We have planned a touring day, after we have replenished the food supplies and petrol. So, jobs done we return to Wigtown to check out the book shops as Chris stocks are getting low!
We spent a while wandering town, stopping at a bookshop/café called “Readinglasses”. We had a
lovely cuppa there, drinking from their fine china cups, but found that the ratio of male to female in the shop/café was worryingly small, but then we checked their book shelves, and I’m surprised Chris was allowed in at all!!We then spent even longer in a book shop reminiscent of Barter Books in Alnwick, as it had
several rooms filled floor to ceiling with old books, plus comfy sofas and strange artefacts!From Wigtown we drove round the peninsular, passing Port William, but stopping at the very lovely Isle of Whithorn, home of St Ninians chapel and a pretty little harbour.
From there we drove up to Garlieston, but didn’t stop as it was now time to go back for tea!
Tuesday 1st - day 318
Well, another day of rain, but we not going to let that spoil the day!!! We are off to visit the Galloway Forests and beyond! It may be true that all locals and sensible folk have stayed in doors, but it was lovely to drive for miles down windy leafy lanes and meet no one! We drove past Glentrool where we had been earlier and went on to explore the little lochs along the way – mostly managed by the Forestry Commission – and the first stop was Kirriereoch (very Gaelic)
where we saw just one family trying to pretend it was summer as their two young sons splashed in the river whilst they huddled under fleeces!We picnicked at beautiful Stinchar Falls, there was a break in the clouds and we planned to go
and take our lunch to eat at the tables kindly provided by the FC! But as we reached for the box the heavens opened again so we sat in the warm and dry (if a little smelly now!!)The largest Loch on our route was the Bradan, further into the forest so we drove on to park closer to the water. At best the scene could be described as bleak, and in the rain it was still more bleak, but we wanted to see what was round the corner so we set off on the path round the Loch, it would have been 8 or 9 miles to walk all the way round, so we went just far enough to
see enough Pippits and smell enough of the rain drenched earth, (and by 6pm) we were just wet enough to need to a hot cup of tea, before the taking the journey home. We had two lovely the surprises on the way home though, the first was unexpectedly finding the truly delightful 
Straiton, a small village with a wide High Street, along which all the low roofed, croft style houses had packed their frontages with colourful annuals and it made such a pretty picture that we had to stop and take one!The other lovely surprise was that Hannah, who had been avoiding going to get her results for fear of getting a 2:2, finally rang to say she had got a 2:1! HALLELUJAH! What a relief, there will be celebrating in Manchester tonight!!
Wednesday 2nd - day 319
Because of Hannah’s good news I have been commissioned by the family to go and purchase the necessary pressies, so rather than making the long drive over to the Rhinns (where we had planned to go walking) we made a bee line for Castle Douglas, where we made our first lovely purchase, but as we needed something to go with it, so we decided to move on Kikcudbright to continue our search, but not before we stepped into Hazels Antiques! Or should it have been Aunty Wainwrights?! To get into this interesting establishment you had to cut through layers of thick smoke created by the three weather beaten old codgers who sat in the corner, pontificating loudly in their broad Irish brogue. I think that they must, at some time or other, have emptied the entire contents of all the old houses in the area, there was everything from an old mangle to a grandfather clock, and a trouser press for £20 – Chris was tempted!
But back on track and on to Kircudbright. We had not had time to really explore this old fishing
port cum Artists capitol of the south west Scotland, and it was lovely to spend a bit of time wandering before we made our second purchase. There was an exhibition of the areas influential artists from the late 1800’s, including Jessie M King, who illustrated books that I can remember from childhood. She and her husband lived in the town (from 1915 until she died in 1949,) along with several other artists.We noticed that the streets were very colourful as we wandered round, and there were little
alleyways along the way, which were full of baskets and troughs full of flowers –all well hydrated – from all the rain!Thursday 3rd - day 320
We are so glad that we hadn’t planned an early or speedy get away, as we overslept, then just when we thought that we may be catching up, we got caught instead by the neighbours, Chris by the Northern Irish couple and me by the wife of the Cumbrian couple, who did not leave until she had told me all about all of her dogs – plus their names and who had been shown at Crufts – I don’t think that I glazed over, but there were moments, but in the end she and Isabella the Pug went back to their caravan for lunch, and Chris returned, at least he had been given tips on places to see near Belfast!
