Southern Upland Way - Part 2 (with beach)

Today we went around the Solway again, heading towards another section of Southern Upland Way near New Luce. The weather was a bit dodgy but we gambled it.

After passing it so many times we decided to stop at The Cream o' Galloway farm, and it was worth the small detour to have one of their beef sandwiches and sample the ice cream. I had honey and ginger with a second scoop of heather cream; B had caramel shortbread flavour with a scoop of cinder toffee. Yum!



The Cream o' Galloway farm at Rainton has loads of kiddy things to do - there was a childrens' birthday party just starting so we didn't hang around long! The gardens were nice though and the rain stayed away so we could enjoy our ice cream outside. It was quite spooky hearing the shrieks coming from the trees where the enourmous adventure playground was hidden - we could just see it through the branches, looked brilliant!

Drove on towards the intended start of our walk. We passed the Abbey and decided to come back later. There was a mysterious roadsign which I presume was an exaggeration - although we were a bit disappointed not to see a passing circus or something.



Parked near the Loups of Barnshangan (but didn't visit). Walked up the hill to the burnt mound and after investigating this continued up and onto the moor. There were some nice wild violets near the mound.



Even though it had been raining it wasn't too boggy.



The target of the trip was the Caves of Kilhern - megalithic burial chambers, four in total and one still had a capstone! We must have spent about almost an hour there, first waiting for the drizzle to stop so that B could get his whizzy camera out. We could see over to the same wind farm we'd seen the last time we were on the Southern Upland Way



I started to get chilly so took shelter in one of the chambers.

On the way back we passed a nice ruined cottage with ferns growing in the remaining gable-end



We stopped at the Abbey to eat some of the packed lunch we'd brought and were entertained by both the Oystercatchers and the warden, waiting for us to go so he could lock the gates! Some lovely honeysuckle and juniper berries in the hedge nearby.

I had a hankering for a beach. B took me to Brighouse Bay, again somewhere we'd passed many times but not been to although B had been a few times as a child. The path down the the beach gave a tantalising peek of sand... then woo! very cute little bay with sandy beach and lots of wonderful pebbles. Someone had made a fantastic sandcastle complete with walled town!



We spent a lovely while here, taking photos and beachcombing. I found what I think is one of my favourite pebbles - looked like it had a pink ribbon wrapped around it.



Passed the Wickerman Festival site on the way home, preparations well underway!

Then, home in time for extra time in the World Cup Final - just in time to see the Zidane headbutt!