Tayvallich

I first holidayed at Tayvallick about 30 years and, although we've visited in the intervening years and stayed at other places in the surrounding area, this is the first time I've been back to spend more than a day in the village.

It lies on one of those long spurs of land separated by fingers of sea that characterise the Knapdale area, facing east towards the shelter of land. We stayed in a flat overlooking  the curve of the bay and passed a couple of lazy mornings walking from one end of the village to the other, and sitting to watch the goings-on. 

For a small place, there's a lot to occupy visitors. There are boats to watch bobbing in the harbour, a passenger ferry to Jura, a cafe with decking overlooking it all (sadly only open for takeaway during our stay due to staff shortages but I've eaten there in the past and it's a lovely spot to spend an hour or so), and at the opposite end of the village a restaurant. There's even a community centre with tennis courts and such that visitors can use, but we didn't.

A short walk from the main harbour took us over a slight ridge to another bay - Carsaig; a more untamed place with a shingley/seaweedy beach which looks west towards Jura, and has wonderful sunsets, and although there's no cafe there's a cake honesty box. A good place to just sit and watch the water lap at the shore.

And at Kyle Scotnish picnic place just north of the village, we spotted an otter swimming and diving for food. There are beavers in the area, from the Knapdale release scheme, but I think to have spotted one of those would have been too lucky*, and I'm happy to have seen an otter. Slightly further afield there are walks through Knapdale forest (more of that another time) and the Taynish Nature Reserve, more boats to watch along Crinan Canal, and historic monuments to puzzle over at Kilmartin Glen. 

One of the snags about re-visiting somewhere you know well is having to curtail the things you could do if only you had time. I'm already planning a trip back to catch those missed-out things.

* I've since watched the video of a near-to-home release of beavers at Willington in Derbyshire, and I'm still not certain what I saw. It could have been a beaver but an otter seems more likely.

Big Holiday - off to Scotland!

 After so many months of waiting I've been away on a proper adventure - to Tayvallich on Scotland's west coast. Maybe in all honesty it wasn't all that adventurous as it involved staying in a self-catering apartment, some gentle walking, and eating out while admiring the views - not, say, backpacking and camping in the wilds each night - but it felt like a bigger, more exciting trip than those earlier this year to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The original plan was to just spend four nights away, and call in to see our Manchester-based daughter on the way home, but she suggested we stay overnight, and then we worried that the drive was to long so we decided to break the journey on the way north too. 

It was still about a six hour drive so we broke the journey with stops at Gretna Green's famous wedding venue, and at Luss on Loch Lomond for ice cream and paddling.

To look at my photos you'd almost think we did nothing but eat - from that ice cream to flapjacks from an honesty box at Carsaig beach, 

lunch out at Loch Melfort Hotel to haggis supper in Lochgilphead, 

and bacon butties at Arrochar then back to Luss for more flapjack on the journey home

We did pull some walking in between the eating - mainly on flattish ground along the Crinan Canal, round Ardmaddy Castle gardens, or through forests (more posts to follow). 

We saw an otter swimming in a sealoch, but they disappeared too quickly to be photographed, an equally quick-footed red squirrel (or possibly a pine martin, we're still debating that) and highland cattle up close in a field. 

And being on the west coast there were stunning sunsets to round off most evenings.

 It's a while since I've been to Scotland and I'm already planning when I can revisit (actually I was thinking of it while we were still on holiday)

Loch Fyne and Crinan - part two

For a very short break, we seemed to pack a lot into our time away, so, as a follow-on to part one, here's part two of our stay in Argyll :)














We stayed in a cottage (found through AirBnB) in the village of Minard, on Loch Fyne, (above) just down the road from the National Trust for Scotland's Crarae Garden, which I very much wanted to visit while we were staying so close by.













It's not a formal, flower-bed sort of garden, and doesn't feel planned and designed, but it is.












A steep-sided Scottish glen has been transformed resemble a Himalayan valley.with paths wandering back and forth across the burn as it cascades down the hillside.













































There are rhododendrons, eucalyptus trees, bamboo, and Japanese maples, but everything seems so completely at home in this setting that it's hard to remember that most of these plants and trees aren't native.

We'd fortunately stumbled on one of those wonderful sunny West Highland days when the sea lochs reflect the blue of the sky. and the scene from the viewpoint was breath-taking.

It's not a long walk round but it was certainly the hilliest of the weekend, so cake was needed before we left. This delicious slice was the last of a courgette and avocado cake - not something I've tried before, but definitely would again.

It was onwards then, down a wriggly road beside Caol Scotnish, one of those fingers of sea that cuts deeply into the land round here, to the village of Tayvallich. There are lots of forest walks around here but we weren't really equipped for them, so headed just south of the village to Taynish Nature Reserve.








Here there's again a variety of walks but we chose the shortest - to Taynish Mill and back - and discovered it to be the site of a series of outdoor art installations.



































































The mill itself is now a ruin, but the burn which once fed its machinery falls prettily down rocks, and not much further on the path reaches the sea - Loch Sween this time

I didn't manage to photograph dragonflies on our walk the previous day at Loch Barnluasgan, but on the return to the car at Taynish we spotted several sunning themselves on a bench.

We definitely didn't have time to see and do all we wanted to, but these few days have got me back into the mood of holidaying, and spending time away from home. Next year I'm sure we'll be back for longer