Scotland Summer 2004 - The Rhinns of Galloway

This years summer holiday started on the Friday evening with a drive up the M5 and M6 to near Kendal, where I had made a reservation at the Travel Inn Killington Lake. Having left early in the evening I arrived at just before 23:00hrs after an uneventful drive. This way I had quite a large part of the drive up to Scotland completed in the evening and could look forward to still enjoy large parts of the Saturday in Scotland. On Saturday morning I continued to Dumfries (with a pit stop in Carlisle), where I arrived at lunchtime. The weather wasn't that great and I had visited Dumfries before, so I only stopped for a short look over River Nith and to organise a room through the helpful tourist information booking service. I decided to stay somewhere near the Rhinns of Galloway and the tourist information found a room at the Plantings Inn in Castle Kennedy for me.

I drove on to the Rhinns of Galloway where I turned north first. From here I enjoyed some great views over to Ireland, Kintyre and Arran. The silhouette of Ailsa Craig was visible from almost everywhere as well. I stopped at Corsewall Point, where the still functioning lighthouse is now also home to the luxury Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel. From here I enjoyed great views over to Ireland and watched some ferries passing by. It was much too early for it, but someone staying at the hotel I spoke with told me that they enjoyed quite a few amazing sunsets here.

	Driving south again I visited the village of Portpatrick with its pretty harbour. I didn't really spend any time in the village itself, instead I decided to get a taste of the Southern Upland Way. The western starting point of this 212 mile coast to coast walk across southern Scotland is at the harbour in Portpatrick. After climbing the stairs at the northern corner of the harbour I walked along the path for about a mile or so before turning back again. During the walk I enjoyed some nice views over the Irish Sea with Ireland on the horizon. Occasionally the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the sea. Then it was time to drive to Castle Kennedy to check in at the Plantings Inn. The room turned out to be nothing special, but the food at the restaurant was very good. After a very nice dinner it was time to get some sleep as I had planned some hillwalking the next day.

Scotland Summer 2004 -> Next: The Merrick