Finally, and rather sadly we leave this little piece of rural heaven with its cheeky spaniel Molly, the sheep, the cows, the swans, the moorhens and the Oystercatchers. We are heading north via Glasgow to Aberfoyle for 2 weeks in the Trossachs.
It was a long and almost uneventful journey except foe when we crossed Glasgow on the M74. It had been dull for most of the journey, but as we approached the big city, it got blacker and darker until the heavens opened, the thunder clapped, the lightening flashed and rain fell – in stair rods, the wipers could not clear the windscreens quick enough and we had to slow right down to stay safe- and we just hoped that everyone else was the doing the same as well!We were at the camp site near Aberfolye before 5pm, and were thrilled to find that we had our own tap and drain, so life is going to be good for the water boy for the next 15 days!
It started to rain again as we were settling in so I had the bright idea to wash the outside of the caravan, which has been looking a bit grubby for a while. So with anorak on and newly acquired mop at the ready, I set about the task in hand, grateful that the van would be rinsed naturally, I must try that thought regularly as 5 mins later the sun came out and we all steam dried – after Chris came out as well to do the rinsing!!Friday 4th - day 321
The weather forecast is lousy for the next few days, but today at least it promises some sun, so we set off for a tour round the Trossachs while they may be seen!!
We drove up to Aberfoyle, though did not stop, but made a right turn for Loch Venachar down Dukes Pass (it does have a bit of a ring that – going down the Dukes Pass to get to the Trossachs) We made several brief stops to capture the magnificent and expansive views, before turning left at the Brig O’ Turk to take a walk up to the viewing point above Glen Finglas Reservoir. By now the sun was beginning to shine, and the green of the bracken was an iridescent foil for all the many yellow, white and purple flower species. But the stars of the show 
had to be the butterflies, within 30 paces we had seen a powder blue one, an orange speckled one and a chocolate brown spotted one – and they were all lovely, as indeed was the view across the loch.Our drive took us then past the Falls of Leny, which we stopped to walk down to, but there were too many trees in the way to really see their magnificence, so on past Loch Lubnaig, a popular
spot for anglers. Our final destination was Balquidder where we had planned to spend a bit of time. We drove the five miles down a single track/no through road beside the banks of Lochs Voil and Doine to view the Braes of Balquidder, which were also as majestic as their names, but interestingly we both agreed that we didn’t feel drawn to walk them as we are so often in the Lakes, perhaps they were just too high for our capabilities, so felt outside our reach!
We also needed lunch (it was past 3pm) so we drove back along the waters edge and found an idyllic spot to picnic.A good while later we returned to Balquidder to enjoy a stroll in the gorgeous early evening light looking back toward the Braes, and discovering another superb water fall, all broiling rush and brackish surge, its force obvious as we stood on the bridge overlooking it. Our last visit of the day was to Rob Roy’s grave at the little Kirk in the village.
We travelled back in the most magical light, crystal clear and bright, with foreboding clouds beyond the hills adding a touch of drama. The desire to stay out in it influenced the decision to stop for a pint even if we are broke! So by the time we returned to the caravan it was way past supper time!!Saturday 5th - day 322
Well, the forecast was right, it is raining again, and there are no mountains visible so we are off to Glasgow to complete birthday shopping.
Whatever charms this city may have in the sunshine are certainly lost when it’s wet!
However we achieved all that was needed, and discovered John Lewis in the Buchanan Galleries, so we made a beeline for the coffee shop and shelter!
