Saturday, April 22, 2006
A day at the beach…
Living in what could, I suppose, loosely be termed a bit of a tourist hotspot (if you’re the type of tourist who likes a spot of hill-walking, whale watching, otter spotting and some tea and cakes) it can often be all too easy to take the things that others appreciate for granted.
Last weekend, okay, Easter Monday, we went – for the first time in ages – to Sanna Bay in West Ardnamurchan. Something of a mecca for the holiday-cottage set thanks to its associations with Night Falls On Ardnamurchan and the paintings of John Lowrie Morrison. The beach, as regular visitors to the Banana Bus Blog will know, holds a special allure for us but what excited me most was the opportunity to fire up the bus for what, unbelievably after almost two years living here, was its first trip along the twisting hairpins and blind summits of the B8006 towards Ardnamurchan Point.
I’ll not go into the awful news I’ve picked up on the local grapevine this week (the lighthouse will be closing for a bit to accommodate the removal of the giant foghorn – a must for any keen photo-opportunity grabber) and instead will let you know of our own momentous news from the trip to Sanna. A world record attempt.
(odd sort of mini toilety/shed thing)
The question “how many people can you fit in the main sitting/sleeping/cab area of a T25?” (i.e. everywhere excluding the hightop and the boot) has long been on the lips of campervanners and on Monday we went some way to addressing this thorny issue. With a few square feet to spare, and as I say NOT using the roofspace OR the boot, we managed ELEVEN people (5 adults, two toddlers, one eight year old, a twelve year old and two babies – 3 & 12 weeks) at once, all with enough space for either a cup of coffee or a scone – sometimes both! – to be enjoyed in comfort as the typical west coast Easter weather (hailstones and a force 6 gale) battled in vain to spoil our day.
I’m sure that with a bit of effort we could easily have got all the small people either upstairs or in the back, freeing up some more space in the main “hold” for still more guests or a bit of a boogie…
The beach itself threw up the usual manner of treasure trove (to us beachcombers) or “loads of old crap” (to the majority of the population). We’re currently utilising this massive orange tub-type thing as a weed carrier as the garden planting continues apace and when that’s done I’ve got my eye on it as an excellent looking growing spot for some Maris Pipers.
Ronnie, a friend who’d accompanied us, pointed us in the direction of a canoe he’d dug up(!) on his previous visit and when we went to take a look it had been joined by a slightly knackered looking portapotti and a small red boat. Delving into his backpack at my behest, Ronnie produced one of those Leatherman type things with which I was able to salvage a lovely hooky-tie-your-boat-up type thing I reckon will be ideal to hang coats on in our new porch. If that fails, I’ll attach it to the front of the van and we’ll tie-up in future and dispense with the handbrake.
