Gate and April light
April 9, 2025, 8:08 am , by Richard Lutz
Richard Lutz casts a little light into spring days
Yes, that view is redolent of those old lyrics by The Who: ‘I can see for miles and miles and miles and….(ad infinitum)’.
Of course during that epoch, every single song by every rock singer was about being dazed, confused, high as a bird.
But now nestled in the spring embrace of 2025, looking over a newly implanted sturdy gate, erected by The Ayrshire Coastal Path crew, you can lean on that isolated fixture, see the sea, see the rolling hills, get swept away by a sharp 40mph wind with your name etched on each blast. The light southward is overcast, maybe heralding better weather, better prospects.
The gate took three hours to embed and get right. None of my doing. I’m a grunt who hauls tools to the volunteers who know how to measure things up and put things in. And maybe if lucky, I’m entrusted with a spade or a posthole digger or get to scrape out rocks from the trench to make fast the vertical posts.
What it means is replacing a battered wooden gate near an old rutted coach road that drives up and over upland pastures.
When helping digging postholes and trenches, I do dream of finding a Roman sword or an Iron Age pendant up here on these windy hills.
Light on a long horizon
After all, the farm road, just glimpsed to the left of the picture, does have history: Ayrshire engineer John Mcadam used sections of the old route to test his improved road system back in the late 18thc. He used a tar mixture … ergo, tarmacadam (ie, tarmac) to improve muddy pitted surfaces. It’s safe to say it caught on bigtime.
This soft light lays over the finger of land called Bennane Head which broods over the coastal hamlet of Lendalfoot. It includes a famous cave where the land meets the sea. It comes weighted with grim stories- shadowed by myth and dark tall tales.
Behind the headland is the little harbour town of Ballantrae. On good days, further south you can just about make out Northern Ireland on the long horizon.
Face west and that grey sky is turning a pale blue. Standing firm in the middle of the sea is the volcanic plug called Ailsa Craig. It’s a good ten miles off the coast.
To its north you can make out the blue profile of The Isle of Arran, a blue that matches these cold waters.
This sea, of course, can be lit by extravagant western Scottish sunsets. This is from the Maidens back port, renowned as a safe sandy haven for kids to run free:
And spring offers sharper light too. This is a reflection on a bubbling river:
And this is light bouncing off a lively bend in that river:
But what better light than that emerging through an east facing morning door:
It starts the day off right.
And when blending with the sharp breath of fresh coffee and wrens and blackbirds and finches chattering away, it makes the world seem a better place with a better start. After all, as The Beatles remarked: ‘Can’t get much worse…’
sunset photo: janepix
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David Rendall
A Brooklyn boy embraces and celebrates the natural beauty of a fresh, spring day on Ayrshire’s barely spoilt coast – almost poetic and some great photos too. Thank you for lifting our spirits at a time of international doom and gloom
Steve Strachan
We’re so lucky here in the village of Maidens to be able to see the clouds change colour minute by minute in the evening if conditions are not so good
Bella Houston
April light ☀️
Henry Burnell
And a Builder as well ….
Jan Oyebode
Can feel the wind
Howard
Speaks so powerfully of renewal and fresh starts looking forward
John McBride
Good photos
JB
Pity about the wind
Gareth Albright
Maybe see you out there sometime.
Alan Holland
Dare I say that sturdy gate will still be there long after us. I’ve been watching a lot of Westerns lately and reckon there’s none to compare to an American when it comes to post and wire fences.
Norma Bennen
I needed a water fix
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