And over the last few years we've talked about meeting up again and that I should come to Scotland, he has a little cottage on the Isle of Arran.

And now, I don't know, it must be about seven or eight years later, it finally worked out. The long weekend with the Swiss national holiday seemed to be a good time for it. So I booked the flights without further ado and then I only had to wait 6 months until August came.

The flight wasn't until the afternoon, so I spent the whole day in the office and then pretty much went straight to the airport. But oh dear, how could it be otherwise, the BA plane was delayed again. When I arrived at the airport, it was actually supposed to take off from London, but instead it hadn't even taken off from Nice yet. Well, this could be fun. If nothing goes wrong from now on, I could just about catch my connecting flight at Heathrow. But just half an hour later, my hopes were dashed. Another night that I can spend at Europe's second largest airport is looming.

Yes, and that's exactly what happened. I was finally in London over 2.5 hours late. The last flight to Glasgow had already left the capital half an hour ago and I was stranded at Heathrow for the third time. This somehow happens every time I fly with British Airways. Maybe next time I should make sure not to fly with them, or plan a five-hour layover in advance to catch any connections. Well then, I picked up my luggage and went straight to the counter to complain. I was fobbed off with a voucher for 20 pounds to buy something to eat and was told to come back in half an hour. No sooner said than done. Back at the counter I was given another voucher for an overnight stay in a hotel just outside the airport. So off I got in a taxi and shortly after midnight I was in bed at the hotel. At half past four the alarm went off to tell me I was back at the airport in time to check in for the first flight to Glasgow.

Actually, the stopover wasn't that tragic, because much later I wasn't in Paisley at the train station from where I had to take the train to Ardrossan. The night was just a bit short, it would have been better if it had been different and I would have had a decent breakfast. Well, so far so good. After I left the airport in Glasgow, I took the bus into town to the train station. Since I still had a few minutes before the train arrived, I wobbled around the town a bit, there was still time to go to Paisley Abbey and the town hall before I continued on.

Arrived in Ardrossan I had almost 1.5 hours until the ferry arrived. I made use of the time and finally got to have breakfast, I was hungry now after having skipped dinner yesterday and only having a small snack.

The weather was getting better and better. At least something positive. And changing perspectives from the ferry made my heart beat faster. We arrived at the port just before noon, made the most of the beautiful weather and the amount of time. We quickly looked in the travel guide to see what we had to do and off we went. But somehow it was a bit annoying to be dragging my rolling suitcase through the streets. I passed a bike rental shop and, whoosh, I put the suitcase down and hopped on my bike. That way you can get around faster and more relaxed. The first destination was "Brodick Castle". Oops, it's up the hill, it's exhausting, I'm obviously anything but fit. But I cycled up and secretly made fun of the other tourists who were pushing their bikes up the hill.

Like every property I have visited in England and Scotland, everything here is immaculate and sparkling clean. And even though I didn't really want to stay that long, I walked a bit here and there and lost a bit of time. Well, still enough time, I don't have to return the bike until 4 p.m. I carry on, going down is much easier than going up. But somehow I ended up on a main road at the bottom. Well, not so bad, I'm quite used to driving on the left. And as I cycle along, I pass a great sign. After having already been warned about bats in Bosnia this year (see report here), I now had to watch out for dangerous squirrels. You never stop learning about the dangers of wild animals.

A short stop at an apparently very famous beach bar with delicious gin, where I tried a bit of the menu, was a must. And somehow I lost track of time again, which is not surprising given the atmosphere. I quickly stopped by the local dairy and philosophized a bit, it's almost standard practice on my travels. I didn't want to try cheese, but the ice cream they make was definitely worth the stop. Now I really have to hurry. And at just before half past four, the bike rental shop was eagerly awaiting me. Everything had already been tidied up, my suitcase was ready and the poor man was standing there and couldn't lock up because I, or rather his last bike, was still missing. But a pleasant chat later, we both went our separate ways. My next stop was the supermarket. Colin told me yesterday that he had an appointment and wouldn't be coming to the island until Friday evening. There's a little something to eat in the house, but maybe I should take a little something with me. And something for the grill is always good. I did some shopping and wobbled back to the harbor, from where the bus would hopefully take me to Lamlash without a long wait.

