South West Scotland - 4

17- 24 Jun 2019

Kites

The rain had stopped by the time we reached our destination, the CMC site at Garlieston, on the east side of The Machars peninsula. The site is in a lovely location, overlooking the small bay and town. Next morning we caught a local bus to Wigtown, known as Scotland’s book capital. John was in his element here; not only bookshops and coffee shops, but bookshops with coffee shops! We can heartily recommend Reading Lasses – probably the best coffee of the trip, with a delicious homemade scone and jam, enjoyed in leather armchairs surrounded by shelves and shelves of books.

Away from the second-hand bookshops, there is a darker side to Wigtown. A short walk took us to the marshy banks of the River Cree and the sombre Martyrs Stake. Here, in 1685 two women were tied to stakes and drowned by the rising tide for refusing to renounce their Covenanter faith. The overcast skies added to the dark atmosphere.

The Martyr's stake

Tuesday was a brighter day – meteorologically and metaphorically. We caught a bus in the other direction, down to the small harbour of the Isle of Whithorn. We walked out to the remains of St Ninian’s chapel, and came across the nearby memorial to the crew of the fishing boat Solway Harvester. During heavy storms in January 2000 the boat was lost with all hands near the Isle of Man. All the crew came from the isle of Whithorn. 

St Ninian's Chapel

After lunch on the site we went for a walk in the sunshine around the headland from Garlieston to Rigg bay. During WW2 the concrete Mulberry Harbours used in the invasion of Normandy were tested here, having been constructed in Garlieston.

Our final port of call was to be Kirkcudbright, but we broke our short journey at the Red Kite feeding station near Laurieston. Here we witnessed an amazing display, as dozens of kites circled and swooped to pick up food. Our cameras worked overtime, but we lacked the specialist kit to get really good shots – a couple of serious bird photographers had cameras with lenses the size of howitzers.

Our destination in Kirkcudbright (Kir-coo-bree to the locals) was Silver Craigs, a lovely campsite on a hill above the town, but only about 15 minutes’ walk to the town centre. We spent a pleasant day in the town; firstly at the old Toll House, now the Tollbooth arts centre, then at Broughton House. This fine old townhouse was the home of the painter Edward Hornel. Whilst works of art dominate the inside, the rear gardens show his other passion. Stretching down to towards the River Dee, they were divided into themed areas. Our afternoon walk along the river towards the remains of the old railway viaduct was curtailed slightly when the heavens opened.

Broughton House garden

Then it was back to Edinburgh for a couple of days with Louise, Steve and Jocelyn, followed by overnighting in Filey for more family visiting.

South West Scotland - 3

Jun 13 - 16 2019

 A New England

On the way to New England Bay, in the South Rhins of Galloway, we stopped in a lay-by with lovely views over the island of Ailsa Craig (beloved of bored cameramen during golf from Turnberry) and the Firth of Clyde and then at Portpatrick.

Ailsa Craig

This should have been a pretty little fishing harbour, where you could sit outside one of several cafes watching the world go by.  In reality, it was cold, gloomy, with very few people about and we had a quick walk around before hastening back to the 'van.  On a positive note, there is a lifeboat station there, and John purchased his normal quota of RNLI Christmas cards!

Gloomy Portpatrick

The CMC site at New England Bay stretches for quite some way along the coast and you can walk in either direction.  And you see plenty of birds from the comfort of the 'van.  The only way to get to the Mull of Galloway was to take the van and John bravely tackled the winding B-road with high hedges, followed by the single-track road with passing places, a total of 5 miles.  Just before the Mull, we literally had to nudge our way through a herd of cattle and calves. 

But we arrived unscathed and the scenery and views over Luce Bay and the Irish Sea were well worth the journey.  The Lake District Fells and the Isle of Man were clearly visible, with a dark smudge on the western horizon indicating Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, the lighthouse tours were not taking place due to a wedding later in the afternoon, but we did a circular walk around the Mull, ending at the RSBP visitor centre, where the volunteers were delighted to chat about the many birds in the vicinity.

Mull of Galloway

From New England Bay we cycled 2.5 miles on minor roads to get to Logan Botanic Gardens, which is part of the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. Its specialism is plants from warm climates of the world.

Logan Botanic Garden

It was then time to head east, following the coast past Auchenmalg Bay and Port William, before cutting across to Withorn.  This is where "St Ninian, the first apostle of Christianity in Scotland, is believed to have built his church Candida Casa.  For centuries, commoners and kings have visited the shrine of the saint.  The settlement grew to become Scotland's first town".  The detailed exhibition was very interesting but we only scurried round the remains of the church, as it was raining again.

South West Scotland - 2

7 - 12 Jun 2019

Fly like an Eagle

From Muasdale we retraced our steps slightly, to catch the CalMac Ferry from Claonaig to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran, a short 30 minute trip. To reach the ferry you drive down several miles of single-track road (with passing places) and on arrival, the “Ferry Terminal” is, in fact, a slipway and what looks like a bus shelter.

