Roadtrip; Kintyre...

Day 5
last part of last weeks trip...
after i biked to Campbeltown and met my big Sis,Ian and the gang we went for ice cream at Macrihanish after a walk on the beach there...
if you live in East Lothian you will smile at the name of the beach here...

surfer waiting to go out...

heading to the beach past the M.O.D Macrihanish is Macrihanish Dunes...

a recently opened Links golf course which compared to the recent new Scottish golf courses is something of a testament to the old historic links courses of Scotland, being a Head Greenkeeper and a links trained one at that i find this place interesting as it isnt a money no object remodelling of the landscape like nearly all new courses are...built on a SSSI ground the course has had to use the natural lie of the land and with no dune control allowed (by fencing) greens will just have to be moved when they are engulfed by the moving dunes...bunkers are what they looked like 180 years ago...

a small unobtrusive clubhouse keeps in tone with the area and with no fertiliser allowed except on the greens,this is a working example of how golf courses can be built into the enviroment...
but i was on holiday and trying not to look too much,i was more interested in what is over the top of the dunes...3 miles of Atlantic beach...





will definitly be back down here this year for a weekend and do a beachride on the pugsley...there is about another 3 to 4 miles of ridable beach either side of the sands...




the wet sand from the previous tide was covered in jelly fish...


and this one is Lions Maine which is poisonous...

before the beach we drove past M.O.D Macrihanish, formarly RAF Macrihanish...



this base is often referred to as the Area 51 of the UK...
lots of rumour`s surround the base from the 3 km landing strip being a standby runway for the NASA shuttle if it was to overshoot Cape Kennedy, to it once being a top secret test base for a super sonic stealth plane which is again rumoured to be linked to the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre that was full of top brass officals,locals that witnessed the noise of the crash said there was a very loud sonic boom at the same time,(witnesses were also made to sign the offical secrets act! )a noise that they had heard often at night over the base and out to sea,
and the plane was housed in a large hanger which the doors have never been seen open in daylight...who knows,maybe all just rumour...

what is fact is that during the cold war after the runway was extended to 3 km Vulcan bombers started to land at the base, B57 nucleur bombs designed to be used for submarine attack were stored at the base,the Americans left after the demise of the cold war in the early 90s and the base was stood down to minimal staff,next time the space shuttle is up it would be interesting to see if there is any increased activity!
more reading on the base here; Secret Scotland
and here; E GOAT forum

last evening friends came round to the holiday house and after dinner the chiminea was lit and early on a midge infested footy game of big ones verses wee ones...
note the midge nets!



"take me to your leader"...

with sideways rain on Friday i gave riding the mtb trails near Lochgilphead a miss and headed home at a very slow speed,the west coast wouldnt be the west coast without the rain which gives it its colour,and lush green plant and tree growth,
i love it...


heres a film of Kintyre...