And so it was. I arrived at the bus station relatively safely and only had to wait 35 minutes for the next bus. It wouldn't have even helped if I had returned the bike on time, because that would have been the next bus anyway. So I did everything right and 45 minutes later I arrived at Colin's house and settled in. A short walk to the beach before the tide came in and I lit the fire on the terrace before I made myself something to eat. I also brought a beer with me, a good decision because, contrary to what Colin said, there was nothing in the fridge. The bar only had whiskey and I didn't want to drink that alone. Because of the short night yesterday and the very active day, I didn't live long today either. A shower and off to bed.

Since Colin isn't arriving until this evening, I thought of a little hike that I could do. A nice hiking route starts from Lamlash, at least that's what the travel guide and the various brochures I took with me from the ferry say. Well, we'll have a look. Let's go. The start of the route wasn't quite so easy to find, but we managed it, and then the rain came. Well, it was actually just a short shower, but the weather today wasn't as nice as yesterday. But it's not a problem, I'm equipped with everything that's waterproof and windproof. Uphill and downhill, the peace and quiet was constantly disturbed by log transporters, but the path was actually quite pleasant to walk. It was only shortly before the waterfall itself that the forest path became a dirt track, but that was also not bad at all, but

you still had to be careful where you stepped to avoid losing your balance and landing on your face. The waterfall itself was a beautiful one. Not the most water-rich, but what can you expect on a small island, but a drop of over 40 meters on two large and a few smaller cascades is impressive. A small platform opposite the waterfall itself provides the best view and you probably stay there longer than you would otherwise. At least that's how it was for me.

After I had rested a bit and had my lunch, I continued on. It should still be possible to get to the "Giants Grave" a few hundred meters further on. The randomly thrown together piles of stones were less recognizable as a grave, but it was at least clear that it was not of natural origin.

After the Giants Grave came the descent, this time really only over small paths, which were also partially blocked by fallen bushes and trees, and you had to fight your way through. Since I was not the first to want to go through there, but the supposedly biggest, I did not have to break off too many branches to get through to climb down. Before I

got back to the main road, I was allowed to walk along the stream whose waterfall I had visited earlier.
A few small and large houses lined this path, with beautifully landscaped gardens and all kinds of strange plants, with huge leaves and beautiful flowers.

On the main road itself, I conveniently got off at a bus stop. Practical if there was a bus, which wasn't the case. So it was "thumbs up" and hitchhiking.
It took a few minutes before an older gentleman gave me a ride. We got chatting, and in the end he drove me quite a bit further than he actually had to. He then dropped me off at a café and said that you could also go on a nice little hike there, which I then tackled before I fortified myself with coffee and cake in the little café.

It was only early afternoon, so I decided to try and get to the LAGG Distillery. I had barely stood on the road with my thumb out when two ladies from Italy stopped and took me to the distillery. The time wasn't quite right for a tour, but the bartender had just started serving a snack to another tourist, which I was able to join in with for free. During the subsequent visit to the associated shop, however, the weather had worsened so much that it was impossible to walk home. I tried anyway, because the next bus wasn't coming for another hour and a half. But as the rain got heavier, I went to the local inn in the next village 20 minutes later and had a beer until the bus arrived.

I was back home shortly before 6 p.m. When I got there, I realized that the weather must have been even worse here than on the other side of the island, because the pavilion that had been set up was - gone. In the meantime, Colin had called to say that the planned ferry was not running and that he now had to drive another 1.5 hours to another ferry point and probably wouldn't be able to get there before 8:30 p.m. Well, I'm going to make myself something to eat and take a hot shower, because my hike was a bit strenuous. According to my smart phone, it was well over 20 km. It's been a long time since I walked that much in one day.

We had already been travelling for over an hour when my stomach suddenly turned. Nothing was working anymore, I had to get out and think about breakfast again. Not even water would stay in. I was completely exhausted from one moment to the next.
So unfortunately we had no choice but to turn around and drive back. There isn't much more to report from that day, because I spent most of it in bed. It wasn't until the evening that I was able to get up again carefully.
As I was useless, Colin arranged to meet up with a few friends. That was fine with me, because I didn't even want to talk. And that was Saturday.
On Sunday morning I was at least able to have breakfast again and chat a little with Colin before he took me back to the harbour, where my ferry back to Ardrossan left at 11:30 a.m.