Scottish Island Hopping - Kintyre Peninsula

It was the aerial view shot of Muasdale Touring Park that sowed the seed, and when Alison emailed a picture taken of a motorhome on the beach, that was it – our main destination for our summer holiday was decided. Of course, as earlier postings tell, we island hopped either side of Muasdale, but spent several nights on this small ocean-side site to explore the Kintyre Peninsula

thoroughly. A quick search for available pitches showed that Muasdale had limited vacancies for early September, and so the rest of the holiday was arranged around those dates.

Alison and Adrian have owned Muasdale for about 5 years, having decided on a lifestyle change from accountancy, and have been developing the business since. In addition to the touring park, they have the Jura Apartment and 4 static caravans for hire. We had a good nose around the Jura Apartment between lettings – a fine Victorian property, furnished true to the period, on the first floor of the large “extension” to the original house. Alison and Adrian’s winter project is creating a downstairs apartment ready for the 2008 season, which will make their letting portfolio complete.

The 10 pitch touring field immediately over the road is right next to a white sandy beach and turquoise sea, with lovely sea views (weather permitting) across to the islands of Cara, Gigha and Islay, with the Paps of Jura visible on clear days. All sorts of wildlife can be spotted with patience, including seals, and Alison is happy to share her knowledge of the flora and fauna of the area. The weather was not kind whilst we were there, in fact we were confined to barracks on our first day because of heavy rain. It picked up the next day, and we even had a pretty sunset, although we were assured that glorious sunsets are the norm, not the exception.

Alison told us, without any hint of boasting, that they own both the grass AND the beach, up to the high tide mark, so I suppose their land ownership ebbs and flows (so to say). Unusually, camp fires are allowed on the beach, and as we had taken our own firepit, logs and axe, (our motorhome has a large garage), we had a campfire on several evenings. Beachcombing for driftwood is encouraged, and the local shop, just 5 minutes walk away, sells peat logs. Campfires are great, but in the romance of it all, you forget how much they smoke, and with a dodgy wind, we filled the campervan with smoke on several occasions – boy how that smell lingers.

With Adrian’s help we had pre-booked a small hire car from the Vauxhall Garage in Campbeltown, which meant we could tour the Kintyre Peninsula, and beyond, over the next few days............