Bute 18th September

Alan McQ, Davie C, Dougie, Gus, Hugh, Ian, Malcolm, Rex, Robert

Nine Ooters boarded the 10:05 sailing to Bute on a beautiful sunny morning; although some were cutting it a bit fine with a few minutes to spare owing to delays due to various roadworks on the way up and then the difficulty in finding a parking space at Wemyss Bay. For the record, the sailing from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay took 35 minutes and cost £7.60 for a return fare.

A further delay was experienced with the bus to Kilchattan Bay which was late in departing Rothesay due to the number of people boarding and one Ooter's bus pass not being accepted. For the record, a return fare to Kilchattan Bay for the one Ooter who still had to pay was £6.30. Once we were underway, the bus rattled down towards the southern end of the island including a diversion to drop off most of its passengers at Mount Stuart. It was 11:30 by the time we reached Kilchattan Bay and it was decided that we would have coffee here before the commencement of the walk.

Progress along the first stretch of the coastline down to the lighthouse at Rubh' an Eun was slow due to the nature of the terrain and it took around half an hour to cover the first mile. However, with such fine views to appreciate who would want to be in a hurry? We continued to follow the marker posts for the West Island Way round to Glencallum Bay which glistened in the sunshine and rather than push onwards to have lunch at St Blane's Chapel as has often been the case in the past, we found a suitable spot above the bay to have our lunch and enjoy the view over to the peaks of Arran.

After lunch, we continued along the marked trail passing the lochan and St Blane's Chapel which we didn't stop at as we were mindful that we had a ferry to catch - but which ferry would it be? Chances of making the 3pm ferry were looking unlikely by this point as it seemed to be taking us longer than expected to get round - possibly due to the warmer weather, spending more time looking at the views and not having sufficient water with us. The climbs up from St Blane's Chapel and then back over to Kilchattan Bay were found to be challenging to most of us and even though the total mileage of today's outing was a mere 4.6 miles, it had felt like a lot longer.

We arrived back in Kilchattan Bay around 3pm but the next bus to Rothesay wasn't until 15:52 so there was now no chance of us making the 4pm ferry either. However, it wasn't too much of a hardship to sit in the sunshine awaiting our transport. The bus was on time and we were back in Rothesay around 16:20 so had time for a drink in The Taverna Bar before getting the 5pm ferry back to Wemyss Bay. Some partook of a second drink on the ferry whilst others settled for a coffee. It had been a long day despite the walk itself being less than 5 miles and some Ooters would not have got home until after 7pm. However, there was no doubt that it had been a very worthwhile way to spend such a warm and sunny September day.