South West Scotland 2021: Part Fifteen

18 September 2021

After a good night’s sleep, I decided to just take a stroll and a little look around the marina here. By chance, I noticed a man locking up a gas enclosure and spotted they had bottles in the size Fred used. I stopped the man, asking if they were full, available to sell, and if me not being a boat owner was OK. A lot of questions all at once, but I was met with a cheery smile and three yes’s. I just had to bring in my old tank, and he would get me a replacement one out in a moment, that I could buy. Really pleased I had ventured over here, I hurried back to Fred, picked up my empty, and bought myself a full bottle. It was super easy! Now I definitely didn’t need to worry for a little while!

It had been raining for a good portion of the night, and though no where near enough to fill any waterways, I suspected a waterfall would be far easier than anything out in the open, so settled on Lynn waterfall as my first visit today. I wasn’t expecting to find a space in the tiny car park, especially being a Saturday, but was pleasantly surprised to find a few spots I could park in. Then I started the hiking loop, loving all the fairy houses and carved toadstools hidden along the route. When I got to the waterfall, I was overjoyed to find a full fall at last! It was a bit of a scrabble down, then I realised that the best position was actually across the river. Very carefully, River and I gingerly made our way across the fast running water, and once we touched the other shore, I heard whoops, cheers and applause. Shocked and somewhat embarrassed to realise that people had been watching my shenanigans, I looked for the source of my congratulatory praise to find a big family on the top of the falls waving and clapping. I shyly waved back, then hid my blushing face as I started to set up my tripod. (wanted them to realise I was this side for a purpose, and not just a nutty old woman taking pointless risks for fun) Then I walked around to several positions to find the nicest view. Down stream slightly was nice, but we lost the second fall behind a big tree, too much to the right, and the sun glared into the camera… So I settled for a mid position.

I moved over a little when the sun gained enough height to be a little more out of my shot. From here I liked the view better so spent some time snapping a number of shots (all the same…why DO I do that when I like a place?!! Lol) and soaking in the atmosphere. River had a good explore so I was content to just chill here for a while. In hindsight, I wish I had played a little more with the shutter speed to freeze the water a fraction less, but I think I was concentrating on avoiding the glare from the sun, so I’ll try and remember this for future. The shots themselves after the dribbles I had encountered so far on this trip, really made my day though.

Once I had filled my happiness bucket here, we made our way across the river and back up, and then finished walking the the loop, enjoying the walk thoroughly. From here I thought I would quickly check out a reservoir – but as suspected, the overflow was very dry. I made a mental note of a parking spot for another time instead. The overflow at Camphill Reservoir is really pretty, so I definitely want to try that sometime, but today wasn’t the day sadly. I took a phone photo to remind myself, and headed off.

Looking at the weather forecast and seeing that the cloud would continue to clear, I decided that I would try a spot I had really been looking forward to seeing, Portencross Castle and pier. Two photographic opportunities for me, so, excited, I made the drive there – only to be chronically disappointed and very frustrated by the local council or landowner. The only access, it seemed, was down a long narrow road with double yellow lines all the way down. That’s all well and good, but when I got to the bottom, the car park had a height barrier stopping me parking anywhere. It was also a dead end. Frustrated, disappointed and very annoyed that there were no signs much earlier warning this route was unsuitable for motorhomes or large vehicles, I gingerly tried a 3 point turn, and drove all the way back out. How a larger motorhome might manage this I have absolutely NO idea! I was desperate to find somewhere I could stop to enable me to walk back, but there was nothing. My heart sank and my frustration at feeling so unwelcome really started to eat at me. I got all the way back to the main road, and started to drive back the way I had come, finding a parking spot where I could pull over to check a map. I found nothing to the south, but on closer inspection found a possible spot to the north, giving me just over a mile to walk. It was my only option, so I drove back up, round past a nuclear power station, and was relieved to see a nearly empty public car park with no restrictions right by Hunterston Pier. I could also see the castle in the distance, so decided to make a quick dinner, and then start the walk. I would be back after dark I expected, and didn’t want the hassle of eating then, especially as it might use power for the lights. It didn’t seem like Fred’s driving was keeping the batteries topped up very well, as it had last year, so I needed to be a little more conservative on my power usage where I could.

The hike was pretty easy following a simple route along the Ayrshire coastal path. The tall cliffs to my left housed Peregrine falcons. I heard them cawing loudly and my app identified their call without any hesitation. My walking route was flat and easy, but ahead of me I noticed cloud building on the horizon. I really hoped it would lift enough to give a nice sunset and not block it out. The sky otherwise was getting pretty clear and it was nice to see the blue. With an hour and a half to sunset, my hopes were raised a little, even though the huge disappointment I had felt earlier, still haunted and lowered the tone of this visit.

When I got there, the pier looked very disappointing. I found it hard to get a composition with a lowered mood, uncooperative light and a flat incoming tide. An ongoing problem with plantar fasciitis didn’t help by adding sore feet to the growing list. I had hoped to get the waves coming over the rocks, but a) I wasn’t quite in the mood for scrambling over rocks to look for compositions with these feet, and b) there were no waves at all… The tide was literally just gently rising. This was actually an issue I have seen throughout this break, even at Clough lighthouse, it was a real struggle to get an ethereal mood to the shot. I gave up in the end, walked on a bit towards the castle and instead found a mound to climb up. I took a photo from the top, looking back the way I had just come. The lush green of the grass, the brown of the rocks and the blue of the sky were really nice, and to complete the scene there was a little house tucked in the trees. Hunterston pier, where I had parked, was just visible in the distance, and when I looked really hard, I could just see Fred. You wouldn’t think the walk had been that long looking at that..

I walked down to the castle, which is apparently open sometimes (not today though), and looked at several viewpoints. The strong evening sun put one side into an unflattering flat light, and the other side into full darkness. The dark side I hoped to use for the sunset, as the path has a wonderful curve that leads you to the castle, so the shot I needed before that would have to be out on the rocks… The only position I could get to that would give a half light and half dark shadowing. I clambered out to the point I identified as the only probable good viewpoint, wincing with each step, and really struggling with my balance for some reason, and sat a while setting up, just enjoying the peace. As it goes, the composition from here was really nice, and not one I normally see from this location. It’s just a shame we didn’t have a better aspect of the tower itself. but beggars can’t be choosers right?

Once the pictures here were done, I turned my camera to the setting sun, only to realise that the huge bank of cloud had really built up on the horizon between me and the sun. It dipped behind, offering sun rays for a little bit, highlighting a curious scene where a cloud of mist was just laying lightly over a hill on the Isle of Arran, looking like a layer of thin wading had been put down over that section of land. It was rather pretty to watch the mists rolling down gently. (see header photo) Then the sun dipped out of view altogether, casting the palest of warm glows onto the clouds above me. I walked back to my prime position still with the slightest hope of a dramatic sunset, but very little happened but the light fading. This seemed fitting for my mood to be fair, so I took the pictures anyway. Just to add to my annoyance of the day, I hadn’t brought my wide angle lens. This meant that I couldn’t get the shot all in one as I hoped. Très frustrant indeed. Instead I cheated and did a panarama of the scene and stitched it together… this was harder to do than it might normally be, because River seemed to want to get into a number of the shots!

After I finished what I could do here, I packed up and walked all the way back in the quickly dimming light. Luckily it seemed quicker getting back, but by then my feet had absolutely had enough, so I just went straight to bed.