Day 133 Port Patrick to Drummore

 

Date: Friday 26^th July 2013   Distance: 29.65 Miles

 

After a long sleep we had breakfast at 8.30 and very nice it was too, reminding us of the fruit plates of the Fishbourne B and B. We had huge bowls of fresh fruit, strawberries, melon, raspberries, cherries with the stones in, melon, blueberries and pineapple. What a fantastic value breakfast and I even got some haggis with my bacon and egg.

 

Port Patrick is on the extreme south westerly tip of the mainland cut into a cleft in the steep cliffs. You can see Northern Ireland, 21 miles to the west. The gulf- stream flowing in from the north gives this coastline a pleasant climate and subtropical plants seem to thrive. Opposite the B and B is a mini putting course- open till late as are several of the unusual shops. We were in one till 8pm.

 

The route out of Portpatrick was up, up, up. Then we came off the main road and cycled parallel to the sea to start with but half a mile inland. We managed to cycle 8 miles without seeing another vehicle. Everywhere was very pastoral, either agriculture or cows .I’ve been told there are sheep as a lot of farmers lost their lambs during the harsh winter but we didn’t see any. Yellow hammers and rabbits flitted across the road and fuchsia hedging reminded me of Northern Ireland.

 

As we turned toward the Logan Botanical Garden, one of 5 gardens on this bottom end of the peninsula, we then had the sea on our left. The gardens were glorious with lots of colour and all the plants seemed to be larger than normal or exotic.

 

We met the 2 other people staying at the B and B last night, and met them again later. We had a lovely lunch here in their tea room and the fish salad is much recommended with smoked salmon, mackerel, shellfish.

 

We left to later have the sea on both sides of us as we rode on to the Mull of Galloway to the southernmost tip of Scotland. There were fantastic views as we climbed the narrowing strip with noisy seabirds on the cliff sides. Roaming free beside the track were cows and a tired out looking bull. Rising from the highest point at the land’s end stands the 270 ft Robert Stevenson lighthouse. It wasn’t open except at weekends but the cafe gave us a welcome break and though windy it was hot in the sun. There is a little engine museum but we preferred to sit and admire the views.

 

Unsurprisingly it was quicker going back but there was more traffic to stop for- the track was narrow. We passed a tourist fisherman pushing rods on his bike who said he’d caught mackerel, conger eel and Pollock. He’d thrown the first 2 back but the family would eat Pollock for tea. We saw him the next day and he said it tasted good. That’s the thing about the tandem, you get noticed and we often see people more than once on our journeys. This is where we saw the B and B couple again after they had  spent time in Logan.

 

The sea was a deep blue and every now and again a mist came across the high points, especially the lighthouse top.

 

 

We came into Drummore to our B and B opposite the Harbour where we were nicely welcomed with a pot of tea. We had plenty of space with a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom, with a guest sitting room looking over the harbour. As we chatted fish were jumping out of the water - mullet we were told and very hard to catch though it looked like you could pick them out of the water. Seals come in the harbour but dolphins are further out. The tide recedes to leave a harbour of mud. Apparently the seaweed rotting and fermenting gives off poisonous gas but there were no noxious smells today. This is a centre for tope-shark fishing.

 

We ate at the Queens pub which was OK but when we got back we were told the locals all eat at the pub at the top of the village. What we had was plain but she especially cooked me potatoes instead of chips and the meat was really lean and plentiful.

 

Instead of watching TV we watched the close of the day hoping for a sunset to no avail. People have seen the Northern Lights from here