Felling the Goat

We opened our day by leaving at 7am to go to the coast, to look for otters. We saw one otter, and lots of harbour seals. We also learned about the wine port near Shore Lodge, which used to be where wine was delivered to the castle, but now is notorious for its rotting seaweed which gives off a sulphurous stinky smell.

After a brilliant breakfast, we explored the castle gardens. This included the Bavarian Summer House, which was built for a princess by the Victorians, the Walled Garden, which grew kale, quinoa, fennel, and lettuce, among other things, and the castle, which is currently getting a sparkling new sprinkler system to prevent fires. Similarly, the Great Redwood has fire retardant bark, which we discovered to be punchable. On top of this, we also saw a Bronze Age Roundhouse, which was built using bracken, reeds, and heather, to thatch the roof. Interestingly, it did not have chimney, as this is an area of great debate amongst historians. We then tasted some wild wood sorrel, which has the flavour of lemon or apple, depending on who was tasting it.

Following our busy morning, we were herded up Goat Fell, the highest peak on the Isle of Arran. On our way, we spotted many interesting things. For example, deer and badger tracks, the sticky Sundew plant, which is one of Britain's few carnivorous plants, some red deer, and a Hen Harrier. The walk up was long, but it was interspersed with many snack breaks and informative chats about the natural area with Lucy and Rob. We also looked at the rocks, which were predominantly granite, but some basalt had formed from quickly cooled lava during the formation of the mountain. We also saw some "nice" rocks, with their crazy colourful twisting features created during their formation as metamorphic rocks.

The view at Goat Fell's summit was breathtakingly beautiful. We could see many islands; these included the Holy Island, Ailsa Craig, and also the faint outline of the Irish coast. The wind was bitterly cold and we had to layer up, as shown in the picture below.

The descent was much quicker than the ascent, due to the assistance of gravity. However, we still had time to look at and debate the effectiveness of cairns.

When we arrived back at Shore Lodge, the cheerful chefs got to work creating a Thai Green Curry, whilst the rest of the dream team started working on their John Muir projects. After a delicious dinner, we then had some tantalisingly tasty traybake. This was complimented by dilutin' juice / squash / cordial. Now, all that is left to do is to present our findings on the life and legacy of John Muir.

Till we see you again...