On the way back to the car we did pop into Princes Square, to remind ourselves of the lovely Macintosh style iron work and décor. It was still as expensive so we didn’t stay long! The day did not improve, and cold and soggy we returned to the car. With spirits also dampened we decided to go back to the caravan rather than go to a folk music session at the Lade Inn near Callander. We look forward to this weather improving!Sunday 6th - day 323
We are still looking forward to the weather improving, which provides all the necessary excuses for a very lazy start!! However the skies were lightening by 2pm so we decided to drive up to
Inversnaid by Loch Lomond to stretch our legs by the water. The 15 mile route took us down a no through road, past some dramatic scenery, (which was just about visible) and three little lochs Ard, Chon and Arklet to get to the Hotel Inversnaid by Lomond, and its lovely little harbour. By the time we arrived the sun was trying to fight its way through, and the earth was gently steaming (as were we).
We started our walk by taking a bridge over a beautiful waterfall which shared the same name as the hotel, before joining a narrow, windy and sometimes hazardous path that weaved its way through the old oak wood just above the waters edge, and the bracken glowed a luminous green. 
We searched for signs of life, binoculars at the ready, but apart from the yellow bottoms of what we hoped were Yellowhammers we saw nothing other than 5 cyclists (two of which were having problems with their bikes!) and 6 walkers carrying skyscrapers on their backs! – but no interesting birds! We walked as far as Cailness Burn – the wall map told us it was 6 km – and after enjoying the view for a few minutes we made our return to the hotel. By now the weather 
was so clement that we were able to drink our tea outside, sitting on the dock of the bay!
We arrived at Castle Douglas, our next campsite at 4pm, and were quickly settled in. We are staying on a working farm, sharing a field with 3 other caravans, nestled between a lake with swans on it, and a field with sheep in it. We noticed that while the swans were very serene, the sheep were very grumpy. Apparently they had spent the day in the pen waiting to be sheered, and once they had all had their winter coats removed they were led back into their field, and they were not impressed, for 20 minutes or so they protested loudly to the farmer that he had no business stripping them off and they needed the central heating turning up!
We had not expected too much of the town, but were very pleasantly surprised. It had a wide river running through it with several lovely bridges quite close together, making a pretty picture.
charming stained glass wall panel right across the whole of the entrance.
I read that Kippford was on the opposite side of the estuary, but once we had set the map the right way up, and had eaten our pasties (bought in unfortunately the first and worst bakery that we passed) we had the journey sussed, and set off in the right direction! By now the sun was coming out, and we were able to enjoy a refreshing walk along the length of Kippford sea front down toward Rough Island.
We left the village behind, and walked down a long residential drive by the water, as we moseyed along the lane, we became aware of eyes staring at us out of the hedgerows…….. on 
closer inspection we discovered there were lots of drift wood sculptures lovingly and humorously put together for the delight of passers by, fortunately the creator of these gems was tending to his latest spectacular on our return journey so we were able to let him know how much we had enjoyed them!
crunchy to walk on!
Unfortunately we arrive as most of the interesting places are closing and going home for tea, but we enjoy another wander round, until we find a hostelry open and serving tea, hurray, we sat in a sheltered spot enjoying the early evening sun in this newly refurbished 7 bedroomed hotel, which - they hoped – would all be ensuite by the end of the season, good for them.
We packed everything just in case, and set off down a lane past a church with the pointiest spires we have ever seen. The sun shone warmly on us as we crossed the field to the lane by the 
Garroch Estate, and we headed down a quiet lane which became a lovely dingily dell, after we had past a small hydro electricity power station!
through waist high bracken sparkly green after the rain. We lunched, sat on a rocky outcrop over looking St John’s, and just as we were setting off again we are met by a lovely sheep farmer on his quad bike, which he dismounted, to engage us in conversation for the next 15 minutes. We didn’t leave until he had found out all about our travels, and told us such details about himself as – he doesn’t like the taste of lamb (not bad for a sheep famer!!) and that he had saved £800 on insuring his vehicles by switching insurers. We enjoyed our chatter with him very much, but we did leave wondering just how much insurance he has to pay if he is saving £800!!
