Day 135 Port William to Newton Stewart

 

Date: Sunday 28^th July 2013   Distance: 37.22 Miles

 

After many pictures the night before this is the final one of the sunset. Gorgeous!

It had rained a lot in the night. It was a really tasty breakfast exactly as ordered. Bob had porridge soaked over- night and cooked with salt while I had more haggis with my cooked breakfast.

We were off by 9.30 and the weather was improving.

It was 4 or 5 miles of flat then up 200 feet with farmland all around us and a good road surface. We passed an animal park, Monreith Animal World with miniature donkeys and Shetland ponies, owls and various birds, alpaca and otters set in 12 acres of farmland.

 

Next we passed the Galloway Astronomy building. Skies should be dark here as we pass so few houses. Then we came to the Isle of Whithorn.

 

 A causeway from the village leads to a rocky peninsula, once a genuine isle and there we visited the 13th century ruined chapel of St. Ninian. Just before it is the site of the old lifeboat station and inside an enclosure is a heap of stones, many painted with memorials to pets or loved ones and some were professionally engraved memorial plaques. The chapel was very small to have been of such import that people from Spain, France and Scandinavia should have made pilgrimage here. The coastline is rocky and pretty.

 

It was too early for a beer but we had tea at the Steam Packet Inn. In the harbour someone drove their car over the mud left after the tide had gone out but he didn’t get stuck. We left with the wind behind us, past a field with stubble left from being recently cut where a small deer seemed to be disorientated. It was a good jumper and we wondered if it had been living there.

 

We started to see more people on bikes. Behind the village of Garlieston we passed the Georgian mansion of Galloway House with walled gardens for public visiting. We stopped at the Harbour Inn at Garlieston where the sea becomes an estuary up to Newton Stewart. A down to earth place we had toasties and a real ale pint. We had to ride back almost to the gardens and then turn right with yet more pastoral countryside. There are noticeably no pylons or other eyesores only the pretty undulating route with views of hills, higher than we’ve seen for a while, in the distance.

 

We arrived at Bladnoch Distillery too late for the tour at 2 pm so we whiled away our time by the river, in their garden watching house martins and butterflies. The river water was muddy and tidal but luckily the distillery uses water from further down the river from where it arrives by pipe. On the next tour our young guide said she didn’t used to like whisky but for the work she thought she ought to try to get used to it. Now she loves it and is very discerning about its taste. She said they only distil and bottle for a fortnight of every year at autumn. There are 2 employed in production and 2 guides. The buildings date from the early 1800s and although they have the chimney the malted barley comes ready to use from the malting. One worker has worked there 30 years less the 3 years when it was closed by the Guinness buyers. Another Irish company, Interbrew then bought it and now it is independent making 125,000 litres in those 2 weeks a year. They lose only 2 per cent to the angels over the maturing period. Bob thought the whisky we tasted too strong but there was a good choice- smoky, light and lemony, but it was at least 50 per cent. It cost us £3 each for the1 hour tour with the tasting so it was good value. Not many people bought bottles though.

 

Further on we came to Wigton, a royal burgh since 1292 and famous for its many bookshops. There is a spacious town square with a bowling green in the middle of it. We went in a book shop with a cafe in the back. It was on the point of closing but we browsed the books and then bought one.

 

After this it was mainly reedy marshland and sheep. We followed the cycleway to Newton Stewart and we were pleased not to go on the main road. It was a lovely B and B, Victorian guesthouse, tucked away above the town and we were the only guests. We’d had to come right up river away from the coast to get to the other side of the estuary.

 

We ate at the Galloway Arms where on the menu it said about the meat” there’s none of this pink in the middle rubbish”. Well cooked was what we got and we had masses of roast beef though perhaps not to some peoples taste. We had tried the more up market pub but after waiting 20 minutes with no one attempting to take our order, we left.

 

Newton Stewart is on the river Cree good for salmon fishing and hill walking round about. The B and B sits on a hill with a view of a clock tower and I worried that we would hear the clock strike every hour. It did and it was a restless night until 3 when exhaustion kicked in.