A day on Bute

For the September weekend (not my weekend, that's next weekend, though I intend to work it to use for the October week), Ciaran and I were "invited" or a cycle on the Isle of Bute, another of the many islands of the west coast of Scotland. She knew of an interesting cycle that she had done a few years ago. Since the day was beautiful it became the plan for the day (bad weather would have meant going to Escape in Glasgow for some indoor skiing and eventually Ikea).
The day was nice but the wind was strong - tearing your breath away while on the ferry trip across. Unlike the others who left their helmets with the bike, I foolishly was holding mine until a gust of wind tore it away and belted a small yappy dog - the owner wasn't that pleased, oddly enough.
Once we arrived in Rothesay at around 1130 we organised lunch. After finding a bakery and having sandwiches made up we just figured it was easier to eat now rather than try and cycle with the pieces.

After we ate we started off. Despite not actually having a map, we had quickly checked the route and noticed that there actually aren't that many roads on Bute. Provided we didn't head down a dead end (there are a few) we should be all right. We headed north out of Rothesay and took the left at Kaimes castle avoiding the long dead end heading north to the ferry. Fiona had waned us about the climb so we got stuck in. Towards the top we passed a side road off to the left (south) and then over the top and passed a ruined church with the roof off. At this point Fiona started to believe we were on the wrong road, but seeing how we were enjoying the descent, decided not to make too big an issue of it. Besides, a bus had overtaken us on the climb. If it was a dead end the bus would have to pass us going the other way. As the bus passed us going the other way she decided to let me know. Of course by now we we basically on the coast, down at Ettrick Bay. Luckily for us, Ettrick Bay has a blue flag for swimming and one of the the SEPA electronic signs and information stations. The station had an OS map of the bay which showed a footpath along the shore we might be able to take to get us back on track. Luckily the track was not overgrown and we were able to get back without having to reclimb the hill.
With the lack of roads (or anything else really) on Bute, the road signs all seemed to point back to Rothesay. We would come to a junction and note that Rothesay was the only listed destination, often with wildly different distances. The gave Ciaran the most grief as he would always select the lowest number and be out voted.

Traffic on the island was also quite quiet. We came to one traffic jam where we simply had to wait for the road to clear. But by far the best bits was the spectacular scenery. We could see at different times Arran, Cumbrea, the mainland where we came from, and the mainland jutting down the west coast (Kintyre).
After one of the climbs we rounded a corner to find a rest area with a small car park, a few benches and a viewing platform over looking a lovely beach. It seems this is a favourite seal beach and most days they can be seen from the vantage point.
Despite no binoculars and not really enough zoom on the camera, we did manage to see about half a dozen basking in the sun, some of them quite large.

As we watched the seals an open top bus tour arrived to see them, which certainly none of us were expecting!
We discussed which way to go. Ciaran based on what he had already seen of the island decided that the best option was to follow the bus tour as it was certainly going straight back to Rothesay. We continued cycling, repeatedly passing mile markers indicating it was 5 miles from Rothesay but with no indication of which way, as if a bulk load were ordered at some point in the past. We then approached a T junction with Rothesay 4 miles to the left, or 10 miles going right. Just then the tour bus caught us and headed off to the right, so following Ciaran's decision (above his now objections) we headed off to the right. We had one more killer climb before we descended into Rothesay, just too late for the ferry (the stiff breeze finally did its job and we missed the boat by less than 5 minutes)
Ice cream in Rothesay, and a fish supper in Largs finished the day. I had forgotten to bring the cycle computer but once we got home we measured the trip as being 23 miles which we cycled in a total of 3 hours 20min, but that doesn't include stopping for the seals and the delay at Ettrick Bay.