Outdoor Photography: Island Journal Pt 8

In Outdoor Photography, Issue 129, August 2010 we have reached the Isle of Bute.

Bute - day 6 - Scalpsie Bay

photographing Scalpsie Bay, facing Arran

Bute - day 5 - Great Cumbrae

road back to Millport from the top of the island

The Eileans, Great Cumbrae

 

The Eileans - two islands, one name 

Bute - day 4 - Kilchattan Bay

Rubh'an Eun lighthouse, Bute

Bute - day 3 - Ettrick Bay

the legendary meringue from Ettrick Bay cafe

a piper pipes next to a grey man in a bus shelter - the blank, wide bay of Ettrick is visited - roadside banks are filled with primroses - more Scottish ruins are assessed - a nap is taken on a beachside rock - a mountainous meringue pie is put into the cafe's oven - the tallest Victoria Sponge is consumed 

Bute - day 2 - Ascog

Ascog Fernery

Rothesay Castle is visited with no more than a sense of duty - T glimpses heaven: a swan on her nest beneath a weeping blossom tree - giant Victorian houses are promenaded past - Ascog Fernery offers sanctuary from the rain - a farmer's field is filled with gulls - Loch Ascog stares blankly - Bogany Wood shows the way home

Bute - day 1 - Rothesay

Rothesay's famous Victorian toilets

"it's raining in Scotland... of course" - the 8:50 train is taken to Wemyss Bay, flanked by a continuous trail of litter - the expansive, lace like iron work of Wemyss Bay station is admired - Bute welcomes us with an endless, protective wall of grand Victorian houses - a dilapidated doorway announces our 'luxury apartment' - memories of the sitcom Rising Damp are stirred - the false office ceiling is pondered - the horror-movie shower threatens - beautiful Victorian toilets are perused but left unblemished - at Port Bannatyne a small motorbike is suspended from the old pier - the young artist, on his own bike, talks through his latest creation - orange cheese toasties are consumed on a bench - the West Island way zigzags us home - the Co-op is located - at 10pm the music begins from the pub below - at 00:30 the music and shouting ends - a new reverence is found for double glazing