Visiting Cumbrae

Last weekend, with a guest to entertain and a promising weather forecast ahead, we set off for Largs, a seaside town on the West coast, and caught the ten minute ferry across to Great Cumbrae. This tiny island has a population of around 1400 people, and isn't far from Bute which we visited last summer. 

Four miles from the ferry terminal lies the small town of Millport, and main area of habitation on the island. After our picnic we explored the seafront, starting with crocodile rock, the first point of interest. Not to be confused with the popular Elton John song, this is quite literally a rock shaped like a crocodile. There is also Lion Rock and Indian Rock, but these will wait for another visit. 

We then went to Garrison House and had a look at the small museum there. It was interesting, but the children were very fidgety so it wasn't long before we moved on. We walked to the Cathedral of the Isles, the smallest cathedral in the UK. 

We were the only visitors at the time, and it was very tranquil, even with two small children. Even they seemed slightly in awe and were happy to sit in the pew with me until the rest of our party had finished looking. We found a grass labyrinth in the cathedral grounds and had great fun following the path to the centre. 

We returned to the seafront and had a look in some of the shops and cafes in search of the ice cream we had promised Moth and Ever. The only problem was that as we aren't quite into tourist season yet, there wasn't a lot of choice. Moth wanted strawberry and Ever chocolate. Eventually we compromised and bought a box of unbranded mini Magnum style ice creams from the local Premier food store. 

 

There was enough to go around, and so we all enjoyed sitting on a bench and looking across to distant Arran, and the mainland. 

We returned to the car and drove around the rest of the island. You can get around the whole island by car in about half an hour. Just before we reached the ferry terminal for the return journey, we stopped at some rock pools. We had brought buckets and spades and the children's nets, and spent a happy half an hour collecting shells and exploring rock pools. We even found a jelly fish washed up on the shore. 

We were only about five minutes from the ferry and got there just as it was arriving. We boarded the ferry for the short journey back to the mainland. It had been a wonderful adventure.