Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway

20.07.2014 - 26.07.2014

Arriving in Scotland we took two nights in a lovely wee Caravan site in Newcastleton. I polished off a bit of work and we enjoyed the Scottish welcome, complete with bunnies and ponies.

Before leaving we did a bit of van maintenance. I got out there with a bucket and the old kitchen sponge and gave the van a wipe - the water coming off was black as soot; horrendous. Kate spruced up inside a bit and we were feeling like a new van.

Our first stop was Caerlaverock castle - a triangular moated castle within wetlands, it also has a fascinating history of back-and-forth seiges between the Scots and the English. In the castle's later years (1600s) it had been something of a manor and some facades and things had been added which gave the castle a unique feel - pretty cool.

Caerlaverock Castle

There were plenty of vivid blue dragonflies among the reeds in the moat - this spider was having a good time of it:

Heading on we were passed through Dumfries, the largest town in the region. We called it 'Stupidchips' because we are hilarious people.

In a snap decision we headed to the Dumfries museum and the Camera Obscura. The Camera Obscura is a telescopic lens setup, in Dumfries set atop an old mill, and it dates from the 1830s. Instead of projecting into an eyepiece it projects down onto a concave plaster disc. It was a gorgeous day and the image was simply spectacular - we had never seen anything quite like it. 'Such high definition!' Absolutely worth it, total highlight. The operator was a real sport too and let me take a picture of the van when she swept in to view:

Dorothy upside down - as the view spins around 360 degrees so too does our projected image!

Spectacular!

Just out of Dumfries was the lovely Sweetheart Abbey - in pretty good knick and built of reddy pink stone. The views from the carpark and neighbouring cemetery were the best, but we wasted £6.50 going in anyway.

Sweetheart Abbey

It sucks to have to be so tight with the dosh, but since the views from the free spots were just as nice as entering, this made us a bit more mindful of what we visit from now on. Historic Scotland charge the same £4.50 for everything, even the piddly one-room kind of towers.

Driving further along the Solway Coast we stopped at a potential spot for the evening. A nice wee viewpoint carpark. However some old couple in another Talbot had already taken the most 'non-wankery' spot, and were sitting about in deckchairs. Not going anywhere quick.

We headed on to a Forestry Commission Carpark, which turned out to be a mountain biking hub for the Forest of Galloway. Tonnes of mountain bike tracks, specially graded and whatnot for different skill levels, all looping back to the car park - would have been neat to have a bike with me. They even had a hose and bracket for cleaning bikes afterward, and wee signs up along the tracks to help you practice your skills! I settled for a wee walk which was fun enough but I was quite impressed with the whole complex really. Anything like that at home?

Solway Coast viewpoint carpark

A wee piece of bike track. Forest of Galloway.

A lovely peaceful night was spent in the forest, and refreshed we headed on down the coast, passing Dundrennan Abbey. Dundrennan was the 'mother abbey' of Sweetheart, but is in much worse condition now. We were happy to just take a happy snap over the fence - bit easier for the taller me than shorty Kate!

Kate taking a punt

Dundrennan Abbey - only a bit of the transepts still stand.

Van in a viewpoint. Just 'cause.

It was sweltering as we rolled in to Kirkudbright, about 26C without a lick of wind. This is where my Great grandmother heralded from so I was keen to prowl about the town. We popped in to the local Stewartry Museum which had some interesting things about local artists and some fascinating displays on clocks and watches. They had secreted wee elephants and dragons about the museum for kids to find - we also enjoyed finding them.

Heading back out into the heat, we treated ourselves to a big breakfast for lunch, visited the marina on the river and didn't go in to the castle. We did however go in to Broughton House, home of E A Hornel, Scottish painter. It was an interesting place with his studio still set up with half-finished works downstairs. Outside is a gorgeous garden - but it was too bloody hot to enjoy it! We pinched a little rosemary for our lamb dinner (hopefully NT don't mind!)

Threave Castle, Kirkudbright

Broughton House

Heading on toward the Mull of Galloway we passed a sign saying 'viewpoint' and 'rest area' - so we followed it. We thought it'd be close to the road but it was miles away, down one-lane roads and things, but the payoff was worth it - a nice beach atmosphere and an island separated from the mainland by a tidal mussel bed.

