Ayr, Ardossan - Part One...

(Tuesday, 12th and Wednesday 13th April - Catch up!)

This morning was cold and clear, and we set off towards Ayr and Ardrossan, (which was to be our first ferry trip departure point across to Arran). Lovely views of bays (Firth of Solway), but Castle Douglas is a town, not a castle.) Threave Castle is nearby, but you have to go across by boat, and not being too sure about it, and having not booked anything in Ardrossan, we kept going.
Wanted morning tea at Newton-Stewart, but couldn't find anything so moved on to Girvan, on some not too good roads, and in and under a great viaduct, as it came on us too quickly, and again, nowhere to stop!

Ayr is quite nice, and although we drove right into town and along a road reserved for buses and disabled cars and delivery vans, nobody yelled at us so we found an undercover carpark, and looked for some shops and coffee. Found great coffee at a franchise (Nero), and shared a panini, and had some of the best coffee so far.
Love Marks and Spencers. The quality of their cotton interlock in T-shirts and other things is excellent. Lee got some more leggings and I found some good polo shirts and a cotton jumper for the big cruise.
When we came back to the carpark we noticed a sign, which read, "This carpark is open between (hours quoted), and will be locked, Cars that remain without those hours will be locked in. Charming local saying(?)

Not a lot available at Ardossan but we found a nice hotel on the waterfront and booked for two nights, because we'd skipped on from other places, and so were ahead of ourselves for the ferry. The room was quite well done, twin beds, in an old house, of which the owner/manager person had no idea about its history. If I had a place like that, I would want to know what its previous life was! At least 12 foot ceilings, beautiful staircase, stained glass, panelling, etc., etc.
Very pleasant afternoon, so we had a long walk along the seafront, and sat and looked at the water.

Trouble is, having decided to have dinner in their restaurant, we settled on fish of the day (in batter), and chips. Mistake! These huge slabs of cod (in good batter) arrived, with enough to feed a family of four! Cod is not a nice fish (at least we don't think so), and we'll avoid it again.

(Personal note: if you know you might get only a double bed, go for twin beds, especially if you are used to Queen or larger!)