the island of bute

It was a spur of the moment visit and I’m so glad we went. Life on the island was the inspiration for my book and going back there was just what I needed. If you’ve read the work in progress version (you can find it here) you’ll recognise a lot of these places.

Tradition states that no matter which ferry you go for, you always miss it by two minutes.

It didn’t matter how many times I made the trip, I always loved being outside watching the sea. I suspect it’s having my roots in the Orkney islands. Ferry journeys are in my blood.

So beautiful.

There’s something magical about this other world going on across the water. The same but so, so different. If you’ve lived in an island community you’ll know what I mean. Yesterday I clonked the car on a huge pothole (if you’ve read the first couple of chapters you’ll know just which ones I mean!) and managed to knock off the protective underneath-plastic thing. We stopped at the Kingarth Hotel where they lent us a spanner and we had a Guinness and a fruitless attempt to get the bloody thing off. Having failed we drove back into Rothesay (making a spectacularly loud scraping noise) and the lovely man from Rothesay Motor Services fixed it for us for free.

Kilchattan Bay

It’s just beautiful, and so quiet. Hard to believe you can be there from Glasgow in a bit more than an hour.

The thing about living on an island is all roads lead to the same place. That’s the best sign ever.

More tomorrow, with bits of book attached so you can see the places. Come back soon.