Comment posted Argyll and the Isles Secrets Collection: The Brainport Alignment by newsroom.
Yes it is, George – but its a 2 1/4 miles that rewards a lot of time.
newsroom also commented
- This is quite stunning – and great to see on the record.
Recent comments by newsroom
- Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
Oh boy… - Party politics on the way back as more confusion reigns in Argyll and Bute Council
The reading rate is high – but this saga is like being sandbagged by a black pantomine with more false endings than a Z-list thriller. - Iain McCallum: the human bridge between Campbeltown and Heroes Challenge UK
Alan – we’ll try to get a message to the team for you – and will pass on your email to them for dir3ect contact.
The communications side of things is a weak link – not just with wifi and mobile signal problems but with accurate information on ETAs and even destinations.
We spent the afternoon today chasing around unsuccessfully to find them at their stated destination in Campbeltown – confirmed before we set off to drive – when in fact they finished at The Putechan Hotel, which is on the west coast of Kintyre and well short of Campbeltown. Very frustrating.
We did see the team doing the hard stuff though – passing them on the way south. They were cycling in two clusters, impressively easily and very disciplined in the way they were dealing with traffic streams behind them.
You should know that we now understand that they will row tomorrow from Campbeltown to Glenarm and not to Ballycastle; and that it looks as if they will row back not form Newcastle but from Bangor to Portpatrick.
They’ll be delighted to see you mi-channel. Great idea. - Argyll and Bute Council: Where are we now?
The difference is that the new ferry to Campbeltown had an arrival time and actually arrived.
A major part of what we work to do is to support initiatives at all levels that are focused on regeneration and are driven by positive, creative energies that make things happen.
Campbeltown wins hands down over Kilmory any minute of any day on these criteria – and we never spare ourselves travelling and hard work on a cause that has some hope of going somewhere.
And just in case you are implying that this was a jolly – which we never do: I myself drove to Campbeltown – 1 hr 30m – did the work and drove back again immediately. - Argyll and Bute Council: Where are we now?
This amusing spin disguises the fact that there was no political ‘speculation’.
There was formally recorded political realignment and manoeuvering by all councillors – which was done in some urgency before the council meeting, yet appears to have stalled – for some reason and for the time time being at least.
Councillors do not seem to realise that this adds to the alienation of voters rather than assuage concerns.
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This is the sort of article that makes FA a gem,
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Great stuff.
Its on my “to do” list
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It’s now on my ‘bucket list’ too.
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Wonderful, insightful article. I have lived in Argyll for over 20 years and did not know of this secret place until now. Many thanks FA
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Credit is due to Colonel Peter Fane-Gladwin, who lived at Braigh Varr near the top of Minard Hill, and who in the 1970s first realised the importance of this alignment, lost in thick forest. In the 1960s he had previously discovered the site of the lost milecastle 64 on Hadrian’s Wall (near where the present day M6 crosses the line of it). Not bad for someone who wasn’t an archaeologist.
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This is quite stunning – and great to see on the record.
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Absolutely Excellent….more ! more ! more !
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great article
is that a 2 1/4 mile round trip or one way? I am coming over this summer and building my list of places to see.
cant wait to see Argyll again.
George Young from Seattle USA
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Yes it is, George – but its a 2 1/4 miles that rewards a lot of time.
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George Young – 2 1/4 miles would take you to the calendrical site, there and back, from Minard. But there is such a network of paths that you could easily double that distance. One detour I would recommend would be to Oakbank, which overlooks Brainport Bay. So take a camera, and a picnic lunch, and make a day of it.
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I was brought up in the area – Tullochgorm to be exact – and Brainport was within easy strolling distance. It was the place we used to go “dookin’” and little did we suspect the ancient connections.
The path along the shore from Woodhouse was a popular Sabbath afternoon’s walk, and wild strawberries could be picked at the Black Quarry which was en route. It was near the Black Quarry that the body of Murdy Fletcher was found in the mid thirties. He had earned the Military Cross in WW1 and was a fisherman on one of the boats out of Minard.(It may have been a suicide.)
On the southerly arm of Brainport lay the wreck of the “Lily” -an outdated fishing smack which had a folding propeller, so she was obviously from the sailing era. The remains are possibly still there if one cares to look.
The area between Brainport and the “Castle Avenue” was known as “The Pheasantry”, no doubt where “the toffs” came to shoot pheasants in the early days of the Castle. Up till the mid nineteen hundreds the castle was the the balliewick of the Lloyd family, as was Braigh Bharr and Woodhouse.
It was a great place for any youngster to grow up and I still thank God for giving me the privilege of spending my childhood in the area.
Hope the above may be of interest.
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