Arran re-visited, part two.

Day two started with rain again. It had rained really heavily during the night, so we sort of had a lazy breakfast in the hope that the rain would abate by the time we set off.

Of course, my first job was to put nuts and seed out for 'our' squirrel and the local birds.

He was very grateful!

We waited as long as we dare, then drove to the start of Glen Sannox, not far from the cottage.

We parked up, still in the rain, and decided to boot up and put the full rain gear on.

Looking ahead, who could blame us?

Still, though, there were some beautiful things around us. More fungi - I just can't resist it!

The tops looked murky again, but the walking was pleasant, and on good paths, thanks mainly to Scottish Nature.

Glen Sannox, and all the other glens, were swathed in autumn browns. On a better day, the photo's would do it more justice, but we were LOVING the differing shades and hues.

Sue smiles broadly, while she's overlooked by 'the Bastion'.

We pressed on higher up Glen Sannox. We could see the rise of Cir Mor ahead. We were headed for that dip, called 'the saddle'. We knew from reading up on it that the path up was quite a scramble, something we didn't mind, but time was of the essence. We decided to get as far as we could.

My personal sat nav.

What a super glacial curve.

Of course, the burns were much more swollen than usual and, sometimes, crossing them was a bit 'hairy'.

What a place for a photo - shame about the lack of light though.

Mountain lace!

My other photographer.

Pretty soon, the going got a bit more serious, and we started to scramble up a chimney towards our goal, the Saddle.

Sue is ALWAYS game for whatever is thrown at her, and you can tell here by the big smile :-)

This is looking up. Time was creeping on though, and the views were bad so, at this point, we decided to call it a day, and vowed to return in better weather. The late start had robbed us of time.

You wouldn't want to slip into this burn while it was running as fast as this.

The saddle, where we almost got to, can be seen here as the dip to the left of Cir Mhor.

It was a long walk back to the bottom of the glen, and once again, the weather was closing in.

The sea, from Glen Sannox.

Two burns met here, and grew bigger and faster, producing some really nice falls.

This one is hidden away to the left of the path, but I could hear it roaring, so went to investigate. In my haste, I neglected to tell Sue what I was doing, and she didn't see me disappear. A lesson learned, as my actions quite panicked her. She couldn't see me, and didn't know where I was. Next time, I won't 'assume', I'll make SURE she knows where I am.

When we reached the car, it had started to rain heavily again, so we quickly disrobed and set off back to the cottage. We saw this lovely heron, wading below another concrete sheep.

When we arrived back, we had a welcoming party.

A hooded crow. A bit shy, but not too much to take food.

Every mans dream - lots of.........birds!

And of course, our acrobatic squirrel. (Photo courtesy of Sue).

We snuggled down with a bottle of wine, some nice Arran cheese and oatcakes, and turned the heating up! It might have been raining, but I can think of a LOT worse places to be.