At the risk of sounding repetitive – another amazing day. Lots of folk going home today, but not us – no we are off to the Isle of Whithorn a few miles down the coast. The tides are a bit against us this week, being high in the afternoons when we tend to be at our most active!! So we got away as early as we could and arrived to see the tide half way in over a not very attractive beach of green slimy stones and lots of seaweed – ah well!

The village itself is pretty and tidy, mostly centering around the large bay and harbour with a couple of cafes and not a lot else.

Beyond the harbour is this seemingly solar powered lighthouse.

And just a bit further around the remains of St Ninian’s Chapel.

We continued along the coastal path, northwards, giving us a spectacular view back of at the Isle of Whithorn basking in the sun, surrounded (though no longer an island) by glittering seas.

After a few miles walking along the grassy cliff top (unsurprisingly not seeing a soul) we arrived at Doctors Rock and a stony little cove which we could get down to. Poppydog was ready for a dunk and of course, to chase stones.

We continued through a little strip of woodland at Cairn Head.

And down onto Cairnhead Bay, another stony beach with distant views across to Cruggleton Castle.

At this point we turned about as the path turned inland to join the main road for a stretch and made our way back to the village. The tide is now fully in and completely covering the beach.

Lovely to see the local children jumping off the harbour wall, especially as the Lifeboat appeared to be on exercise in the bay.

Ok so not much to write home about beachwise but a lovely 5.5 mile walk nonetheless.

Two thoughts of the day:

There doesn’t appear to be a ‘coastal path’ as such, just a series of paths that may or may not join together!

On the same note, I had noticed the lack of paths marked on the map but apparently we have the ‘right to roam’ pretty much anywhere – not sure what I think about that!