Day 878 ferry trip to the Isle of Arran ⛴☀️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

What a difference a day makes. I know, I know… how many times have I said that before?!? I cannot tell you the relief that comes with that last wee episode being over.

I woke up calm and relaxed and determined to make the best of the rest of my holiday. So here I am on the Isle of Arran, sitting directly across the bay from Brodick harbour watching CalMac’s Isle of Arran head back out to Ardrossan.

So here’s a snapshot of my trip today.

It is a beautiful day. The forecast is for sunshine and thankfully my head is finally calm and able to enjoy it.

I feel way more grounded than I did yesterday. That antsy, unsettled feeling has gone.

There’s hardly a sound.

That’s why I walked all the way around the bay…. To be as far from other people as I could.

That sums it up. The universe whacked me with its 2 by 4 this week. I went to Kinesiology, got help and now I’m back on track.

The bad stuff that had me worried hasn’t changed. I still need to review my options to allow us to do better than to just (financially) “get by”…. But I’m not screaming like some spoiled toddler at the thought of looking into it. I’m able to accept I couldn’t get abroad for a holiday or away in the van. None of that matters just the here and now and knowing everything will work out the way it’s meant to.

There is always a bright side.

I can’t see that when I have a bad day. The noise in my head is incessant. I am all over the place. Completely irrational.

I couldn’t have come over to Arran by ferry yesterday as I knew I still felt bad yet here I am today like Heidi the mountain goat, skipping around the place, relaxed, calm and revelling in the present moment. what a relief to be back.

I set off around 8.30am and drove to Ardrossan harbour where I parked in the long stay car park. The CalMac ferry costs £8.60 to get over to Arran and back. We can’t even get to Glasgow from home for that amount. I couldn’t believe how cheap it was.

They’re doing work on Ardrossan pier so you do have to walk onto the car deck.

Arran was in the middle of a lovely cloud inversion.

The sailing was lovely. So calm and beautiful in the sunshine.

I couldn’t believe this butterfly photobombed my zoomed in shot. I thought it was a bird and looked up from my phone only to find it was a butterfly right in front of my face! I’m attracting them from everywhere just now!

CalMac’s famous red funnel looks amazing against the blue sky.

So todays funny Julie story is all about my denim shorts. 🩳 I have two pairs, one long which I don’t really like and one short which I really love. The short shorts do not leave the house…..they are not obscenely short but they are short. i really wanted to wear them and Craig said they looked great but I felt like I was too old to walk about in them. I set off wearing them but packed my leggings at the last minute.

When I got to Ardrossan I changed into the leggings…. There, that feels better…. First woman I see is older than me and wearing way shorter shorts than my short shorts. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🥴😂

Now to be fair, it was cold on the ferry over at times so I was glad of the warmth but first thing I did when we docked was get out of the leggings and back into the shorts.

I am leading my legs around for all to see and it’s ok…. I am surviving.

Anyway I digress, again, what’s new. (Just thinking when you read this, you never really know which version of me you are going to get… least that way it’s never dull…🥴😆)

Goat Fell dominates Brodick bay. It’s called that as it’s shaped like the head of a goat and stands at 874m and is one of 4 Corbetts on Arran.

I took a walk around the bay, into a couple of shops but was heading right across from where this photo is taken so I can look back at the town.

One of my favourite Arran photos from years ago is on the right and a similar shot taken today!! How sad….

Love the cloud reflections in this next one.

Beautiful bright red berries against the blue sky!

And finally down onto the beach.

The tide is coming in and I love sitting here writing and watching it. Here comes the Caledonian Isles again so I guess I’ll be on the Isle of Arran ferry heading back… getting my toenails done at 5.15 and didn’t want to cancel and wait another few weeks.

So here’s todays way happier face in comparison….almost as bright as the first one last week and WAY happier than that one I took on Monday morning. It will come.

Stick with the bad times and always see them through. You may not know it but better times are ahead of you.

I’m going to stop this for now and enjoy the rest of my day. I’m sure there will be a million more photos to share but they can wait.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement through the tough times. It means a lot.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️