It was a sunny start to the day as i left feochaig passing an old digger called bertie. It had seen better days and i doubt it still ran. It wasn't going to be an easy day and leaving bertie the day began as it was going to continue. Immediately i had to slide down to the shore between the rocks. As i hiked i noticed the geology of the rock was constantly changing, i don't think I'd ever been so fascinated by what I'd walked on throughout my life and i wished i knew more about it.
The tide was now beginning to recede as i reached a small bay with a bridgei would be able to use to cross a small burn without getting my boots wet. I stopped for a short break before heading off again. With the tide now on its way out i began to feel confident the next section of the coast would be easy to negotiate and I'd be able to make it to campbeltown before dark.
Leaving the bridge and the bay i began to cross a sandstone platter. The rock formations were again fascinating and sections in my opinion wouldn't have looked out of place hung on a wall in the tate modern gallery in London. While admiring the landscape here along the shore i noticed an oddly shaped boulder. It was a shallow cylinder perfectly round with a large hole set dead centre and about tgree foot across. Obviously it wasn't a natural shape it had to have been man made. Being too large to hang round someone's neck i summized I'd either discovered the first wheel or that i was actually looking at an old mill stone. Believing I'd found the latter i wondered what it was doing there, maybe it had been chiselled from the sandstone along the shore and was somehow damaged and left or less likely there had once been a mill nearby abd that the stone was now all that remained. Either way it was an exciting find.
I carried on, i still had a fair hike ahead of me and knew the tide would eventually come back in and i didn't fancy getting cut off and having to wait before getting to campbeltown or climbing up the cliffs.
Walking away from the mill stone i headed around a rocky headland and towards a long stony beach. About half way along i made another discovery, a rather large engine. It was rusted and far too big to have come from anything other than a boat. Laying on the beach nearby were other debris which i felt backed my theory of some kind of shipwreck. as i looked around and closely at the engine and debris i wondered what story was behind the wreckage.
After having a good look round i continued along the beach towards a headland. Then began the start of a series of caves. The first being enormous with remains of a thick stone wall. This turned out to be quite a significant cave although i wasn't aware of it at the time. In the centre of the cave was a large puddle but that wasn't going to stop me from exploring the back. Sticking near to the walls i paddled through the water to come up to a raised ledge. The cave went further back so i put on my head torch to investigate further. The ceiling was extremely high and the cave went back a fair way, there weren't any tunnels or additional caverns but the cave itself was fascinating and had obviously been occupied at some point.
Continuing along the shore i came across more caves, some up in cliffs others down on the shoreline. As i entered the last cave, with three openings, it began to rain. I was also very conscious that the tide had turned and would soon be back in i could find myself cut off. Without spending too much time exploring i decided to carry on towards campbeltown. The coast was still very rocky and easy going and it didn't take me long before i reached a grassy bank with a well trodden footpath. Campbeltown was not too far away now and across the waters i could see davaar island, an island with a very interesting cave on it, an adventure that i would have the following day.
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