An Arran Amble - weathering the Cock

As we paddled out of Loch Ranza towards Newton Point, the rain simply pelted down.  Visibility was dramatically reduced and background noise was drowned out in the static roar of raindrops hitting the water - and us.

There's something quite nice about paddling in heavy rain like this; snug in drysuits and enclosed in boats we stayed dry and comfortable through 40 minutes of torrential downpour.  The rain certainly flattened out the sea surface; we'd been expecting difficult conditions here as the wind had been from the north for the previous two days, but we passed this potential crux point with no difficulty.  Remarkably, the rain stopped, the sky cleared and the sun came out just as we....

....arrived at our intended camping site at the ruined settlement of Cock.  Named after the nearby point of Cock of Arran, the tiny inlet we landed at has some scattered ruins which we were keen to explore once we got our tents pitched.

In the early 18th century a deposit of low grade coal was discovered here, and despite the somewhat confined and unpromising location, the Duke of Hamilton decided to try and establish a salt works.  He already owned a large and successful salt enterprise based at Bo'ness on the Forth and imported some workers from there to establish the works.  The coal was used to boil seawater in a large "pan" located in a building close to the shore in order to extract the salt.  The other ruins here are of buildings and shelters for the salters.  Several water filled depressions are believed to be collapsed mine workings and there is the ruin of what appears to have been a water mill.  The venture operated between 1710 and 1735 before the coal was exhausted and is a good example of many such small scale saltworks around the coast.

This day of our journey had an amazing variety of weather.  Having been in strong wind, cold showers then pelting rain we now were baked in an enervating heat as the afternoon sun broke through.  There were a couple of heavy showers as we collected firewood and sorted our kit, which gave us a neat excuse to take a small rest in the tents- we may even have closed our eyes briefly!  We were grateful for a small breeze which arrived and kept the midges at bay.

We took a good look around the ruins before lighting our fire and starting dinner.  This could never have been anything other than a hard place to carry out coal mining and salt panning, particularly given the restricted space between the shore and the steep hillside above.

There is little left here to mark the labours of those 18th century workers, nature is fast reclaiming the site.

Our view to the west was to the mouth of Loch Fyne, where there appeared to be some pretty intense weather happening......

Fortunately it seemed to avoid us and we enjoyed a comfortable last evening of the journey.  Our four campsites had in some ways been very different, but all had been enjoyable.  There is no better way to connect with the landscape through which one travels than sleeping out on it, and our wild camps had been a highlight of the trip.