Читать книгу The Ayrshire and Arran Coastal Paths онлайн

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Holy Isle, sitting just off Arran at Lamlash (a short ferry trip to the island leaves from the harbour at Lamlash), is home to wild goats, Soay sheep and Eriskay ponies. Rabbits, hares, adders, lizards, toads, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies can also be seen along the Ayrshire and Arran coasts if you keep your eyes peeled.

During spring and summer the sheer variety of wildflowers is fantastic. Bluebells, red campion, wood anemone, field mouse-ear, common scurvy grass, sea campion and sea pinks are just a small selection of the plants that quite literally brighten the paths.

The first ferry docks at Brodick after crossing the Firth of Clyde from Ardrossan (Day 6)

For much of the route the conspicuous outline of Ailsa Craig (also known as Paddy's Milestone as it lies approximately halfway between Belfast and Glasgow) is a near-constant sight and there are regular sailings from Girvan for visitors to the island. A day trip is highly recommended. The granite sentinel rises to over 1100ft from the Firth of Clyde and is a Sight of Special Scientific Interest as, with nearly 40,000 breeding pairs, it is home to Britain's third-largest gannet colony. Even from the mainland, or from the southern and eastern shores of Arran, you can see these fantastic seabirds circling the seas round Ailsa Craig. Fulmar, kittiwake, shag, razorbill and (since the eradication of rats on the island in 1991) an increasing number of puffins also breed here. In the 1860s puffins had numbered in the hundreds of thousands before the rat managed to hitch a ride onto the island. Ailsa Craig's position, some 15 miles from the Ayrshire coast in the Firth of Clyde, and the fact that footfall is limited, means over 200 species of plants have been recorded on the island.