Bute. West Island Way.Arran Ridge.Scotland in Springtime.

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An orange selfie. Being shy and retiring,the kind of selfie I prefer. Maybe I'll use different parts of my anatomy to create an identikit image of myself, as my personality is like that sometimes. "Call us legion, for we are many." This is Red Currant and Kerris Japonica (Batchelor's Buttons) in someone's garden.

Berberis. A beautiful waxy deep orange shrub that can take care of itself as it is covered in sharp spines if you get too close and is often used as a barrier to deter intruders. I've known someone like that since childhood, mind you :o)

Feeding the five thousand.

Frogs mating.
As it was the sheer joy of spring again I fancied an island trip and Bute, for the moment, tends to be quieter than Arran as it is perceived, wrongly, to be free of outdoor adventure.

Cal Mac ferry on the Bute Crossing. For £8:75 return this hardworking ferry crossing will transport you from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay Town in under 40 mins to one of the jewel islands in the Firth of Clyde.

Just Alan and myself on this trip, with bikes, which go over free. Alan has been fishing on Bute before as he's a keen angler but had never explored the rest of the island properly. This is Holy Isle and the detached atoll/ extinct volcanic granite plug of Ailsa Craig. Where the best curling stones come from.

Ferry entering Rothesay Town. One of the easier walks in my guide book "A Guide to Walking and Cycling around the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde" starts from here and climbs a set of long steps up a lane beside this old school, which is now derelict. It covers from Lanark to Girvan and includes all the Clyde islands you can get enjoyable walks or cycle rides on with 148 colour photographs and descriptions of over 80 different routes. Arran and Ailsa Craig are also covered in the book.Many walks are not well known as I wanted to avoid ones already done to death in other publications. £2:32 on Kindle. Bute is actually a walkers paradise at any time of year in fine conditions but is little known for that... even now. It is also perfect for cycling. Rothesay Town itself has many great, relatively easy walks that start from the ferry.
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Walking-Cycling-around-Clyde-ebook/dp/B00P1IO2SM/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430577932&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=A+guide+to+waling+and+cycling+around+the+river+Clyde+and+Firth+of+Clyde.+Bob+Law.

We set off round the island from the 9:20 ferry and soon found ourselves whizzing past Bogany Point, Orcadia,with its joy inducing vertical red sandstone cliffs and back garden (strictly private) zig zag stairs leading up them on the way round to Mount Stuart via the empty and mostly traffic free main road.

The small seaside clusters of Victorian and Edwardian villas around this island often rise steeply up the hillsides. If Heaven, if I ever get there, does not look, smell, or feel like this I'll be extremely disappointed clutching a one way ticket in my hand. This island, in good sunny weather, is heaven on earth already for me. Note the local bus going around the island in photo.  According to summer ferry timetables 2015 it may be better to check with Cal Mac before you go as they are doing some work to the Wemyss bay pier although I didn't notice anything. They should be ended by June in any case. Car parking £3 a day garage next to ferry or inside train station. www.calmac.co.uk for ferry info and you may find this bus link and other island info helpful. Regular trains run from Glasgow to Wemyss Bay.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Isle_of_Bute

Rothesay again with the Barone ridge just sticking up behind.

In places the sweet aromatic coconut smell of flowering gorse was overpowering in the spring heat and always brings back youthful memories of a certain person, who still likes to wear coconut cream suntan lotion on occasion.

The higher mountains of Arran were covered in fluffy clouds and sat cool and dark in the shade at this early hour but started to burn off as we travelled round the island.

Ascog Bay near Mount Stuart.

Livestock in fields. Bute is a flat or gently rolling pastoral island and very fertile compared to rocky Arran with its granite ridge interior dominating the landscape.

A view of Arran from the small informal airfield on Bute. This was a busy day with a small private plane and a micro light touching down on the grass strip runway.

