Day 132 Stranraer to Port Patrick

 

Date: Thursday 25^th July 2013   Distance: 35.09 Miles

 

Wednesday 24th July evening, we travelled to Carlisle in a hire car and stayed overnight in the Premier Inn.

 

Next day the 25th we drove to Cairnryan where we left the car at Hertz, stationed at the ferry office. Unfortunately we had to pedal about 8 miles that we had already done, back to Stranraer. This time we looked for somewhere for lunch and found several cafes. In the main square stands a medieval tower that was used as a prison in Victorian times. Unfortunately it closed between 1 and 1.30 and we had to be on our way to the Rhins of Galloway. Entry was free.

 

It was a lot of hills today but from Stranraer to Corsewell Point we had the wind behind us. We have seen a lot of cows already. 2 miles towards the lighthouse at the point the road became very rough and shingly. At one point we nearly came off the bike. Mass gatherings of starlings on the rooftops and telephone wires were impressive. You could hear the “swoosh” before you saw them. Are they getting ready to migrate?

 

When we reached the lighthouse an open tent was being decorated for a wedding ceremony, looking out to sea. The Lighthouse is now a hotel and restaurant and they were advertising themselves as open miles back but they looked closed, despite the wedding activity. We went to the front of the building where the rocks that formed the base of the lighthouse went out to sea and here people looking like tourists sat with drinks and snacks. When we went to reception we were told that they are closed today because of the private function. No sympathy for tired and thirsty cyclists. I suggested they might put a sign on the hill to say it was closed but I’m sure it fell on deaf ears. It wasn’t as picturesque as we thought it might be and the farmer in a field next door was muck spreading-A bit of a shame for the outdoor ceremony.

 

We went back 2 miles to a fork in the road where we turned right for Port Patrick, passing a small wood where unusually I spotted a very brown hunting bird, maybe a young buzzard, sitting in the shade on a branch. I got quite close before it moved. There were hardly any cars or houses. Near Lochnaw Castle, a 16th century Tower House, we went through roads lined with rhododendrons encompassing the estate. Attempts have been made to pull them out and at the edge of fields prior to this we had passed piles of roots and trunks smouldering- a fire hazard we would have thought.

 

The sat nav. was put on when we reached the sign for Portpatrick and it took us to the door of the B and B, much to my embarrassment. There are plenty of eating places in the pretty village. We had a really buttery Cullen skink and then venison in a port and cranberry sauce- delicious!

 

Ardchoille Guesthouse is beautiful surrounded by hanging baskets and pots cascading with colourful flowers while inside are sea themed paintings and an unusual snake art deco lamp stand. Our host had been a policeman from our home area before he and his wife took on the B and B, now for sale. 14 years is enough they say and its now up for sale.