As usual on these occasions I was excited and in the excitement I could not find my cash to pay for the ferry. Luckily for me A2 had plenty so we were able to get on the ferry. I had the horrible feeling that I had lost my money on the walk from house. Anyway determined not to let this spoil the day I put it out of my mind.
A2 must have been a bit excited too as he left his rucksack on the ferry. This was discovered in the split second when we met Brother Michael (see previous post) who was coming onto the ferry. A2 shook his hand like an old mate, before rushing back to find the rucksack. In the end it was Brother Michael who spotted A2's rucksack on the top deck. Good old Brother Michael!
First a trip to the post office was required to pick up a score card and pay a quid (I left 3 as it was all I had). Then the walk up the hill to the golf course. For the non-golfers it is suffice to say that we were the only ones there, the views were spectacular and we had fun and were tired by the time we completed the 18 holes and walked back to the ferry. For any golfers you can get full details read this post here. In all the golf fun had taken about 5 hours from door to door. I was relieved to find that no money had been lost, it was on the bedroom window sill (I was just forgetful, not stupid, that's a relief!).
While we were away A1 and E had seen dolphins from the kitchen window...
 |
| A1 pic of local dolphins |
In the afternoon we chatted to the next door neighbour and he suggested a couple of beaches that are worth checking out. The first of these was the beach at Knockvologan, the second was the beach over the pink rocks to the old quarry (more about this later).
Armed with this information we decided to get in the car for the first time and check out Knockvologan. Take the first right going out of Fion-Port just past the pub, follow the road to Fiddens Farm campsite. Continue past/through Fiddens Farm farmyard (road goes left) and continue for a couple of miles down a windy road with a few houses. Eventually you come to a gate next to a barn. We were unsure of the correct next step but took a gamble that it was ok to go through the gate (leaving it closed) and at the end of the road there is a Farm house with a walled field indicating parking. So our gamble was correct. No one was around and we were unsure of the distance to the beach. It looked like the path to the beach was down a stoney/muddy track and this turned out to be true. Having found the correct place we decided to come back on another day to walk to the beach.
On our trip back to Fiddens A1 (hawk eye) spotted a large bird of prey on the left just before Fiddens. We stopped to take some long distance shots and hoped to return to see more. Just past Fiddens there is pleasent beach just in front of the camp site. We stopped here for a wander round and as usual we felt pretty pleased with ourselves, no one else there, great scenery, blue water, what more could you want.
On return to the Cottage we decided that yet another trip to the Keel Row was in order (you may spot a pattern here). It was quite late when we ate but beer, food and staff were excellent.
The evenings always passed nicely with a bit of chat, a bit of planning, a bit of photo review an occasional bit of snoozing and an odd cake/biscuit provided by A1. We never turned the TV on once.
I especially liked waking up in the night and having a quick look out of the window at the tide (in or out), the ferry (parked on the jetty or not) and the stars (visible or not).
Zzzz...
 |
| Golf with a view! |
 |
| A typical tee |
 |
| The Iona football pitch |
 |
| The beach at Fiddens |
 |
| The beach at Fiddens |