We soon reached the village of Kilchattan where you get off if coming by bus from Rothesay, which sits under the ancient volcanic plug of Suidhe Chatain. From here a path leads round the Garroch Head peninsula and this distinctive rugged landscape was formed by successive lava flows from the surrounding volcano then worn down by successive ice sheets and glaciers to the jutting bare bones we see today. This is Glencallum Bay and the automated lighthouse. The ruins of an old inn for sailing ships which used to anchor here in this sheltered bay waiting for favourable winds to take them to the Americas can still be seen in the bracken.

Alan heading back from the inn ruins under the steep cliffs of Torr Mor. To reach this point is an easy walk and you can take bikes around the peninsula but you have to be prepared to roll or carry them over several gates, a minefield of extensive boulders and up several small hills. A light bike, surefootedness over rough terrain, and a general degree of fitness is required. There are stretches you could cycle on grass but as it is a walking route I always walk round it rolling or carrying the bike as I've seen too many lovely grass routes completely ruined by mountain bike exploits recently. All it takes is a few days of sustained wet weather coupled with increased traffic and you end up with a mud rut of deep grooves which takes years to recover and may well be permanent if it isn't rested or closed off for a season. Many of the more popular country parks have this problem already and are putting tarmac surfaces down which devalues the wild natural experience.

I mention this because we met several other groups doing the same thing as ourselves. This makes perfect sense if exploring the island by bike if you want to visit this semi remote corner as well but I always try to minimize any damage to these fragile areas for future visitors to enjoy.

Dog violets, primroses, and other spring flowers grow in abundance here but it doesn't take much to spoil this natural beauty.

This group of three we met were pleasant and responsible individuals from overseas and enjoyed the route as much as we did but I've lost count on walks and cycle rides recently of folk eating fast food then leaving all the packaging sitting by the roadside  on the pavement right beside the car when an empty bin was 15 feet away from the vehicle. Also folk throwing empty drink cans out car windows onto the verge so they presumably have a tidy car interior when driving. Beats me why they do it. The UK has one of the most diverse, varied and beautifully different landscapes on earth given its small size yet is one of the dirtiest countries in the so called civilized world for throwaway litter and other unnecessary junk tossed away without a thought. Thankfully Bute is still pristine in many ways but a recent walk elsewhere nearer Glasgow brought this fact home and it is one of the main complaints from overseas tourists visiting this country.

Glencallum Bay and Little Cumbrae island. The ancient lighthouse you can just see on this faraway island was one of many constructed by the first generation of lighthouse pioneers, The Stevenson family, and was lit at night by fossils fuels shovelled in laboriously by hand in the early days. The famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson was a relation.

Climbing a small escarpment on the West Island Way, carrying and rolling bikes.

Yacht in main channel between islands.

We came out as usual at St Blane's which is a lovely spot. St Blane's Hill and Loch na Leighe. The Route back was via Loch Fad and the A844. Walkers doing this route can get a bus back to Rothesay by walking down the pleasant minor road to the Kingarth Hotel where the bus stop is. Five star route. There is also a path back via Suidhe Chatain for those who wish to visit this summit on foot

Dunagoil iron age fort, Arran and Bute Airfield.

Holy Isle again.

Fields ready for crops.

Spring lambs near Loch Quien.

The exhilarating freewheel descent back into Rothesay. Around 13 kilometers cycle to Kilchattan. 8 to 10 for Peninsula and minor road walk. 10 kilometers cycle back to Rothesay. Around 5 to 6 hours total trip by bike. A cracking outing.
 When I got back I was looking out of interest to see if I could find a GoPro film of the route and stumbled on this instead. A couple who also like the island. Natural presenters in front of a camera this couple could easily have a Scottish mini TV series along the lines of Tom Weir or Muriel Gray but their entertaining You Tube videos have had scant attention which is why I'm posting it on here. Usual story... it's not so much how good or talented you are but who you know and how much publicity you manage to create..Hope they don't mind me putting this on here but they have  enthusiasm, sparkle and personality.( If they want it removed just leave a comment and I will remove it right away.)