Rockpooling

Today was a more restful day. Since I got to choose yesterdays activity, I felt it was only fair to let Ciaran choose todays: he went for rockpooling.
After stopping off to buy a bucket and a net we headed off in the Lochranza direction, stopping in Glen Sannox for a bit.
Ciaran made a beeline for the water while I followed at a more sedentary pace.


We checked the map and there was a nice walk along the burn up to waterfalls and the info board in the car park had a return path via the "Witch's Stairs" but since it was Ciaran's day we decided not to do the walk. I have to admit, my thighs were still aching so it wasn't a long discussion.

Within a few minutes of Ciaran getting to the water he had dropped the bucket. He maintains he threw it to me but that will never stick. Thus began the great bucket race of 2009. The pool was actually quite deep so Ciaran wasn't going in after it. So he prodded it with his net, but hadn't learned by then that you don't tip an empty, floating, bucket over because it fills and sinks. Luckily there was enough buoyancy in the bucket for it to float just at the surface and move slowly enough that he could chase and catch it. By then he was stuck on the far bank. To my great amazement we managed to leave there with all our possessions and still dry.

We then headed up to Newton Point in Lochranza where Ciaran could do some rockpooling while I watched.
Now this is what holidays are all about. While Ciaran hunted small aquatic life in the various pools I could sit and enjoy the weather and the simple fact that we had no deadlines to consider.
After spending much of the day and having our lunch we then decided to take a short cruise - the ferry to Claonaig runs from Lochranza and takes about 20 minutes to get across. Despite me not being great on boats we decided to head over and see what was there.

The ferry is a pay on board so we climbed on and bought a return ticket. The sea was incredibly calm and even I didn't feel queasy.

It was the first time I had seen Arran's west coast.
You get so used to seeing the same side - the island faces the house so every time we head into the village we can see Goatfell et al, so it was nice to see the other side. Clanaig though is basically a shallow spot on the coast. Still the trip over was fun, the weather great. Once on the far side we went down for a paddle until the ferry came back for us about an hour later.

Once we got back into Lochranza we headed up to the distillery (you have to visit a distilery when in Scotland) but it was near closing time and the last tour was already done. So we simply bought ice cream and drove back to Brodick.

We tried the new pool in the hotel this time. Unusual for a new built pool - it was deep, from 0.9m to about 2m. We swam until dinner time and then after dinner headed back to the spa pool.