Kate has crab.

Heading on we saw another sign, Kate exploded with excited pointing - a quick glance behind, a screech of the brakes and we were headed up a rickety lane to 'Cairnholy' - whatever that was. Turned out it was two neolithic burial mounds. It was dusk and all rather romantic when we trundled up and ruined some young couples' moment, but the cairns were worth the detour.

Cairnholy I. Notice crushed Kate!

Cairnholy II.

A massive day, we found a nice sea front layby, cracked some beers and put our feet up, streaming on the laptop the opening of the Glasgow Commonwealth games, just up the coast. 

Our soon-to-be truck-infested gorgeous layby.

As we settled in we soon learnt that our layby (on the A77) was on the main drag to Ireland - and as the ferries came and went, so too did the entire countries' road freight. We were woken at 3am as trucks blared horns at one another - god knows what for. The stop turned out not so lovely and we've been gunning for mostly not-laybys since then.

In the morning I sleepily drove us on to Wigtown - Scotland's 'book town' with 12 bookshops on the massive main square. We enjoyed ourselves pottering about the many bookshops. I bought Kate a 120 year old poetry book, just because it was 120 years old - the poems are shit but the book looks the part.

Wigtown square

One of the bookshops. This one got New Zealand in their bookshop commonwealth games draw, so I felt quite at home around all the familiar NZ tack.

Jumping in the van ready for the next leg, I turned the ignition - and nothing. The key wouldn't pass the steering lock setting. No amount of increasingly cranky then despondent jiggling, swearing, WD40ing and smacking with pliers (in-lieu of a hammer) got us any further. Keeping her cool, Kate found us a local mechanic who nonchalantly said they'd be up us to help in 40. When they arrived, my manliness was saved by their inability to jiggle the keys with any more luck than I. It was unfortunate but I was a bit relieved the embarrassment!

They towed us to their garage and disassembled the ignition block, hoping to get around the requirement in some way - I guess hotwiring? So we could continue on our way. Unfortunately Dorothy is so old they weren't able to do whatever it was they wanted. While Kate chatted with our kindly mechanic about the deep and meaningfuls ('This is the deepest conversation I've ever had with someone I've just met' he said) our seasoned pro got out the mechanics' grease and a bigger hammer and got to work. Eventually the key turned again, and relieving ourselves of excessive thank-yous (and £40) we were on our way. 

Under Dorothy's skirt.

Relieved to be rolling (though there are far worse places to be stuck than Wigtown) we popped in to Port Williamson and enjoyed a de-stress. A fortuitously placed 'just enjoy it' statue helped. We then parked up the road in a coastal layby (much quieter than the previous). Not a big day but fairly dramatic for us!

Having a moment at Port Williamson.

Spoilt with lovely sunsets

Driving on to the Mull of Galloway we stopped at Portpatrick (mostly to do some poos).

Ablutions completed we took a wee stair up the coast to the Dunksey Castle, a nice wee ruin romantically situated on great cliff coastline. It was grated closed but clearly not paid attention to with gravel paths sneaking around the barriers - we popped in and it was that much cooler, since we weren't really supposed to go in there. It was a wee loop track and we returned along an old rail corridor which was nice too - always go for the loop track!

Portpatrick

I just liked this. Shithouse.

Dunksey Castle

After far too bloody long, we finally made it to where I had expected us to get to days earlier - the Mull of Galloway lighthouse. For £2.50 you can climb up to the top! On every day except Tuesday. 

It was Tuesday. 

So we sat about watching the cows and eating ice-creams. 

Mull of Galloway lighthouse

Kate got chatting to the local exhibition chap - we didn't go in to the exhibition but he was grateful for some company to pass the time. He mentioned that his son was in to boxing. 

Kate: 'Why did he stop?'

Chap: 'He died.'

That put a dampener on things and we started on our road back to Glasgow. We tried another impromptu pull-off to see some ancient tombstones - which turned out to not be there - and Kate spilt a beer all over me. With Dorothy smelling like yesterday's party we headed on north toward Glasgow. 

A fisherman at a picnic area.

Lulz.