We made it back to the road by another power station, but this one had a very pleasing stepped slipway by it, which was worthy of recording – so we did!
(most of it clearly visible from the fence anyway) we paid for a visit round an oatmeal mill, which was a fascinating journey through local history.
We were there – of course – longer than intended, and lunch was delayed until 3.30pm and by the time we got to the viewpoint it was pouring, and the cloud had come right down so there was no hint of Cumbria to be seen across the Solway Firth. We sat a while and in the end the cloud lifted long enough to make out Silloth, but it was time to move onto Rockcliff, which we still wanted to see even if we were unlikely to set out walking.
By the time we arrived the rain had stopped, and our bums were feeling numb enough for us to make the decision to go for walk, but 10 minutes in the heavens opened again, so we went as far as the headland to get an atmospheric view of the village then legged it back to the car. We were soaked and the car was so steamy on the way back, we were sure folks would be thinking that we had had a good time!!
was very pleasant, but then the fun started. We ate our picnic lunch sitting by the fast flowing brackish and swirly River Trool, and poured over the walker’s map that showed us a 6 mile route round the Loch. The problem was that there was conflicting information, and no matter which angle we stared at the page from we could not make the pieces fit. First we walked over the bridge and turned left (as described in the instructions) but when it became apparent that we were not going to come to another bridge in the foreseeable distance, we retraced our steps 
back to the starting point, and tried another route. This one was marked “Southern Upland Way” which was encouraging as we were due to meet up with the SUW later in the walk, so we took that track. We had a lovely walk down along side the river, its rushing sounds reminding us regularly of its presence, but still we did not find a bridge, we did however turn a corner and on rejoining the river found that it was now flowing the other way – now that was a mystery! Finally we crossed over – not one but two! – bridges, the plot thickened. The answer came half a mile later when we came across one of those very useful map boards, which showed that we were a full 3 miles off track, having started from the wrong carpark!!!!!! We won’t dwell on who was map reading!
On the return journey, we drove back along the scenic route through Galloway Forest, looking for Red Deer, but no joy, but the sun did come out – for the first time today, and cast fabulous colours and shadows across the valley.
to have great spiritual significance to the many pilgrims that made a vigil there, but I have to say it was a little lost on me!
views were worth it, including a good view of the Isle of Man, although it took us a while to work out what we were looking at! We got as far as Burrow Head, with hopes of seeing the Cumbrian coast line, but I don’t think that we were far enough around. Instead we sat awhile watching a Gannet in flight, it was so graceful with its long straight wings, and it looked very elegant next to 
the seagulls. By the time we came to walking back, the cows had wandered down to the cliff path, accompanied by their babies so some care was taken to pass them by without disturbance, no chance they are all to nosy to let us go by unnoticed, but, at least they were undisturbed.
After an uneventful journey, we arrive at our first Scottish camp site, strike that out and put in holiday camp! There is a shop, restaurant, social club, children’s playground and area dedicated to static units. Let’s just say that we are extremely glad that we are staying here outside the summer holidays!
Actually the tourer field is very quiet at the moment, and the facilities are excellent so I think that we will do very well here for the next week, especially with Edinburgh just down the road!
with its two harbours and old castle ruins. It would appear that we were visiting in John Muir’s Country Park, and there were information boards around the place, one of which told of the raw deal the Scots had had, at the hand of the English (oh boy, had forgotten that bit!!)
