Thursday 28 May.
The rain had cleared overnight and the sky was blue when we got up with just a few white fluffy clouds about. The forecast said that it would be fine this morning but become showery by lunchtime. After making a cup of tea to drink while reading the newspaper in bed I got up at the usual time and made the breakfast. Once Moira had the daypack loaded with our lunch and rain gear we set off for the next stage of our walk. As we were straight on the route from the caravan site there was no hanging about for a bus and we were on our way at 8:20 am.
Even though it was dry there was a strong wind blowing and it was cold. It's direction seemed to have changed since yesterday and it was now blowing from the north and straight into our faces as we started off. Instead of going back to the Sands of Luce caravan site to pick up the trail where we left it yesterday we walked along the B7084 road that goes to Dumfries for about a kilometre and met the trail where it came up from the coast and crossed the road at the Clayshant Quarry. The road had a little traffic but now we turned on to a country lane which was practically traffic free. We were on these country lanes for about 5 km and passed a few farms that were surprisingly very tidy, not the usual piles of scrap machinery in the yards. The farms were Low Mye, High Mye, Mosscroft and Barnultoch. We also passed a road sign warning about low flying aircraft and an info board told us that it was West Freugh airfield, but it just looked like a field of thick grass. This had been a RAF airfield and was closed in 2002. There were airships here during WWl.
It was good brisk dry walking on the lanes until we reached the access road to High Barnultoch Farm. It became a gravel track then when it reached the farm there didn't appear to be any way to go. We had been admiring more bluebells in the hedgerow, this time blues, whites and a pale lilac shade and thought we had missed a turning while distracted and taking pictures. We backtracked to investigate but the last waymark definitely pointed towards the farm yard. When we had a closer look we spotted the kissing gate that we were to go through on the other side of a small field that he had been cut off with an electric fence. We managed to squeeze through at the side of the fence and get across to access the continuation of the trail. Now our nice dry conditions changed we crossed fields that were muddy and had warnings about bulls. There was a herd of cattle at the far side of the field but they weren't interested in us, they just lay chewing the cud in the now warm sunshine. The track left the field and crossed a hill through a small wood and down the other side to another field. At the bottom of the hill the kissing gate latch had a bolt through it, we couldn't open it and had to clamber over. The route through the field now was through ankle high grass and slow going, if this is an official route and the legislation in Scotland gives us the 'right to roam' why can't they at least cut the grass and make it a bit easier to walk on. Down the dip at the end of the field we could now see in the distance the outskirts of Stranraer.
Once we left the field it was again onto a nice dry gravel track that headed for a forested area. As we walked along this section we saw on the fence a string of dead rats (or maybe they were moles) tied along the top wire. Further along there were the small parts of the remains of previous 'kills' that had probably been devoured by birds.
Just as we entered the woods there was a clearing and we decided to stop for a cup of coffee and a mini Bounty bar. We took our jackets off, it was now very warm, and sat on them. On the far side of the clearing was a beautiful copper beech tree and a red rhododendron bush side by side. It was a lovely setting for our break. As the track now made its way through the woods there was a carpet of white flowers. It wasn't the rare 'white bluebells but wild garlic and the pungent smell was quite powerful. The sun of the previous few minutes had disappeared and it was getting cold again. When we came out of the trees and on to the streets of the Stranraer suburbs it began to rain. We stopped and got our rain jackets on again. Fortunately it didn't last long and the sun was shining once more.
From the woodland a street, Ladies Walk, took us down to the road along the edge of Loch Ryan. The loch was a natural harbour with the gap through the narrow points at the end leading out to the Irish Sea. The ferries run from here on a regular basis to Northern Ireland. We could see the town of Stranraer about 1/2 km away at the head of the loch and made our way in that direction. We visited the tourist information office first and picked up some leaflets of walks, the one for the continuation to Glenapp, the Southern Uplands Coast to Coast and the Firth of Clyde trail. The woman confirmed the time of the next bus as 12:55 pm and told us where to catch it. We had an hour so decided to have a walk about. It hadn't been a long walk today, only 14 km, so we were finished early and decided to wait until we got back to the caravan site before having our packed lunch.
We headed along and round the esplanade with lovely views of Loch Ryan. Unfortunately there were black clouds appearing again so we decided to head for a pub and have a beer while waiting for the bus. We made our way into the town centre and found a pleasant enough pub there. We got in just on the as the rain came down again this time it was heavy. We sat and read the leaflets we collected at the tourist info and made use of the pub toilets. When we came out the sun was shining once more as we continued through the town centre. The only attraction we could see in the town was the Castle of St John built in 1500 by one of the Lairds of Wigtonshire.
On the way to the bus we called in at Tesco for bread and milk. The bus arrived exactly on time and it took about 20 minutes to get us back to the farm. The driver dropped us off at the road junction where we began this morning and it was just over the road to the 'van. We got in just on time as the rain came on again. For the rest of the afternoon it the rain was on and off, when the sun had its turn it was very warm. We spent the afternoon in the 'van after we had lunch. Moira still wasn't feeling good and keeps coughing. She stretched out on the couch and had a sleep for an hour and felt a bit better afterwards.
After dinner tonight we listened to the radio until the latest edition of 'Springwatch' came on TV. We didn't watch anything after that but got to sleep early as Moira still wasn't feeling very good.
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