sew no silken seam on a fine May morning

1 September 2017. Our first full Glasgow day we... got the hell out of town. We wanted to do a day trip down to Port William and Monreith, and this day promised the best weather for it. My great-uncle Tim had taken the train up from London to stay with us in Glasgow for a few days. He was quite happy to join us for a day trip out of town.



We had a very short coffee stop in Ayr. It was a beautiful day.



We wanted to explore this area because it is where our good friend grew up - though he has lived in Australia since his late teens. We went first to subtly check out  Monreith House. His parents lived and worked on this property back in the day.



Then we moved on to Port William, a pretty charming town.









I will say, I had some amazing vegetarian meals, largely in pubs, in Scotland... but this day's pub lunch wasn't one of them. I think we were a bit off the most popular tourist trails, there weren't a lot of options... it happens.







We drove on to Monreith Beach. Tim decided to rest in the car while we took the steep stairs down to the beach.



The whole time we were there I was obsessing over my 'secret ambition' for the Scotland trip. We were days away from leaving Scotland and this seemed to be my last best opportunity for a skinny dip... nice weather, nice beach, not too many people around. If only I had remembered to bring a towel!



I remembered that on the track down from the road we had passed a little public toilet. I went back to check and it turned out to be amazingly well-stocked with paper towels. Jackpot!



I did it! So much fun. K did not play along, but guarded my clothes. I didn't stay in long as it was pretty cold. Yes there was a little boat out there but far enough away I didn't really care.