St Mary's Isle

A chilly day today, with a fresh northeasterly breeze. Sarah and I set off for Kirkcudbright, intending to visit the Galleries to see the Scottish Portrait Awards, but despite their website (still) saying that they are open on Mondays, a lady who was passing by and saw us puzzling outside the closed doors told us that they have switched to winter hours as from today. So..no art for us.

Instead, we set off on part 2 of our planned itinerary, which was a circular walk on St Mary's Isle (which isn't an isle at all, but a peninsula which sits in the Dee estuary. Between the 12th and 16th centuries it was the site of an Augustinian Priory - all traces of it were removed when the Earls of Selkirk landscaped the Isle in the 17th and 18th centuries. There is an interesting story about John Paul Jones, founder of the US Navy, and another about the murder of a lighthouse keeper in the 1960s.

Today, however, the Isle was tranquil, and we sat overlooking Manxman's  Bay for our picnic, gazing over the water at the White House at Mutehill.

Thank you Sarah :-)