We "only" have 10 miles or so to walk today and as it is still the end of September and light in the evening, we have got plenty of time to check out the brilliant Scottish Maritime Museum. Amazingly the main building is part of the original Govan shipyard and was dismantled and reassembled in Irvine. You get a brilliant impression of the size and feel of the sheds they built the ships in, even though this is only about half the size of the original. Irvine was a very important shipping harbour in the 16th century but went into decline in the 19th century and was replaced by ports further up the Clyde. As well as fascinating museum exhibits there are also some wonderful audio and visual recordings of people's accounts of working in the shipyards. Furthermore, they currently have an exhibition which finally explains that vital question everyone wants to know the answer to, how exactly do you get a ship in a bottle? The question of why however remains unexplained. Jennie feels a note of pride to discover that her home town of Lichfield is the absolute world centre of the ship-in-a-bottle trade. I wonder if this has anything to do with being right in the middle of England pretty much as far as you can be from the sea in the UK. Although we have had a great time at the Scottish Maritime Museum, there does come a point on any such trip when the children just don't want to dress up as Captain Pugwash anymore, and it's then you know it's time to move on. We start off with a reasonable sort of overcast day, which is the sort of phrase that makes sense to people who do long distance walks. The path leaves the coast for a while and follows mainly cycle tracks into Stevenston. I can't find any reference on the route itself as to why we are not being allowed to just continue along the coast. But the guide book does make mention of the significance to the local area of the Imperial Chemical Industries Explosives factory during Word War 2, which continued to employ people until the 1980's and 90's. Cycle paths it is then. As we return to the seaside approaching Saltcoats the wind and rain really slam into us and become physically difficult to walk against. The cinema and amusement arcades don't look too amusing and we just want to get to our accommodation and inside as soon as possible! We make our way along the curved sandy bay of Ardrossan with it's old seaside town vibe, and finally reach our hotel. What a difference a shower makes (!) and with a change of clothes we venture back out to catch a film at a cinema on the esplanade at Saltcoats. We feel we've earned sweets and popcorn (and a cheeky Guinness).
P.S. If you are envious of the T-Shirt I am sporting in the below photograph featuring an awesome Avocet, it is from the RSPB shop. May such bird-sponsorship become a craze. Matthew
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