The Argyll leaving Rothesay

Tue 14th
Raining when Maeve the Deerhound decided she wanted to go for her early morning walk. After breakfast we thought like yesterday a while in the car wouldn't be a bad idea so we set off for the Isle of Bute. Drove through Kames and Tighnabruaich then round the shore road to Colintraive and the short ferry crossing to Rhubodach. Once on Bute we followed the road to Rothesay. It was beginning to brighten and the rain was now just showers. In Rothesay we stopped and went to the Tourist Information place in the Discover Bute Centre and found how to get to Mount Stuart.

Mount Stuart is a Victorian Gothic Mansion built in very extensive landscaped grounds with 300 acres of gardens and walks. It is home to the Stuarts of Bute, the descendants of the Royal House of Stuart. Since we had Maeve with us and the sky was now becoming quite blue and the day getting warm we thought a walk was in order. However, as I opened the back door of the car to let her jump out I noticed that I had forgotten to put either of her leads in the car. I had been brushing her in the garden before we left and had just let her jump in the car and not gone back into the cottage for a lead !

What to do? The garden centre might have some twine we thought. We crossed the car park and tried the door. Locked. There is a shop in the visitor centre. Might it have something we could use? We went over and had a quick look round. There was a child's skipping rope. That might do. We thought to ask the lady at reception if the garden centre should be open and she said it should and that the staff member running it might have had to close it temporarily but it should reopen soon. We told her why we were asking. It was becoming quite comical.

The driver of the minibus that takes visitors that don't want to walk along to the house had heard us and said what about a piece of rope. He had a short length of blue rope in the bus. He would happily lend it to us if we thought we could manage. Brilliant ! I slipped one end of the rope through Maeve's collar and pulled it through so I had a double thickness lead and could hold the two ends together in my hand. It made a very serviceable lead of about 6 or 7 feet long. Off we went and had a good walk through the grounds. Some of the paths were very wet and muddy due to all the rain but the sun was out and it felt warm and the trees were glorious new leaf green, so we had a lovely long walk. When we got back to the visitor centre we returned the rope to the driver and a few of the staff gathered round to meet Maeve who had definitely had a very nice time.

We drove back towards Rothesay and stopped at a little tea room at the pier at Craigmore. It was a bit late for lunch, but lunch we had. Views too. We sat in a conservatory style room with windows looking over the bay with views which stretched from the bay itself, to the shore of Loch Striven, the shore round from Dunoon, and over to the mainland West coast. We also saw the ferries go in and out, which always appeals to me. The two ferries which serve the Rothesay crossing are called Argyll, and Bute :-)

A quick stop at the Coop to get a few things, then back along the road to the ferry. Luckily we arrived just a minute before the ferry was due to leave so it wasn't minutes before we were back at Colintraive and driving back round to the cottage at Ardlamont. Back at the cottage we were able to sit out in the warm sunshine and enjoy the views of Arran and Kintyre for a while.