Home is the hunter, home from the hill...

[f4f3]

Fantastic walk - Carradale just goes up and up in my estimation, looking even better from a 1,000 meters up or so. The drive down was as beautiful as ever, but not one to hurry. The last 15 miles or so are single track road (only wide enough for one car, with passing places) and I was brought to a stop twice, once by a herd of cows being moved from field to field and once by cable laying, where the two guys doing it had just parked their transit in the middle of the road, blocking one of only two roads from North to South in Kintyre. I tried to get worked up about it, but both times I had to stop and wait until they had moved their digger, pushed the cable to the side of the road, and then mover their van out of the way, I was the only one waiting. My fault for being there, really, and I apologised for making them move...

The walk was up out of the village to the hill which overlooks it. The higher I got the more the views opened out (strange that). There was a bit of haze, so although I could see Arran everything got a bit blue and fuzzy beyond that. Photos tomorrow. The walk was three miles long, and signposted as taking two hours - I cut about 20 minutes off that without hurrying, but then I didn't stop for long at the top. Merlin yomped along, surprising the only other people I met on the way (two young couples, one of them carrying a baby in an impressive papoose/rucksack hybrid). He enjoyed it, and is lying smelly and tired at my feet now. I've decided I'm too knackered to drive down to Glasgow tonight, so I'll make some pork stir-fry and watch "The Return of the King".

Ach, just come. You can stop off at the cottage on the way...