The secret coast of Scotland

In these days of information overload, most of the travel junkies or even one off travellers pore over every available article, review and picture galleries on the internet, magazines and books before visiting a place.  So much so that when visiting, there is rarely an element of surprise, and at the worst, there is disappointment when something does not turn out to be what we expect, including the weather!  

I was also a victim of this phenomenon in our last few family vacations; and hence when my cousin took over the responsibility of planning a short break covering Lake district, some part of Scotland and Yorkshire in UK, I gamely gave in.  With quite a lot of self control, I resisted reading about the places or even the stay options that she had booked.  All this paid off so beautifully when we eventually did that trip.

We reached Lake district late night after a drive of about 5 hours from Milton Keynes, north of London. Our first call was in Lake Windermere where we got our own boat to cruise around!  Weather cooperating, it was a beautiful experience. 

Our next port of call was a castle which a Scottish colleague of my cousin had recommended that we should visit - it was called Caerlaverock castle , a castle that has been standing for more than 8 centuries, witness to numerous wars and sieges.

We then proceeded to a village called ‘Ardentinny’ where we were booked in a self catering villa for the night.  Against the advise of the B&B owner at Windermere to not depend on the ‘satnav’ [Satellite navigation - his actual words were ‘it got somebody almost killed!], we were merrily following it.  That was till we found ourselves at the edge of the sea at one point of time at the edge of a town called Dunoon!  Cursing why we did not listen to the advice, we turned around but the ‘satnav’ insisted on re-directing us to the tip of the ocean.  Which is when we noticed a ferry there boarding buses and cars for crossing! Lo and behold, it was directing us to take the ferry and cross the sea!  We reconfirmed the route from the owner of the villa, praise him for not letting us on this secret before!  It was a short 5 minute crossing but the thrill of literally jumping into the ferry without any plan was intoxicating and before we realised, we were on the other side.

Though just a few hours drive from the well known city of Glasgow, this whole place seemed out of the world.  We discovered we had landed in the ‘Argyll and Cowal Coast in West Scotland’ - a place called as Secret coast!   This coast of Scotland is still not so much in the tourist map but is renowned for its walking trails of various difficulties.  It is a pristine place with time coming to a stand still and letting the gentle breeze take over.  We crossed lake after lake or probably the same lake at different locations till we entered the quaint beautiful coastal village of Ardentinny.  Our villa was situated right on the shore of Loch Long in this village.

The villa called as White House was so tastefully decorated with all comforts one can ask for; including a large porch overlooking the lake and bedroom windows giving a glimpse of the surreal landscape of mountains, lakes, clouds and plains, all in one frame! There was a well stocked library , games, TV and numerous brochures and maps about the place in the villa ; it was tempting to just sack out there and ditch any plans of stepping out. 

Isn't this a post card perfect picture? 

But the outdoors were beckoning too!  With no destination in mind, we just kept driving and discovered beautiful lakes, lovely villages with cafes populated by local crowd and cuisine, and abundant Scottish wild life!  We were surprised to see a beautiful peacock (Was it something that got imported after the British rule of the East?), along with the common grouse.  Not to mention the beautiful lavender blooms! We did another ferry crossing and got to ‘Kyles of Bute’ where the famous Mount Stuart is situated.  We passed places offering adventure activities like Quad biking and sailing and numerous cyclists.

Our last leg of the trip was Yorkshire where we camped inside a wooded area with minimal facilities.  From here, we drove to the famous Scarborough beach and the weather God decided to play truant (we should have stayed back at White house, at the lap of the docile Loch Long!!) .

Either because we did not have schedules or because of the magic of the place, this trip to the secret coast of West Scotland was one vacation that was truly invigorating and gave the ‘peace of mind’ to one and all that is usually a mirage for the family traveller.  No rushing and no destination but just enjoyed the journey!  Oh, how I wish we have the courage to do this kind of ‘take it as it comes’ trips again and again!