Solway

We had a lovely drive over the military road with great views of the Roman Wall. We were the only van on the little CL site on a farm, a couple of mikes from the Solway Firth. The woman who took our £10 for the night, which included electricity hook up, said they used to be fully booked every night, but now people prefer larger sites with more amenities. Not us. It is perfectly quiet looking out onto the wooded hills of Galloway.

At 3.30 my cousin and her husband, who live in Dalbeattie about 5 mikes away, came to pick us us. We went for a look at Sandyhills, a pretty and quiet beach we used to go when I visited as a child. We got great views over to the English Lake District. Then we had a coastal walk incorporating Rockcliffe and Kippford, both small hamlets mainly cafe up of holiday houses now. It was warm and sunny, the estuary looking pretty with little boats bobbing around on the in-coming tide. They drove us to their allotment which, like the others, is beautifully maintained. However they have recently had fruit and veg stolen- a sign of the times perhaps. Robert says they all have enough to give away but without knowing who is in need they don’t know how to prevent the theft. The committee is going to put a lock on the gate which has never been done before, and if that fails, CCTV installed. (The allotment is a community project). We had dinner with them and a good night’s sleep after a glass of Robert’s homemade wine which was dry and delicious.