The Lochranza Campsite is very peaceful (no main road nearby!) and there are plenty of walks to keep visitors occupied. Once we were settled on our pitch, we picked up some leaflets on local walks from the helpful staff at reception and headed off up Gleann Biorach. This was a short walk in pleasant sunshine, and we were delighted to see a pair of Golden Eagles soaring above the rocks on Torr Nead. 

Lochranza campsite

Looking for eagles

In order to see more of the island, without having to move the motorcaravan, we used the local buses to get to Brodick on the east side, then across to Blackwaterfoot in the west, travelling back to Brodick along the southern coast. This was the only day (so far, fingers crossed) that we have got really wet and we hid for a while in the Arran Heritage Museum until it was time for our bus. On Sunday afternoon we took another of the recommended walks, around the headland to the north of Lochranza. Walking out from the pitch, we passed nine red deer just outside - and even just inside - the campsite. 

On our way back, we saw another Golden Eagle, high above the hills. Glorious sunshine on Monday was an inducement to walk into Lochranza (about 15 minutes) to take some photographs of the castle and bay.

From Arran our journey continued with a 55 minute ferry crossing to Ardrossan on the mainland and then to Culzean Castle, where there is an excellent CCC site.  From our pitch we looked out over Arran and hoped for a spectacular sunset - in vain!  

The estate at Culzean is enormous, with several marked trails to follow, leading to points of interest such as the camellia house, the swan pond and the biggest walled garden ever.  One of the current projects for National Trust for Scotland is to restore the walled garden to its former glory and we chatted to some of the workers who were planting squares of yew trees, each cage containing 25 trees, which will eventually cover the cage.  We joined a guided tour around the castle and had an excellent guide who mixed his facts with plenty of humour.

Culzean Castle

Inside the walled garden

South West Scotland - 1

30 May – 6 Jun 2019

Mull of Kintyre

It was not a promising start to the trip; we had left Stratford in the sunshine, but by the time we reached the Lake District, the rain had set in. It continued to rain at our overnight stop in Moffat (same site as 2017 – CCC site) and was still raining when we left the next day. Thankfully the skies cleared by the time we reached Edinburgh. We had come North to join the rest of the family to celebrate Jocelyn's first birthday; she enjoyed all the company, the attention - and the wrapping paper!

We spent two nights at the Mortonhall Caravan Park just inside Edinburgh’s city by-pass. The site is big, well organised and has good facilities. From Edinburgh we skirted Glasgow on the M8, and followed the southern end of Loch Lomond.  It was a very gloomy morning, but the roads were brightened by the abundance of deep pink rhododendrons.  Glen Croe was stunning even with the clouds covering the hilltops and at Rest and Be Thankful, six miles beyond Arrochar, we did just that, stopping at the Argyll Forest Car park. 

View down Glen Croe

From there you look down on the Military Road, constructed in the 18^th century, as part England’s attempts to quash Scottish rebellions.  And looking up, you can see Ben Arthur, aka The Cobbler, (when not shrouded in cloud!).   The A83 then took us along Loch Fyne, passing through Inverary, on our way to a three-night stay at Lochgilphead Caravan Park.

We easily filled the time in Lochgilphead with a visit to the Kilmartin local history museum, following this up with walks to a cairn of stones, the Nether Largie standing stones, Temple Wood stone circle and the ruined Carnassarie Castle. There was also a visit to Arduaine Garden, National Trust for Scotland, where the main feature of the lower garden is the giant rhododendrons, sadly past their best.  The upper garden is mainly woodland. 

Standing stones at Kilmartin

The bikes were unloaded the from the back of the van and we had a lovely ride along the Crinan Canal to Crinan lock basin (7 miles), passing the south side of the Moine Mhor (peat bog).  There were plenty of other folk on the towpath, cycling or walking their dogs, and many boats negotiating the locks.  As I was taking a photograph of a pretty cabin on the other side of the canal, a male cyclist, a Canadian, passed me and apologised that he was not able to invite us in to his residence, but he was off to Lochgilphead to do his shopping.  It seemed rather like an extract from Wind in the Willows, which we took Ben to see the other week!  The resident turned out to be an artist, Fraser MacIver, who has had his home studio on the canal since 1997.  

Fraser MacIver's studio

 

Crinan Basin

On our way to the next site at Muasdale we stopped briefly in Tarbert and walked rather quickly in the rain around the castle ruins.  The "site" at Muasdale was tiny, right beside the beach.  Also right next to the A83!  We were only there one night, but had a couple of enjoyable walks along the beach and could see seals on the rocks a little way off the beach. Sadly the hoped-for sunset over the islands of Islay and Jura did not quite materialise – maybe next time!

On Muasdale beach

Evening on the Sound of Jura