30s.....fairly basic living arrangements, but not unusual in the region. The house was called Garradh-an-Eorna (not sure of the spelling of the first word).....it meant Field(or enclosure) of Barley.....and indeed the house stood just below one. It's quite a dramatic, and somewhat melancholy setting...it looks right out over the Kibrannan Sound to Arran.....but the ruins, like all ruins, have a sombre air.
Tarbert near Skipness was a major fishing port....apparently you could walk from one side of the harbour to the other across the decks of fishing boats, back in the day. My fondest memory of Tarbert is going to the Tarbert Fair...big outing!......and winning a goldfish in a plastic bag. Life was simple then and it seems I was much cheaper to maintain! I also remember being taken to visit a relative there, and as mum and I approached, someone yelled into the house in lovely broad scots...." Will ye no come out and look at this, Kitty, 'tis the next generation (pronounced cheneration) coming up the driveway!"
From Tarbert, we took the Calmac ferry to Portavadie....a brand spanking new marina and resort which is managed by a good friend of my cousin's. What a place! We then wended our way round the very "frilly" coastline, via the Kyles of Bute , to take another ferry from Dunoon (of fine china fame) to Gourock, just a few minutes drive from Judith and Peter's lovely property High Lunderston, near the little village (and large marina) of Inverkip.