We spent the weekend with friends at Ballachulish, Argyllshire. The weather was misty-moisty but we enjoyed meeting and greeting and getting a long lie-in on Sunday morning as it was the day for putting the clocks back.
While the men headed off for some hill walking in Glencoe Maggie and I dawdled our way home down the coast stopping as and when we pleased. Port Appin caught my eye: it is off the beaten track and a corner I have not visited for many years.
We discovered this lovely place, Druimneil House. On the roadside we spotted an Open Garden sign so, being on our own with no one to tell us we had to be heading down the road, we decided to explore.
After chatting with the owner we learned that this was the last day for being "open" so Maggie and I were privileged to have a walk around the walled garden and grounds. We departed, agreeing that it would be a perfect place - set back from the road in lovely country - for a weekend retreat. Details of their accommodation are here. As it is the owners' home they keep the B&B going throughout the year (though the garden is closed until spring).
The dampness lasted all day but made for atmospheric photos: Connel Bridge with the tide running at the Falls of Lora under the bridge into Loch Etive. In the past we have sailed through these narrows at slack water inching our way under that steel bridge into the placid loch which is out of the picture on the right hand side. Yes, we knew there was a metre of clearance above the mast but it was extremely nerve-wracking as we approached the bridge thinking for sure the top of the mast was going to BANG into the under-deck of the bridge!
Same place but looking left, westwards to the open sea: boats on the winter moorings on the west side of Connel Bridge in wee bay opposite Ards House.
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