Toddlers farewell

Having enjoyed Tarbert a little too much, we headed off through the Kyles of Bute planning to hit Holy Loch. The toddlers knew this area well from previous vacations in Scotland. Sadly, it was hard to recognise it in the biblical downpours that we enjoyed en route.

Luckily it cleared up passing Tighnabruaich  so they could check some of their old haunts in detail, with a little squabbling over the exact locations of houses / lodges etc. We were unable to referee or offer an opinion which was probably a good thing. Coming out of the East Kyle, the rain was so hard and the visibility so poor that we needed the radar on. On the chart below, you can get an idea of how narrow the Kyles are - we couldn't see any land but this is only August, after all.....

The 9Kw Furuno radar made short work of the rain when suitably tuned and we pottered on. A yacht that was nearby with no radar just clung to the shoreline following his GPS / plotter and hoped for the best.

Having made it to Holy Loch, we managed a wander around a much improved Dunoon since our last visit a couple of years ago. A few nicer shops and less of a depressed "about to go bankrupt" air about the place. The crew and her mother had a good time too, raiding the local charity shop for some expensive necklaces. (Actually, it felt like raiding as £3 each). The male toddler was less happy - he had to make do with some tablet and no WIFI in the marina again. This holiday was going from bad to worse for him. For the non Scottish readers, tablet is a favourite sweet here - see Wikipedia on tablet. It is, of course, typically Scottish. Low calorie and very healthy.

The day looked up with lunch at Livingstones restaurant. Good spot that should be on your list if you are on the Cowal peninsular and in need of a relaxed, friendly food place. Probably the best in the area. Of course, all good things (and not so good things like no WIFI) must come to an end so the toddlers were returned to Glasgow airport by car via Largs, Ayr and Troon.

Largs was for a quick look around the marina there - nice spot with a Nordhavn 55 (Trisheen) lurking in a corner - one we saw last year near Tobermory:

Leaving Largs after a quick coffee, we were lucky not to be arrested. The female toddler had taken the newspaper from the coffee shop claiming that she thought her daughter had bought it. The crew was most indignant, she would not buy "that" paper and then returned it quietly to the coffee place. A small debate ensued. The captain was happy to concentrate on driving the horrid Peugeot 2008 rental car.

 Ayr was the very nice lunch stop (with particularly scrummy puds) - the Waterfront restaurant:

and Troon was a brief walk along the sea front to admire the Scots who were getting suitably sunburnt as it had peeped out for a few hours. Of course, their Neververyeasyjet flight was horribly delayed on the way back. Some story about a burst tyre and a crew out of hours. Hum. Funny how they always manage to take off just before the time that compensation would kick in.