Friday 21 September 2012

Portencross

This morning we awoke to a light frost, meaning clear skies and sunshine, yay! As it's the September weekend the children had a day off school/nursery so we decided to visit Portencross. We've been before. It's a beautiful spot and has enough there to occupy us for a whole day.

I took numerous photos (as usual!). I was spoilt for choice for subjects - there's a castle, the sea, the Isle of Arran, a beach, and there were many butterflies too visiting the wild flowers which grow beside the rocks at the back of the beach.

We parked in the large car park near the castle.

A & N having a rest from "rock climbing"


The castle. Sadly not open today but it will be the rest of the weekend and bank holiday Monday (free entry).

Castle wall ad sky.

The little boat is called Twinkle.

A view of Arran.

Another Arran view with A at the very end of the jetty.


Looking back at the castle from the jetty, I love the sparkly sea.

Jetty detail.

We're back in the village now, great lifebelt sign for a seaside house name.

One of the big buoys at the car park. We're heading in the opposite direction from the castle as we're going to the...

...beach.

A view back towards Arran over a golden field at the back of the beach. There were lots of swallows swooping and diving after flies here.

The Arran ferry about to pass in front of the Ailsa Craig.

Picnic time, including yummy banana muffins.

A sky full of birds. These little flocks would regularly rise up, fly around and then land in a new spot.


Another beach view with a close-up of one of the many holey stones and boulders to be found on the beach.

Dear, sweet A doing a spot of paddling.

Arran again.

And again.

Yacht.

One of the many small tortoiseshell butterflies we saw today.

Daisy.

My first (and only) sighting of a red admiral butterfly this year.

Ailsa Craig, yacht and ferry.

After several hours spent paddling (with wellies on, too stony for bare feet), rockpooling, pebble collecting, picnicking and just wandering around admiring the views (and taking a few photos), we decided to head back towards the car park area.

It was too nice to leave yet though, so we hung around a little longer out on the rocks in front of the car park.

The tide was coming in. It was fascinating to watch the rockpools filling up with fresh sea water and the closed sea anemones opening up to display their frilly tentacles.

We decided to have a last visit to the castle too, the sea has filled up the little bay beside it now.

The two cottages opposite the castle. The one on the left with the red door is Shore House for which we saw the lifebelt house sign earlier.

A last view of the bay, then finally we do head home.

Really just an excuse to share lots of photos of a pretty part of the world on a lovely sunny day.

The weather forecast is looking great for tomorrow too, so I'll try and make sure I'm up and off early for my bike ride. I'm away now to start crocheting a mitten to match the one I made last night, the second  mitten/sock of a pair is never as" exciting" as the first is it! Crochet update post to follow soon too...

14 comments:

June said...

A great post and some great photos to match!
June

Claire said...

What a wonderful outing....love rock pooling.
So much blue sea and sky, just gorgeous.
Beautiful butterflies too....

Claire :}

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, beautiful pictures. So good to see the sunshine.

Beth of The Linen Cat said...

Looks like a great day out - wonderful photos, as always - and lovely to see that autumn sun, my very favourite kind of weather. Beth/thelinencat xx

Gillian Roe said...

It looks like you had gorgeous weather for your day at the beach - cold and sunny. Beautiful photos, especially the one of Aisla Craig, yacht and ferry.

Simone said...

Wonderful and inspiring photos. Such fantastic weather too!!!

Jacquie said...

Just wonderful pictures Anne....the blues are stunning ...great you got some sun :0)
I know what you mean about making the second mitten , slipper or sock....I don't enjoy it nearly as much as the first !
Jacquie x

Lyn said...

what a perfect day you had, just my sort of day and your photography as usual is fab!
xxx

Rattling On said...

Yes, we've had frost as well. Lovely blues in your pictures, and the holey stone is great!

Rustic Vintage Country said...

Wonderful, it's calling me back! x

Louise said...

We had the first frost here on Saturday, a whole month earlier than last years first frost.

This looks/sounds like a super day out and the photos you took are fantastic!

rockinloubylou said...

What a lovely way to spend a day off school. Wonderful memories for the children and for you.

Mrs. Micawber said...

I like that stone path sweeping round the castle ... and the bird shot is wonderful. And I LOVE closeups of food with scenery in the background. :)

What a beautiful day and lots of super photos - the butterflies are lovely. Thanks for the interesting links too - I see that according to Wikipedia, Ailsa Craig is up for sale. Any takers?

Sue Hayton said...

Used to come here 50 years ago with parents - doesn't that sound a long time ago - but nothing seems to change!

Lovely pics

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