The Whitby Girls

As we come to the end of the tourist season at Powdermills B&B, we are getting several of our friends staying with us. 

And, surprisingly, despite the lateness of the year, the weather has been lovely – very cold, but sunny.  Apparently, the lowering of the Gulf Stream has brought more clear night skies and bright frosty mornings, which are glorious.  We have had our fair share of pink night skies and peachy dawns.

Last weekend, my two oldest friends from our primary school days in Ellesmere Port, came to stay.  And thankfully the weather stayed good. 

My friends had travelled by train into Glasgow’s Central Station, then transferred to Glasgow’s Buchanan Bus Station for the 926 West Coast Motors’ coach to Furnace.  They delighted in the beautifully scenic journey through west Glasgow, Dunbartonshire, past Loch Lomond and into the Argyll Forest until Inveraray, when the bus stopped, and everyone got off. 

After sometime and thinking it was odd that their fellow passengers had left some belongings behind, everyone got back on to the bus and our intrepid travellers realised that Inveraray is a designated driver’s pit stop and they had missed an opportunity to stretch their legs and get a coffee. 

However, they settled down for the rest of the journey and it was lucky that the coach driver shouted, in what seemed like only minutes later; “Anyone getting off at Furnace?”

I was waiting for them on the slip road alongside the Village Hall. When the bus arrived, it was like a scene from the movies.  One of those 60’s road classics. There was the close-up of a big red bus pulling in and stopping, the automatic door opening but no one to be seen, and then the bus pulling away to unveil at its rear, a daring duo all wrapped up warmly standing on the pavement.

Big cheers. They had arrived.  (Our old primary school teacher, Mrs Palmer at Whitby Heath County Primary, would have be very proud of them.)

And if I say so myself, what a lovely weekend we had.  We never stopped talking.

We visited Inveraray and sampled all that it has to offer – except that the Castle is closed at this time of year – but we had a nice walk in the grounds, and that night had dinner at The George Hotel, because Saturday night is music night. 

Then on Sunday we thought about going to the Isle of Gigha, because what is better fun than incorporating a ferry trip into your plans and Gigha is beautiful.  But we had left it a bit too late to organise a mid-day crossing, so we decided to drive the Kintyre Trail.   On reaching Tarbert we wandered around its wonderful gift and craft shops and looked in at the Harbour art gallery. 

After that we drove further down the Kintyre to Glenbarr and had a wonderful lunch in the Glenbarr café and garden centre – a real find.  By now it was getting dark and we decided to drive back home listening to Paul McCartney and Wings’ RAM album.  Back home we had dinner and watched Richard Curtis’s film ‘Yesterday’….. a bit of a theme going on here.

We all agreed what a lovely weekend we had had.  

And on Monday the girls were booked on the 10.40am 926 coach from Furnace village hall back to Glasgow.  But you know what……. I’ll stop now and leave this further cinematic story line for another day.