The harbours were very pretty though and walking along the sea shore, as always did the spirit good, as did the walk back into town, where we saw some fine examples of Scottish house building, which once again turned our attention to the happy ponderings about where we might be living at the end of our trip.
sheltered outcrop of rocks by the lapping waters to take our repast (!), and guess what, the tide was coming in, (we have been reading about tides and it seems that the tides are always on the move!) I don’t know why it is so fascinating watching the sea rise and fall, but it is, and we could loose many hours to this fascination!
gallery, well it would have been rude not to pop in, and as a result we may have bought some glass panel, candle light illuminators, we didn’t today, but we may go back!!
trippers round the bays to explore what the clear waters may reveal. We headed back, supposedly by Mire Loch where we were led to believe that we might see Whinchats and Redstarts, but the path was through dense under growth, so we saw nothing!!! We made our way back to the coastal path after that, with pictures of cups of tea floating before my eyes, as the stroll to see the birds had rather become a hike!
given an adverse weather warning! One young family arrived this morning with their tent, and although we offered our assistance they gave up and left; and during the day another tent was flattened, is this a Scottish summer – I thought their summers were wet not wild!
We walked back along the beach to town, and the sand was so whipped up, that rather than sun burn, today we have wind burn!
we witnessed the increasing population of the sea, by wind surfers and kite surfers. We were not sure whether there was competition between them, but they were both moving very quickly across the water - we went home for a rest!
had few charms and there was little to stir us, so we left quite quickly with lunch (from lovely bakery) in hand and headed back for Coldingham Bay, just outside St Abb’s Head. It turned out to be a really good decision as the bay was idyllic, wide warm clean sands sloping gently down to a clear blue sea, and the sun was definitely shining on us! We found a sheltered spot to eat our lunch, and settled for our little repast. After a small discussion about whether we should pick up 
the coastal path and walk toward St Abb’s we soon decided against such vigour and settled back against the rocks and closed our eyes for just a mo………………. 2 hours later, we didn’t even bother to have the discussion about having a walk, we just returned to the car and drove straight round to the tea shop that had nearly tempted us earlier and this time went in! We lingered there until closing time, enjoying the warm sun, blue sky, green fields and quiet serenity – if we had known what was to greet us on arrival back at the campsite, I think we may have stayed till really late. We had left a virtually empty field this morning, but since our departure half of Newcastle had come and pitced their tents and gazebos all over the place, and the music was playing loud, the burgers were sizzling and the stongbow was flowing – great – after some discussion we decided not to sit outside for supper this evening!
And what a choice, all the fragrances were distinctive and had much more personality than the usual perfume counters, which made choosing my favourite a protracted affair, but my own olfactory guru guided me to the final decision and I am very pleased with my little purchase.
There was such a lot to see in the castle, mostly military history, but they had set up a mock prison for prisoners of war, and it had been done so effectively it was possible to envisage a scene in the mid 1700’s of men of different nations all holed up together, sleeping three in a row in tiny hammocks (no wanting to go for a wee in the night!) and living in very cramped and dingy conditions.
and the staff were there to move us along, there was no lingering over slow food, it was queue, fill the plate, eat, pay, go……….. so we ate slowly! Just as well really as there was a vast array of Chinese dishes on offer, (most of them tasting the similar) and we could go back as often as we wished (3 for Chris, 2 for me, oh where were the kids – they managed to go back 8 or 9 times, last time we did this!) Although it was not “haute cuisine”, it was a lot of fun, and we did enjoy it, and eat well, as you can tell from the picture of the prize prawn (what do you mean which one!)
make a hasty retreat back to their cosy dry homes. We had planned to go to Melrose, but the torrential downpour kept us indoors. By 2pm though it had cheered up enough to make the journey to go and visit the famous old Abbey.
Cistercian Monastery was even more interesting because we were given an audio guide to inform our meanderings, although Chris’s tape recorder seemed to be playing mind games and took him all over the place - sometimes back to the beginning! I was exhausted by the time we had finished, and that was just listening to the tape of a young monks day – which started at 2am, when the brothers were called to rise (they didn’t get undressed from their day clothes so 
that they could slip quickly from the bed to the presbytery for prayers)
know that we were in Edinburgh, and got the reply that they were too, and tonight we are going over to their flat for supper!
market. It was lovely to see Lize (Tom’s sister) there as well. She had been driving down from Findhorn to Knutsford and had stopped to join T&S for the evening too.