Machrie standing stones

F and I had the most amazing day. After a night of broken sleep due to the noisy stags, we woke up to lovely sun. We packed up the text, watched by curious deer, and cycled east, slowly so as not to alarm the deer that were lying by the side of the road or walking in the road - they were everywhere! We had a very pleasant surprise when we reached the ferry terminal - the breakfast bar was open - yay! We had bacon and egg sandwiches by the shore, giving some tidbits to the jackdaws when they asked (the breakfast bar lady said they would 'ask' and they certainly squawked at us). The gannets flew by, divebombing fish in the Kilbrannen Sound.

Fully breakfasted, we cycled the very quiet road along the coast. At one point, as I started going down a hill, a buzzard flew up beside me and we flew down the hill side by side, so close that could have touched the bird if I'd reached out - I think this has to be one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! Breathtaking.

Our luck was in again as we reached Machrie - the tearoom was open. We had cheese scones, tea and flapjacks in the sun. I think we were seeing Arran at its best - we got the impression that it rains most of the time and dry sun is a rarity.

At Machrie we parked the bicycles and walked up a short way to a stone circle. I almost turned back to the road, but F walked on, following a sign that said 'To Machrie moor', so I raced after him. On Machrie moor there are huge standing stones, which are amazing! The are remnants of stone circles that surrounded burial chambers, but there are quite a few full stone circles to see. From the wee sign back at the road, there was no clue to the treasure on the moor. The blip shows two stone circles - the stone in the foreground belongs to a stone circle that has only the one stone still standing. There are three stones in the distance that form another circle.

From Machrie, we cycled up the String Road across Arran to Brodick where we ccaught the ferry back to the mainland. I saw a red squirrel on the String Road, which was very beautiful, but too quick to capture on camera.

Back on the mainland we encountered engineering work outside Glasgow, which brought us back to real life. Sigh. Engineering work. Luckily, the Glasgow coach driver was happy to put our bicycles in the boot and we got to the sleeper train on time to make the journey to London.

This has been a fantastic holiday and we're already planning our next Scottish cycle tour adventure for spring 2009.