Log No 123. Fri 6th Sep 2013 - Near Tayinloan to Machrihanish, 19 miles (1920 miles walked)

Last night was the coldest it has been since the first week many moons ago. With no wind and clear skies the temperature didn't quite drop to zero but I woke up in the early hours and had to put a t-shirt on.

It was a good start to the walk, leaving the rucsac in the tent I set off under blue skies at 07.40.

From the tent I was straight onto the beach, the only person on it and no noise other than the water rippling on the sand, bliss.

Even the herons, which always fly off before you get anywhere near them, just stayed put looking at me.

The tide line had a lot of jellyfish along it.

On my way to Tayinloan I passed the wreck of the Island Queen, it didn't look as though it had been there over long as, apart from it being stripped, it appeared intact.

Walking under the jetty at Tayinloan I had another 10 minutes on the beach before I had to get back onto the road.

The half hour of beach walking was all too brief and I now had 4 hours of tarmac and traffic.

As the morning progressed the clouds increased and rain always seemed to be threatening.

I finally left the road at Westport at 12.40 and dropped back down onto the sand of Machrihanish Bay.

The road walk hadn't actually been too bad as it kept close to the shore for the most part.

I now had 3 miles of beach to walk on to finish the day.

I walked past Campbeltown Airport and the Links Golf Course, not that I saw either of them because of the dunes.

At the end of the bay I had to go onto the golf course to use one of their bridges to get across the stream, I didn't think it was worth the effort of taking my socks and boots off to paddle across when I only had 5 more minutes of walking.

With an hour to wait for the bus I went into the Old Clubhouse for a pot of tea.

The main bus route is Campbeltown to Tarbert (and on to Glasgow) with other local services to and from Campbeltown but as the local bus times are based on school runs the connections are not good. At least I get plenty of time to spend in Tescos.