Dalbeattie

We arrived at the Fairgirth Farm CL at midday, and the owner pointed us in the direction of the site. 5 hard standing pitches in a small field at the bottom of the farm, no-one was here so we had the pick of the bunch!  We popped into Dalbeattie where we found a bike shop, Phil went in to see if they had a chainring, no joy.  Then we found a great butcher shop where we got some sausage, mince and chicken stir fry, mmmmm! 

Phil was up at 8.30 the next day to go and ride the trails at Dalbeattie.  There had been quite a sharp overnight frost and everything outside the ‘van was white, it looked lovely as the sun was just coming up. Just a short ride out of the campsite gets you into the forest and I soon picked up the 7 Stanes trail signs.  The red track is very entertaining, with lots of rocky stuff and board riding to keep it interesting, it is the short black sections that are the real thrills though. The Slab, The Terrible Twins and
Volunteer Ridge are all steep, rocky and technical and keep you on your toes.  Once Phil was back we headed out in Tonks with a stop at Castle Douglas at the bike shop to try and get a new chainring, failed.  So we carried on down the road to The Threave Estate.  Owned by the National Trust, the Estate has 64 acres of garden and woodland as well as the 14^th century baronial house, of which they offer guided tours.  We hadn’t realised that the house was by guided tour only and had missed the last tour – boo! So we just ambled around the gardens, taking in some of the sculptures and fountains as well as the large walled garden, which had some huge Victorian replica glasshouses within the walls.  The autumn colours within the garden were lovely, with the trees all turning different shades of orange, yellow and brown.  We then went back to the car and got the dogs out for a walk. As recommended by the reception staff we followed the estate walk out across the fields and over to the River Dee, where we came to Threave Castle which sits in the river on its own little island.  The 14^th century castle was built by Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway, and was the stronghold of the Black Douglas’, who also owned the Threave house and estate. Because of its location you can only access the castle by boat, and even have to ring the bell at the jetty to call the custodian to come and take you across the river!  Dogs weren’t allowed on the boat so we decided not to bother this time. We followed our steps back and continued our walk back to Tonks, where we headed back to Castle Douglas to try and find the brewery. We parked on the main street and after some searching found it down a tiny alley.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a busy bar, it was just about to close so we dashed inside for a pint of their ale, as well as buying a few bottles for the road! 

Linda had a hair appointment today, so we got ready and Phil dropped her in Dalbeattie.  From here Linda got a bus to Castle Douglas and Phil went in the opposite direction to ride the 7 Stanes track at Mabie forest.  When he got there Phil took the dogs for a walk in the forest, following the brown waymarkers on a circular route, then went to the bike shop there on another failed attempt to get a new chainring, this is getting silly!  Had lunch before setting off on the 18km red route, a good fun ride with loads of singletrack, it would have been even better if I didn’t have to do the whole thing in the granny ring!   Back to Castle Douglas to pick Linda up, I took the dogs for a walk through the town to the Loch at the other end, and then found a café by the hairdresser where I sat outside with a coffee and enjoyed watching the world go by.

Linda was in the hairdressers for 3.5 hours altogether (no wonder I don’t like going!) and was surprised to step outside and find Phil sitting next door having coffee! Still, it was nice to have a lift home and not need to catch a bus.

Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kir Coo Brie), is known as Scotland’s artists’ town.  We parked up in one of the town’s main streets alongside

a row of colourful houses which is typical of the town, and looks really effective.  First we had a walk with the dogs to the harbour where we watched one of the fishing vessels coming in and mooring up.  We also passed MacLellan’s Castle, the ruin of a 16^th century noblemans residence which dominates the town and is now in the care of Historic Scotland, unfortunately closed during our visit.  We put the dogs in the car and headed for the National Trust owned Broughton House.  It is an 18^th century town house which was owned by the artist EA Hornel one of the “Glasgow Boys” and a renowned Scottish Colourist.  The house is impressive to look around, but it is the studio and the gallery that are really impressive, with the gallery being set in a huge room, deceptively big for the outside of the house, displaying an array of Hornel’s later works.  The house is followed up with a great walk around the garden, only a small town garden but there is a lot to see in there, including the resident cat who is very friendly!   Before lunch we popped into a sandwich bar to get some hot chocolate, it looked too good to drink, topped with cream, marshmallows and a flake – a bargain at £1.20 each! Afterwards we headed down the road to the Tollbooth Arts Centre, a gallery and information centre which is housed in the town’s former tax office and jail. The gallery was filled with mainly local artists’ works which included drawings, paintings and photographs and we both picked out our favourites of the bunch.  We also watched a short film giving a history of the town and its links with famous artists over the years.  We also had a look at the Harbour Cottage Gallery a famous gallery in the area, but due to a £1 charge to get in we opted to save our pennies for a pint in the Masonic instead!  We even had a game of Pac Man which was built into our table, a much more intellectual use of our time I think you’ll agree!  Afterwards we set off for the return journey, stopping to take a photo of the Wicker Man, who stands in a field on the site of the annual Wicker Man Festival, a large event dubbed “Scotland’s alternative music festival”.  We also stopped at the Dalbeattie Town Wood where we took the dogs for a short walk around the Plantain Loch and Prince managed to get very muddy which made him very happy!

