Rooni Island...

King's Caves, north of Drumadoon

We were asked to take a party all the way round Arran this week - so here are a few photographs from the far side of the island. We left Lamlash at 10.15, made brief stops on the way round to see the sights and called in at Lochranza for a light lunch at the Sandwich Station (07810 796248) - highly recommended! To Brodick and back to Lamlash for 2pm. A good day at sea - even the weather was good to us with just one brief shower in Brodick Bay.

Dougarie Lodge & Boathouse

The 12 Apostles and Glen Catacol

Lochranza

Laggan (very remote!)

Laggantuin - up the diagonal track...

Holy Isle - with retreat pods.

Electricians, nuns and goats...

Quick dash out to Pladda this morning to fetch the electricians back for a two week break: they've been doing this, amongst other things -

On the way back we called in at Holy Isle to collect Ani Dolka and a kid with a broken foot; Elspeth drove them  to the vet in Brodick and now we're waiting to see how they got on.

Annual surveys done!

Both Bennan and Cowal were surveyed today to make sure they comply with current regulations - both boats were passed, which means we can continue to take people out to explore the fascinating seas around Arran. Now if someone would like to turn the wind down a little...   ;-)

Holy Isle run...

...and today we helped the Holy Isle ferry guys by bringing 24 people off Holy Isle so they could get home after their course. The water was a interesting over there ;-) But we did the job and everyone was happy!

Still working, even in winter!

We've been running electrical contractors down to Pladda (and back) since November - they're installing solar panels to power the lighthouse in place of the diesel generators used up till now. Last week we took some NLB technicians out to Pladda to repair the main light which had a hissy fit - the tide was a bit low on Thursday so we took the tender with us in case we needed to "anchor off"; fortunately we had enough water to keep to the jetty - just!

You can see the tender sitting on top of Bennan; she's right at the end of the Pladda jetty.

 On Friday we took another team out to make a minor tweak (!) and got to see inside the lighthouse:

Pladda used to have two lights

So we know were we are!

Taking the air...

Elspeth waiting for the light to dawn...

 We should be going out again later this week (if the weather improves!)

Great Ape discovered hiding on Holy Isle!

Staring out to sea from the south-east corner of Holy Isle was a huge primate. We're not sure if anywhere else in the Clyde has such a beast in residence, nor how many people are aware that just the other side of Lamlash Bay is a creature that could give King Kong a run for his money...

Moving home...

Things are gathering pace for the closing of the retreat on Holy Isle, so many things must be transported across Lamlash Bay (yes, that is a fridge in the front! There's a diesel engine under there somewhere too.)














Alice was so excited she danced a hornpipe on the tubes.
(Not something we normally encourage, but Alice is Alice ;-)