Arran-ing Amok!

After a looooong night in "moderate to severe turbulance" we arrived once again in bonny Scotland! Jan and Jessie got our luggage to the hotel while I went in search of our rental car. It happened to be a shuttle ride away, so the three of us went over together. They gave us a much nicer car than any of us were expecting, but we didn't complain.


I was the designated driver and with only a few false starts we were on our way, heading out of Glasgow to Ardrossan where we boarded the ferry to Arran. We weren't sure if we were going to make it, since we kept running into minor delays, but they were situating a car ahead of us so we slipped in after. I'd never driven a car onto a ferry before, so yay for new experiences!


They closed the door right behind us and we pulled out before we were even up to the passenger decks. It brought back visions of Iona and the mad dash to that ferry. On board we were served a full Scottish breakfast and I was reacquainted with an old love - Potato Scones! They are triangle shaped, pancakey bits of Heaven! I looked deeply into where its eyes would have been if they hadn't been mashed up and cooked to perfection, murmuring "Oh potato scone, how I have missed you!" Needless to say, it was a happy reunion.


They didn't serve Haggis, which was a bit disappointing to me because I really do enjoy it. Instead, they offered Black Pudding, which is another name for Blood Pudding... which is another name for pigs blood cooked up with some oats and spices. Not at all pudding-like. The guy dishing it up argued that it was the best part of the meal. I begged to differ. We agreed to disagree.

(Aside: I'm eating a bit of raspberry oatmeal shortbread as I write this and I am in alt. Just thought I'd share. :) It's 2am, cut me some slack! haha)


We de-ferried and zoomed away from the docks in search of what the Isle of Arran had to offer. Not 10 minutes down the road we found such an offering - a brewery!


And a new friend. After giving a taste of his blonde beer (saying I couldn't have one because I wasn't blonde) he turned to Jan and said, "Oh, your glass is empty. Let me help." He was a right jolly fellow and a welcome beginning to our day.


After a few other tastings one of us stumbled out the door and ran into another of Arran's offerings. A castle! Complete with garden! Believe it or not, this picture was completely candid. Not even an "Alright ladies! One! Two! Three!" We are just -that- good. The grounds of the castle are quite extensive and had a very tropical feel to them. We walked along the path snapping photos right and left, too many to put here, of course, but you are all welcome to view them when I return home.


The Isle of Arran sits in the Firth of Clyde which runs along the West coast of Scotland, and is sometimes called "Scotland in Miniature" as you get a bit of the Highlands as well as the Lowlands. Brodick Castle gets its name from the Scandinavian for Broad Bay. In the early 5th century some of the isles surrounding Scotland were under the King of Norway's rule, Arran being one of them. There are many Scandinavian names across the island as it wasn't until the mid-thirteenth century that the isle shifted to Scottish rule. Between then and 1503 there was much back and forthing of "ownership" of the isle. In 1503 the title Earl of Arran was created and given to James Hamilton, 2nd Lord Hamilton. The first Lord Hamilton was also named James and had been given the castle by his brother-in-law, James III. It is now the property of the National Trust for Scotland having been gifted it by the Lady Jean Fforde in 1958.

It seems there were not many names to chose from in those days and so most Scots, Highlanders in particular, were known by nicknames. Generally, the nicknames were chosen based on a distinguishing feature of one's appearance or personality. Robert the Bloody, Black Jack Randall, Big Ears Stewart... any one of those were likely used back in the day.

The history of this castle is as fascinating and vast as any other I have visited. I marvel continually at the thought of so many lives, so many deaths, so much violence and beauty that is Scotland. Not just Scotland, of course, humanity in general, but I am in Scotland and so I will bask in all that is Scotland and speak of little else.


After we were finished with the magestic and vast grounds of Brodick Castle, we made our way back to the car and set off once more around the island. There is one main road that circles the island and then a small path that some seem to think is suitable for driving that runs across the middle called "String Road". Believe me, it's no exaggeration. It doesn't say it is one way, but the two way roads are already too small for all that goes on on them (i.e. cars, people strolling their babies, high school kids walking down the middle, cyclists out for a bit of exercise, tractors, sheep... the list goes on, not to mention it is all hairpin turns!). We did not venture out onto the String Road, but I did get a look at it. I felt brave enough driving through all the mayhem of the "big road".

Things were going along just swimmingly, when all the sudden it sounded like someone took two shots at us. An odd hissing sound followed and the car became a bit unwieldy, so I pulled over and we got out to take a look. It seems on that particular turn there is a hidden tire puncture in the guise of an innocent looking rock. I have my suspicions about its purpose, especially since the lovely people (Ian and his wife and their next door neighbor John) who came out of their homes to assess the carnage (it was -that- loud) stated that cars get caught on that nearly every day. The tow-truck man, Angus, further confirmed this by saying we were the 13th car that week he'd picked up there. Sounds like a conspiracy to me.


Everyone was so kind and helpful, giving us rides back to the dock, reserving another car for us to continue our journey. Angus even spoke with the car rental people when they were giving me the run around. Word of advice, if you go to the Isle of Arran, fly into Glasgow, take the train to Ardrossan, ferry to Arran and rent a car there. We didn't realize there was a car rental on the island or we would have done that to begin with. The drive to the dock was lovely, but I will definitely do it the other way next time I go.



I wanted to get a picture of the craziness of the roads, but we were too busy trying not to kill something during those times, you get a picture of the nicest stretch of road. Hardly a hint of a curve! One of the main reasons we chose Arran was for the standing stones, we decided to go with the theme of the Outlander Tour and perhaps get sucked back in time to find our own Jamie. Sadly, there was no time sucking. There was, however, -of course- beautiful scenery. This is just a wee taste, you know there will be plenty more when I get home.



The main stone offering on the isle is Machrie Moor. The turn off for it is hidden amongst the twisting Z and N roads and we missed it the first time around. I managed to turn the car around without mishap and we were soon parked and making our way over fences and through farms and sheep pastures. Yes, there was a trail :P No, we weren't trespassing... we don't think. There were a couple of circles with small stones as is pictured, but there were also three very large thin stones standing out farther in the middle of the final field we came across. All of this truly was amazing, and so peaceful standing out there in the breeze with all the sheep.


The Northern coast is home to Lochranza Castle, which fell into disuse and disrepair during the 18th century. It had had a good life up until then though, so don't feel too badly for it. Many owners, many uses; it had fulfilled its purpose and beyond. Our day ended with a cup of tea and scones in a cozy inn with a view of Lochranza Castle. After that, we drove the rest of the way back to the port, turned in our car and waited for the ferry. The same crew was still slaving away as was on our outbound tour. A lovely plate of fish and chips later we were docking back on the mainland. We took a train back to the airport and tucked ourselves away in our hotel rooms. I had my own for the night.

It was lovely to have a bit of time to relax and organize myself. We meet up with the rest of the group in the morning and head out to Glencoe. Stay tuned!