Pride comes before a...ow

Reading back over recent posts I realise I've been overly self-congratulatory about my have-a-go-hero status, as well as somewhat snooty about members of the Caravan Club. I am skipping forward a bit here in terms of blog-ology, but when I arrived on Arran I met all sorts of people on a campsite who are not at all like my gender stereotype, including a very nice man who does the washing up while his partner carries large objects around the campsite, and another woman who fitted out a transit van as a camper, woodwork, electrics, water, upholstery, everything - and turns out to have practically rebuilt her wooden house in the Midlands when it flooded, mainly because she'd done all the joinery herself originally and knew how it went. She also told me she was pleased to have access to the workmen's tools because she could use things like 'a proper drill'.

I also blithely set out on part of the Arran Coastal Trail, following the little yellow arrows as one does, without looking properly at the OS map. We are not in Kansas any more, and a trail that is described as 'a fairly strenuous day' translates as 'you should get out alive if you have the right boots, a rope, and a trained mountain leader with you'. There was no path, after the first little bit. What there was was a 6km boulder field, slippery and wet, with boulders so large and gaps so deep in places that I had to brace myself against something and lift Bonnie, who practically gave up towards the end (*bless* her, she worked so hard) and had to be strongly encouraged to continue. I couldn't just give up because I was under cliffs, so there was no way off it. Anyway, we survived, but I did slip at one point and bang my chin on a big flat rock, so I now have a nice graze and a blue bruise to show for it. As my (unreligious) father would have said, 'Jesus did that'.

It was a great moment, though, finding a fresh water waterfall near the end, because B was so thirsty she'd started to drink out of salt water pools. I made several resolutions. Don't go out without dog water, don't go off anywhere without studying the OS map first and telling someone where you're going, and just because you've driven a big van and carried a gas bottle across a completely flat campsite it doesn't make you an invincible heroine. I am humbled.