Galloway and Ayrshire

Today I’m going to see if Open Live Writer will import photos from my Google Photos Album.

We have been exploring Galloway and Ayrshire.  The first part of the journey involved driving from England into Scotland where our first destination was Gretna Green.This was our second visit and I still haven’t made an honest woman of Jan.  The interesting thing was how much the location has grown in size over the years.  I remember the Blacksmith Shop, which now has a coin operated turnstile at the entrance (we opted to save our money). The other buildings were unfamiliar being large souvenir outlets.  This is such a popular spot I suspect the prices are higher than elsewhere.  But that didn’t appear to deter the two coach loads of Chinese Tourists.  Didn’t they realise it was probably all made in China….. and cheaper there! 

The Old Blacksmith Shop

I don’t remember seeing any of this on my first visit.

The plan was to take the coast road to the west via Dumfries where we planned on having lunch.  That didn’t work out and Dumfries provided to be a disappointment. The issue was parking….. or lack of it.  When we finally found a vacant parking space the marking showed “Disc Only”. That’s when we discovered all the parking was “Disc Only”.   The car park sign stated discs could be purchased from participating stores and the TIC. This was just too difficult so we drove on.

The coast road is rather attractive and I would have taken more photos if parking area had been provided.  Unfortunately many of the road side parking areas are located where there is no view!

This part of the country is dotted with small stone whitewashed single storey cottages.  The tide goes out a long way in this part of Scotland and obviously come in very fast catching the unwary.  We could see a large wind farm out in the estuary.

Most of the land appears to be used for mixed farming.  The farmers were busy either haymaking or spreading effluent.  The smell of the latter certainly clears the nasal passages. 

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When we reached Stranraer the road became very familiar.  It was here that Daniel (youngest son) and I caught the ferry to Belfast.  We had boarded the bus in Glasgow and I thought it was taking us to a nearby ferry.  Daniel hadn’t informed me we had a 3 hour bus trip!

But the coastal road is interesting and I rather enjoyed the views from the bus windows.

From Ayr we headed northeast to Killmarnock.  We’re now in Ayrshire. Our plan was to head inland and explore some of Ayrshire.  The first thing I noticed was the change in the terrain and vegetation. Crops were being grown in the west but as we moved further into the centre of Ayrshire it appeared the ground was poorer. There were some sheep and cattle but much of the land had been turned to pine plantations.   We were driving the B roads in an effort to stay away from motorways.

 

This area obvious gets some wind as there were numerous wind farms.

Tomorrow we head further north.