To the southern parts of Arran

Today we go for a walk between Eas More and Loch Garbad and hope to avoid the rain. We drive first towards Kildonan on the south coast of the island and then walk up steadily from the parking lot. It is not very steep but you keep on climbing. The area was completely inaccessible not so long ago and the Easmore ecology foundation has taken it upon itself to maintain the forest in a natural way. So it is now also possible for untrained hikers like us to visit.

Halfway through the climb we have a beautiful but blurry view of the sea, the island of Pladda and the volcanic cone Alisa Craig that rises from the sea. Alisa Craig means Elisabeth's rock or elven rock. According to the Wikipedia, it is the volcanic plug of an extinct volcano. On the island the rare granite type Ailsite is mined that is used for curling stones. They use them in that sport where they sweep the ice in front of the stone with brooms, you have to get used to looking at it, we think it looks a strange sport.

Eas-Mor means Large waterfall and is located in Glen Auchechew and of course the big spectacle of this area is a 30 meter high waterfall that ends in the Hidden Valley. There is a platform where you have a beautiful view of the waterfall that you can hear a long way long before you get here. I love waterfalls and I want to see every one of them even if it is just a quick stream. Fortunately, Elisabeth thinks this one is also worth the effort of the walk, because that is not always the case: then I drag her along on a long, often difficult, walk and the end result appears to be rather disappointing.

From there we walk on to Loch Garbad and then back past the Eas Mor Ecology library, a hut with some information, but where children can also make drawings about nature and the walls are full of them.
Nice and messy, quite natural of course.

Then we walk back and drive to Kildonan, which is just a bit further on the road to make another beach walk and to look at the castle. This time there is a real seal that lies just off the coast and not a statue. He keeps turning around as if he is posing especially for my camera and I make dozens of photographs.

Then we go along the beach in search of the Kildonan Castle from where the MacDonalds, the lords of the islands, guarded the entrance to the Firth of Clyde, from the 13th century after the Normans were more or less expelled. Later the castle fell to the crown and the kings used it as a hunting lodge.
The island of Pladda (meaning flat) was for sale in 1990 for only 80,000 pounds.

The ruin of the castle is standing in someone's garden and is quite dilapidated. You can only get around by walking across the beach. In 1544 the castle was acquired by the Dukes of Hamilton who ruled Arran, but it is so dilapidated that it has probably not been used for long.