The Paps of Jura

Day Two on Jura saw us get the project completed. There were some heavy showers again and quite breezy at times too, a bit ominous for the wee passenger ferry later, but more of that in a minute.

Our loan vehicle had a niggling little fault and I had a dreadful fear that our 40 minute drive south to Craighouse for the ferry may be hampered by a more permanent breakdown. Thankfully it went fine and we had time for our piece ( a Scottish packed lunch) before catching the ferry. We actually had a few minutes to spare playing at being tourists.

The ferry finally set off in to what I thought was quite challenging swell and big plumes of spray cascaded over and clattered down on the tarpualin type roof on the rib. The fact that you actually have a seat belt and life jacket to put on should perhaps indicate to the novice passenger what to expect.

Anyway 30 minutes into the voyage the engine revs were cut and the skipper steered round hard right (ok starboard). He had spotted a huge basking shark on the surface and was sufficiently impressed to share a closer view with the half dozen passenger on board. A single image doesn't do this experience justice and there is a link here to see a small set over on facebook.

The blip image here is a rather cheap road side view of the Paps of Jura at the start of Evans Walk. There is a magical quality to the light in Jura and these big black clouds lifted briefly to show us the mountain tops and let a wee splash of watery sunlight through too. You get a glimpse of the hills like this and immediately think when will I ever get back to see them once more at such close quarters.





Jura and Basking Shark