We're all Dooned, I tell ye, Dooned.

On Friday, summer decided to make a tentative appearance. It stopped raining around Loch Lomond and we had a spectacular sunset. There was still a cool breeze, but this kept the emerging midges at bay, so they weren't a great problem. Everybody seemed more cheerful.


The next day we carried on south towards Largs, on the North Ayrshire coast. The drive through Dumbarton and north Glasgow was nowhere near as grim as I expected, and most places looked tidy, but the accents were seemingly getting harsher. The Erskine bridge over the Clyde was impressive, and the towns on the North Ayrshire coast all looked prosperous.

The Largs Marina, or Yacht Haven to give it its proper name, simply oozed money. Quite apart from the yachts and cruisers, the car park was full of Ferraris, F Types, a DB10, assorted Porches and Mercs, and some downmarket Range Rovers.





The sun shone all day on Saturday, so Ann and I just got the chairs out and watched all the boating activity, and got a little sunburnt! There were some well wrapped ginger headers about, but I should imagine they would suffer sunburn in dense mist. It was here that we met Rosie and Billy. Rosie talked solidly, without breathing in, for 45 minutes. Billy has his own personal defibrillator built in, and this gives him a good jolt every now and then. Rosie gave us her family history - one of 28 children (yes, 28!) of whom only 13 survived. It seems twins didn't stand a chance. Naturally she had had a few for lunch, but was never obnoxious, and Ann kept on being called Hen. It was quite good fun really.

Sunday took us back inland  and south to Loch Doon, to an unusual camp site. The site is community run, and right on the edge of the loch. There is also, on the other side of the loch from the campsite, a protected Osprey nest, and just below us a small cafe/ information centre with a spy-scope view of the nest, complete with two chicks. A webcam mounted close to the nest relayed a full HD stream back to the cafe.


Loch Doon is where the Spitfire mentioned in my second blog was raised and restored.

Tomorrow takes us further south to Garlieston, on the north shore of the Solway Firth


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