Portpatrick

In an effort to avoid the forecasted rain we headed west to Portpatrick, about an hour away. After navigating our way across a huge band of VERY heavy rain, the sun came out and it was glorious. 
We arrived at our destination mid morning and had a wander around the harbour and I was delighted to find a load of black guillemots. We don't get them where we live so they were a thrill to watch (extras). 
There was even a little craft market on by the harbour so we had to have a look. Nothing took my eye, but it was nice to see. 
We had lunch outside at one of the hotels facing the sea which was very good and then set off in the other direction towards what would have been Dunskey castle if we had made it. There are 125 steps to climb up and along the cliff that I wasn't looking forward to, but we took it steady and enjoyed the views on the way up. However, around half way up there was a section with drops on both sides of the path and my husband, who doesn't like heights at all, began to get a bit dizzy and we had to come back down. Such a shame as we were looking forward to the views and the ruined castle.  Some more views in extras if you're interested. 

Down at the bottom we enjoyed an ice cream and sat and people watched for a while before coming home. Another thoroughly lovely day and very unexpected sunshine. Keep it up Scotland - you're doing us proud!