Kings Caves and Blackwaterfoot

The day started with a one hour bus journey from Brodick to Blackwaterfoot along scenic roads including the Bogville pass and a little too many humps for our liking. On arrival Hannah from COAST (Community Of Arran Seabed Trust) asked us to make some model beach art sculptures which featured:

Sam the Seal

Sid the Starfish

Seb the Seahorse

and ...

Trevor the Turtle

By ten am the families descended upon Blackwaterfoot beach and began making sandcastles and even a sand whale. After this thrilling event we began searching the rock pools for marine creatures. Our findings included hermit crabs, jellyfish, whelks, periwinkle and swans (not in the rock pools)

Some of our findings

We then went on a beautiful coastal stroll towards Kings caves. We were inspired by the beauty and history of this natural structure.

The day ended with a turbulent, crowded but picturesque bus journey back to Brodick.

A New Adventure

Kilmory Beach, next where we have been staying for the first part of our adventure.

Hi, its Lucy here again. A fantastic new team of young people have been staying with us on Arran this week, but due to the vagaries of the island's internet, we've not been able to update you about our activities until today.  So bear with us, while we update the blog with a flurry of photos and info about what we've been up to.  The first update is from Eleanor and Will:

Today our adventure began in Glasgow Central Station.  We met everyone and after an introduction we hopped on a train to Ardrossan Harbour where we caught a ferry to Brodick on the Isle of Arran, our home for the week.
An entertaining bus journey full of bumping into strangers took us to the Kilmory Bunk House where we spent the evening getting to know each other, sort of, bonding over Jake's cooking and Lucy's creative dessert.  It has been a long day for everyone traveling and people have come from all parts of the UK.  As we are all tired the evening has been quite calm and laid back.

Goatfell Walk

As part of the discovery module of the John Muir award, we planned to climb Goatfell: the highest mountain on Arran.

The team at the bottom of Goatfell

After a bumpy bus ride to the start of the 3 1/2 mile track, we began the ascent. We experienced typical Scottish weather starting off sunny with a relatively warm temperature to taking a turn for the worse - with heavy rain and winds up to 50mph.
But before the rain began, we had the chance to encounter the stunning Arran scenery and got some brilliant photo opportunities.

Once back in the sunshine, we took advantage of the change in weather and the local cheese shop, where we treated ourselves to some well deserved ice cream. After a rather tiring day, we are having a high-calorie tuna pasta bake and we look forward to preparing for tomorrow's activities.

By Rachel, Becky and Jemima