Bute

Britain, Skye, Mull, Benbecula, Arran, North and South Uist, Isle of Portland and now Bute so far.  Still a long was to go.  Cumbrae off of Largs should be the next one.

An island in the Firth of the Clyde (with exceptionally clear waters I must note), Bute reminds me a bit of the larger Arran a few miles south. The earliest known evidence of human habitation is from around 2000 BC and for centuries it was part of the Norse controlled Kingdom of the Isles.  Since it is on opposite of the UK from Norway one might wonder why they were here until you look at a map and see how easily Vikings could sail from Norway to the north of Scotland where they controlled the Orkneys and from there easily work their way down the coast with plenty of opportunity to pillage and eventually settle. This must account for the 23% Scandinavian DNA I possess .  The Scots wrested control between the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries.

The island played an important part in WWII as it was a secret training area for mini-submarines.

The Marquess of Bute  whose family controls a great part of the island is the same family that first came to my attention when I was in Cardiff.

I had heard it was a most beautiful island and could be reached by a short ferry ride of 20 minutes or so from Wemyss Bay hence one of the reasons I’m there. The ferry arrives in the only town on the isle, Rothesay.

Complete with palm trees

A very helpful Kirsty at the visitor center housed in the building in the last photo directed me to the 800 year old castle, maybe the only round one I’ve seen, and to a nice woodland walk and the garden where the town grows it’s seasonal plantings. I had a nice conversation with a  woman named Chris, if memory serves, (the white house high on the hill is hers )

was preparing plants for her garden just before starting the woodland walk who strongly suggested I add Northumbria to my wanders so I must look into that.  The people I’ve met so far from the far south on up have been very warm and once they realize I’m a Yank, very open to chatting.  This has proved both enjoyable and helpful and I thank them all.

I’m sure the beautiful moat is of recent construction as it would appear useless for defense.

 

Great Hall

The local seagulls found it a nice place too.

This was weird in that it is the first time I have ever been in a castle totally alone.  Not one other person, even staff, to get in a photo or disturb the scene.

The same could be said for the woodland walk and garden, nobody was even apparently present to note my presence when I walked and sat in the gardens or walked the glasshouses.

Since this garden holds a fern thought to be 1,000 years old, it would have been nice to have had someone to point it out, but the solitude was a fair trade.  The caged birds were a nice touch.

We pass this lighthouse along the ferry ride.

And here is the Wemyss Bay station from the waterside