Log No 127. Tue 10th Sep 2013 - Campbeltown to Carradale, 14 miles (1971 miles walked)

When I checked in at the campsite yesterday Colin gave me a donation and said I was the third walker doing the British Coast that had stayed here, Amy Leigh in 2010 and John Raynent in May earlier this year, we must have crossed each other at some point.

Alan & Jannet, from the campsite, also gave me a donation, I was chatting briefly to Alan while I was about to brush my teeth and he made an online donation as soon as he got back to his campervan.

Thankyou all.

I caught the 08.00 bus back to Campbeltown and after calling into the Co-op for a banana and some Tracker bars (the edible kind, not a navigation aid) set off up the road to Carradale.

This was my third time on this road so I knew what to expect.

The tide was going out making Island Davaar accessible from the mainland.

Apart from a short spell of rain right at the start it was another fine day but kept cool with a strong wind.

Kintyre seems to have lots of remains of old forts and duns. I stopped to look at Kildonan Dun since it was near to the road.

A dun is a defensive farmstead and this one was first built in the 1st or 2nd century AD.

This was not a flat road, the inclines weren't as long as yesterday but they were steeper, especially at the stream crossings.

The gradients started at 12%, went to 14% and finally 16%. Though they seemed a lot steeper from inside the bus.

The two constant views from this road were the big lump of rock Ailsa Craig and Arran.

Just past Torrisdale Bay I took to the Kintyre Way for the last mile back to the campsite.

This went right on the shoreline and is not passable when the tide is in. Only when I had got round to Waterfoot did I see a footpath sign that said "Low water route to Torrisdale".

The campsite was the other side of the wide river, Carradale Water, and so generally meant a bit of a detour.

Luckily the tide was out and had exposed stepping stones, only one near the middle was slightly under water.

When I walked by on the other side yesterday I had seen the footpath sign pointing across the river and thought "How do you get across that?", the tide was high enough that the stones weren't visible.



It had been an easy 14 miles in 5 hours, tomorrow will be longer with a full pack and a wild camp.