May 2, 2019 - It was not my first trip to the Mull of Kintyre. With my wife, I discovered the "community-owned" island of Gigha in the Inner Hebrides. With just me two years later, I was bored with the rolling hills, so right away 12 months later I only ever managed one beer in every pub on the islands with my best friend because we were so exhausted from hiking and midges.
This time there were five of us and we boarded the bus at the airport directly to Tarbert, the gateway to the Mull of Kintyre.
May 2, 2019 - Tarbert is on the west shore of Loch Fyne and has a population of about 1000, 3 pubs and a free place to camp at a ruined castle where we pitched our tents. To the first Tennent's we had a phenomenal view over the bay. Just before darkness fell and the Midges attacked, we took refuge in "The Corner House" pub. I could hardly believe it, but we really managed to leave the pub without any major incidents around 11pm and crawl into our tents.
The next day we stocked up on food for the next day, as there was to be no store or pub on our way.
May 3, 2019 - Skipness is directly opposite the Isle of Arran and we reached the small hamlet just before sunset. There used to be a post office here where you could still buy a few necessities, but it closed years ago. So we ate our last sandwiches, organized water and two of us went swimming in the sea. It was beautifully lonely. We were able to pitch our tents right on the beach and I have no idea if we talked about low tide at the time. The night got cold, very cold, but not wet.
In the morning, after a short walk, we reached the ferry to Lochranza/Isle of Arran.
May 4, 2019 - Protected by Lochranza Castle, a few houses line the bay. Again, no supermarket here, but there was a distillery. While part went by bus to Brodick for shopping, we skipped the obligatory tour of the distillery and bought two bottles of whiskey right away. The evening took its course and ended in the only pub in town. The bartender's name was Nick and our names were Tina, Dominic, Philipp, Elias and Florian. The bill was high, but worth every shilling.
Despite the night, two of us set off again and climbed the Goat Fell. Respect!
We stayed one more night in Lochranza.
May 6, 2019 - We were back in Glasgow and moved into AirBnB accommodation like I had never seen before. Two floors of plush, thick carpets, DVDs and a terrace the size of a soccer field. There we ended the evening with pizza and canned beer and fell into our beds after a nightly walk.
