10 Looking just north of west from the top of Bennan I got the view that you see above. In the second picture I have zoomed in to this picture to have a closer look at that interestingly shaped hill just left of centre. It is called Knockdolian, it is 265 metres high and it lies just to the north east of Ballantrae around 19 miles 930Km) away. But what you see beyond Knockdolian is the Antrim coast of Ireland some 60 miles (96Km) away.
In the third picture (which was taken from the top of Merrick) I have again pushed the digital image to it's limits and what you are seeing here is Knockdolian with Ireland beyond it on the left of the picture with Ailsa Craig (known popularly as Paddie's Milestone) on the right and the Mull of Kintyre beyond it. Ailsa Craig is 27 miles (43Km) away and the tip of the Mull of Kintyre is 53 miles (85Km) away. You can see the narrow channel which separates Scotland from Ireland at this point.
The fourth picture shows Ailsa Craig as I climbed Benyellary and it is interesting to compare the relationship between Ailsa Craig and the mainland in pictures 3 and 4 - on Merrick I am that bit higher so you can see the sea all round Aisla Craig and it appears to have moved further north as I headed north onto Merrick.
In the fifth picture I have used a load of zoom again into the fourth picture and you can just see a tantalising hint of Rathlin Island between Scotland and Ireland. This is where Robert the Bruce is said to have watched the perseverance of a spider repeatedly trying to build a difficult web an event which inspired him in his struggle against the odds from his days of despair exiled on Rathlin to victory at Bannockburn.