Many people regard Tarbert as one of the sailing Mecca’s of the Scottish west coast. We certainly are very happy with our berth in the natural bay, and after our more than welcome 'anchor beer' we walk into town for a bite to eat. We hope to get a table at the Starfish Restaurant which is highly recommended, unfortunately it is fully booked so we end up in The Frigate Restaurant, which has friendly staff but empty tables - not a good omen. However we should not complain: we love not having to prepare a meal ourselves.
In the course of the past weeks we have developed a routine which allows us to have shore days whenever we please. This is one of those days that we decide to stay put for a fairly miserable grey and rainy day - however it gives us time to write a blog for our site and do a lot of washing and provisioning. With the boat fully stocked and both of us well rested we set off from Tarbert for a round trip of the Isle of Bute. The landscape is much more agricultural than what we have seen in the previous weeks; now with sheep peacefully grazing on the green sloping hillsides. The wind is great and we sail all the way round Bute and berth in Rothesay the main town on the island. Rothesay used to be a booming little town in Victorian times, but unfortunately nowadays is a bit shabby, maybe exaggerated during our visit by grey skies and rain.
Roland cooks a lovely roast chicken with roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts which we wash down with lots of chardonnay. Our next stop is Largs marina where we leave the boat behind for a trip into Glasgow.
We catch the train from Largs directly to Glasgow, where we check into one of the four rooms at Rab Ha’s - a sweet bar-restaurant-hotel on the edge of the merchant district. We fill our afternoon with sightseeing in the merchant district and the city center before sitting down for pre-supper drinks in a whisky bar on the edge of George Square. After which we go to Ibérica, a wonderful tapas restaurant, recommended to us by Maartje.
The next day we have a double mission: we both need haircuts and we have a couple of museums to visit. We start at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum: a weird mixture of old masters, stuffed animals and ancient relics. It is lovely that admission to so many museums in the UK is free of charge, whereby one can just pop in for a look around. Before proceeding to the next museum Roland gets a trim at the barbers shop opposite the gallery. Our second museum is the Riverside Museum, which specialises in transport in Glasgow through the ages. After a lovely sushi lunch we find a hairdresser for Leontine - mission accomplished!