Galloway: By Land

We started our journey slow and easy on the island of Colonsay… home to my paternal grandmother’s clan.  And we ended our time on Scotland equally slow and easy in the area of Galloway… home to my paternal grandfather’s clan.   

I discovered in my planning that the Lowlands get little respect in the tourist information realm.  You’ll hear about Dumfries and Greta Green and sometimes Wigtown for its books, but that is about it.  If Robert Burns wasn’t from this area I wonder if there would be even less tourist information.  In fact, the writer of “Scotland For Dummies” dismissed the entire region as not worth seeing except for a few pubs in Dumfries that Burns had frequented.  (That book got dropped in the trash can!)  

But I could understand when looking at his point of view.  His Scotland interests were pubs, party venues, distilleries, and sites of macabre happenings.  And that is not Galloway (tho I’m sure if one dug, one could find such).   

Galloway is pastoral, green, peaceful, friendly, slow paced, and incredibly beautiful.  So much so that we cancelled our tourist day in Glasgow so we could stay one more day in Galloway.

I think we went down every road in the area in our cute little Nissan Note rental car (Clarkson of Scotland – GREAT service!). 

Beautiful… yes?

You can tell there’s usually a brisk wind blowing.

Long and winding roads.

So little to see… NOT!

We visited the villages of Port William (of course), Wigtown, Sorbie, Garlieston, Whithorn, Isle of Whithorn, Mochrum, Kirkkinner, and Kirkcowen. 

Sorbie Parish Church

Love the weather vane!  The church secretary (I think) came by to drop off something as we admired the outside.  She offered to show us the inside.

 

This window is the St. Ninian window by stained glass master Christopher Whall. 

It is a lovely church.

Their pulpit Bible.

The inscription shows it was first given as a wedding present in 1876, and passed along in 1932 and 1941.

A very large estate in Garlieston.  You can walk around parts of it.

A very small road.  Several times we turned around in barn yards!

Ruins.

The trees have such character.

Galloway is well known for its hiking trails.

Himself relaxing in a small grove.

A roe deer.  They are about the size of a German Shepherd.

Fast little guys!

Some of the local traffic was very slow moving….

… tho the youngsters could move out!

These girls took their sweet time.  That was fine, as we had all day.  It was fun sitting there watching them.

This girl decided she was going to watch us too.  Notice the windshield wiper?

It was on ‘intermittent wipe’ and was still as she came closer to check us out.

Then all of a sudden a MONSTER leaped up from the window!  She barely escaped with her life!  

Himself and I laughed so hard at her reaction to the wiper activating.  Such things GET tender little cows! 

Another ruin with the forest growing up around it.

Mochrum Estate.  Those are pheasants in the yard.  They were everywhere in Galloway.

Loved this home.

I really, really miss the stone dykes (fences). 

There are a lot of single track roads running thru the middle of Galloway.  Not a lot of traffic tho.  

But definitely a lot to see…