We were going to go on a long walk the next day. It had been raining all night, and continued to do so on our walk to the bus stop, so much so that when we got there we decided to turn round and walk straight back to the ‘van!  So then we set off in Tonks with the bike on the roof for Ae forest, another of the 7 stanes bike routes.  On the way we stopped at a bike shop in Dumfries to get a chainring, failed again.  When we got to the forest car park there was also a bike shop there, but they didn’t have any chainrings either, aarrgghh!  Phil rode the Red route in the granny ring, a 16 mile ride which had some great singletrack and a really long section of boardwalk that made my eyes go funny! I also incorporated a run down the Downhill track in the ride which was the most fun part of the day!  Linda’s walk was a 5 mile route which roughly followed the path of the river Ae, but included a bit of off piste walking when she ran out of path!  That evening we walked down the road to the nearby pub for our tea.  Phil opted for the butterfly chicken and chips and Linda had haddock and chips. While we were there Phil booked himself on a whisky tasting session for the next night, only £10 and you get to try 6 whiskies!

We awoke to glorious sunshine and a thick frost, so much so all our water was frozen!  The weather was so nice we set off happily for our 8 mile walk, first was the walk down the road to the bus stop in Sandyhills.  We were a bit early so Linda went in the shop and bought a paper, they kindly said she could pick it up from
the house later so we didn’t have to carry it round. When the bus turned up it had the grumpiest driver ever, when we asked if the dogs were ok on board he grunted that they mustn’t disturb the other passengers. We looked down the length of the 40 seater, and could see there was not a single soul on board!  He drove like the clappers all the way to Kippford, including nearly running a campervan off the road, we were glad to get off in the village!  Kippford is a lovely little place, with a number of houses huddled round the bay and a small harbour at one end, we called into the shop at the other end and had a hot chocolate and a biccy each.  Walking along the footpath towards Rockcliff we were passing some lovely glass fronted houses which all enjoyed views over the Rough Firth. All the beaches on the way were made up of shells, from a distance they looked like white sand, and it wasn’t until we got up close that we could see they were made up of millions of unbroken shells!  We walked up through the National Trust owned Motte of Mark, the site of a seventh century fort - it was a great spot for a picnic so we found a bench and parked up for half an hour.  Rockcliffe is a slightly smaller village than Kippford, but just as picturesque, with lots of lovely looking houses, and very popular with tourists, there was lots of people about, so we didn’t stop here for long and continued our walk along the

coast.  We got to CastleHill point just as a group of people were leaving, so had it to ourselves for a brief while. As it was so clear the views were great, and we could see the Robin Rigg windfarm and the mountains of the Lake District behind it. Looking further out to sea we could see all the way over to the Isle of Man, as well as more of the Galloway coast.  We were soon joined by another pack of people, so we decided to continue along the cliff top path. After going over a couple of walls with styles we met a couple of elderly ladies who were making their way slowly towards us, they asked if we could give them a hand over the wall we had just crossed, so we walked slowly back with them, and helped them on their way. One of them said she had just had a new knee, and was very pleased with how it was performing, we couldn’t believe the

terrain they had covered on the cliff top paths!  The hedges along this stretch of the path were very strange due to the way the wind had blown them, we came across one extreme example where the hedge had grown up the wall and then been blown so much it looked like it was reaching out into the field, trying to grab the cows! Further along we came across a monument, a cairn with a cross on top to remember the Schooner Elbe, a ship which came to grief in heavy gales in 1866, the captain Samuel Wilson managed to offload the crew onto a rock before she sank into deep water. Further on we passed through the tiny hamlets of Port O’Warren and Portling before reaching Sandyhills Bay to retrieve Linda’s paper.  With tired legs we walked back to the ‘van for our tea.  Phil took down the awning, and was entertained by a group of quad bike riders tearing round the adjacent fields doing wheelies, stoppies and tilting the bikes on one side and riding on two wheels!  Then we went down to the pub where Phil had his whisky tasting, a really interesting experience, which had the delightful result of making him quite drunk too!