This post was written by Abdulhamid, who entered our Young Persons’ Writing Competition 2019.
The Island of Cumbrae lies to the west of the great Scottish city of Glasgow. It hosts many shops you’ll know such as the Co-op, Costa and Tesco. But one place you may not know is Nardini’s ice cream parlour. As well as hosting an ice cream parlour, the building has a cafe.
Nice and cosy with shining orange light, Nardini’s is the perfect place to start your day with a cup of tea. The “world famous parlour” is well known round the island of Cumbrae and the town of Largs and Millport. It attracts a big busy herd of people and the town with lots to do really is a place to go.
Other monuments make up this phenomenal place like the ‘world’s narrowest house’ called “The Wedge”. It is narrower than a small sofa and it certainly looks tight to live in. You head to the coastline and see the murky green sea with leads to a vast blue ocean. Grimy seaweed lies across the shore giving a house to many small creatures. A park lies close by calling to the eye.
We leave the beach to walk along to the pier. Now board a ferry to get across to the island. The distance disappears in heartbeat and you realise the land is not as far away as you thought.
Your first impressions are pretty normal. The thought ‘nice place but nothing special’ cross your mind. Delving in however you realise you were mistaken, so many hidden things to explore and find, so many ways to occupy your mind. The watersports centre is your destination. 3 minutes’ walk was just a touch of dedication. It is quite windy but the centre is cosy. Immediately after lunch we get out onto the water, just as the wind is hitting full blast. The perfect day for sailing, rough and wild. We split into groups, four to a boat as well as our instructor. By the time we had finished sailing exhaustion was a common feeling.
All this was followed by evening activities and a good night’s sleep. The next day we were at it again this time sea kayaking. a large chunk of the morning was spent, from half past eight to about half eleven to twelve to attempt to be precise, kayaking round half of the island. Our kayaks were left along the shore and a break is to be taken for lunch. After filling ourselves up there was some games and messing around on the kayaks for some more, spotting some elegant seals and finally returned to the centre. That basically signaled the end of the second day.
On this trip windsurfing was by far the most difficult activity. If you had a look over at where I was located on the water a sound you would probably have heard often was the sound of a splash which, you could probably guess, was coming from me. Challenges are a way of life and I absolutely loved it. The inconsistency of the wind sometimes dampened the fun but all in all it was fun.
Today individual sailing in small boats, otherwise known as Pico- was the activity that had been given and we spent the morning just sailing around the perimeter of the island. It was the afternoon that really mad that day. That afternoon was when I had my first taste of the ice cream of Nardini’s. Taking the sailing boat across to Largs took 20-30 minutes but boy was it worth it. The fun of sailing of was just amazing and the ice cream was really good. It was a brilliant way to cap off that day.
The final day we did not get out onto the water but instead cycled round the island and into Millport. The ‘Tour de Cumbrae’ was certainly entertaining and a lot of speculation as to who won but it most definitely was moi.
The week now done, time to have some fun. We return the parlour once more, to say ‘O galore’ before the journey begins back home. A wonderful experience this has been.
Thoroughly enjoyed, it shall be missed. Every adventure has to come to an end and ours had just arrived. This was just the start of something much much bigger. An experience so great it will stay with me for the rest of my life.
About the Author
Abdulhamid Okin
Entrant- The Tourist Trail Young Persons’ Writing Competition 2019
“My name is Abdulhamid or Abdul for short. I am very sporty and especially enjoy basketball and football.”