day four

started the day with a trundle round wigtown - not overly impressed with the bookshops, but there was a very nice plant nursery that saw some serious business from us!

then on to galloway house gardens - bit of a damp squib. the walled garden was locked despite being advertised as open, the tiny beach lacked any kind of noticeboard to tell us about the testing of the mulberry harbours and the woodland walk was, apart from one small patch close to the house, totally overgrown. disappointing.

and then a few thousand miles away (it was past lunchtime, anything takes aeons when i'm hungry) we found the steam packet in isle of whithorn - thankfully what appeared to be the bosslady told us to take a seat and order up, as the girl behind the bar wan't keen when we rolled up at 1.50pm... cracking plate of fish n chips tho :-)

had a wander round the harbour afterwards - one grotty old working fishing boat was in, incongruous alongside the pleasure yachts. thought this pile of lobster pots, with their mended worn garishness, worthy of attention.

and on to whithorn, which my mother was keen to see. nice site, interesting graveyard and a great guy in charge of the collection of crosses, but somehow it felt like you had to know what was what before you started to get the most out of it. still, pleasant to wander, and think of the links between this spot and our own beloved lindisfarne on the east coast.

another nice day - and it's getting warmer. suddenly packing the waterproof, the fleece and the docs seems a little overkill...