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Sunday 4 December 2011

Wigtownshire Ramblers Stranraer Circular December 2011

I will write an account of this walk later.
.....and here I am.
Saturday the 3rd of December 2011.
Sixteen walkers set out from the Breastworks Car Park in Stranraer for the walk.
It's a walk we've done a couple of times before.
January 2009
August 2009
Today's walk has been extended a little and will be ten miles.
A happy gang set out in a south easterly direction.It's the same start as we used for our last Castle Kennedy walk

We take the 'Approach and Ladies Walk' to reach the ruins of Culhorn House.

Here we join the Southern Upland Way which we'll follow to Knockquahassan Reservoir.
Birds and cattle were predominant throughout the walk.


I've photographed this old car a few times.I guess it's beyond repair now.

Ducks,Seagulls,Lapwings and Curlews were identified by our newest birder, a volunteer with the R.S.P.B
So as well as knowing the breeds of sheep,we should now have no problem with the flighted creatures.

Continuing along the SUW,we cross the major road of the A716,and the embankment of the old Portpatrick railway line.

A slight incline brings us up to Ochtrelure.
A farm with the same pronunciation keeps the local supermarkets well stocked.
Auchtralure Eggs

The Hillside Piggeries,( now a garage and poultry farm) and Greenfield came next.

On reaching Knockquhassan Reservoir a lunch break was taken.With a cold wind blowing, shelter was sought behind a drystone wall.

At this point we've left the SUW.
After lunch we ascend  the small hill north of the reservoir....

..........this is the hill that gave my Ayrshire fellow blogger his nickname.This is Slewtrain Hill.
You can keep up to date with Slew on his blog here.
Ayrshire 'appenings

From the radio mast on Slewtrain it's downhill all the way to the Dindinnie reservoir.On the way we pass fields and pens of sheep and cattle and the working quarry adjacent to the reservoir.
 
Dindinnie farm comes next.We get glimpses of Loch Ryan now.

The new Stena terminal at Cairnryan is now operational and we see both the P & O and Stena Ferries.

A full zoom shows this to be one of the two new Superfast Series that have just recently arrived.
Interested in the technical details ? Look here Stena Superfast V11

Now back on tarmac we pass the water filter station and Auchneel to reach the A718 road.
We make straight for Loch Ryan's shore, keeping an eye open for wayward golf balls as we cross a part of the local links.
 
A short beach walk brings us to McCulloch Point where our leader again gives us a short history lesson.
Flocks of starlings are ducking and diving as we near the harbour.

I take a couple of pictures of the Lantic for Shorty who remembers the captain from some time back.
A long walk with a lot of road walking but with plenty to see and the weather was kind to us.

9 comments:

  1. º°♥❤ Olá!
    ❤ Passei para uma visitinha.
    Amei as fotos...todas são lindas!
    º°❤ Boa semana!
    ❤Beijinhos.
    º°❤Brasil

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to see the pics already! Lovely photos. The Stena Line boat got my attention, it feels very "Nordic" to me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Olá, Inês.
    I don't understand Brazilian Portuguese but using a translator your comments sound very nice.You too have a nice blog, I'll pop in now and again.

    Hi Maria,thanks for visiting.
    Your comment on the boat got me thinking.I knew Stena Line originated in Scandinavia somewhere, but I've just learned how the name came about.

    "Stena Line was founded in, and is still operated from, Gothenburg, Sweden, by Sten A. Olsson when he acquired Skagenlinjen between Gothenburg, Sweden, and Fredrikshavn, Denmark, in 1962."

    ReplyDelete
  4. A wonderful walk.. how did you not get left behind capturing all your images.. all fantastic to see.

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  5. Thanks for the wee metion on Ayrshire 'appenings. Know the area of your walk well it is one of my favourite.

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  6. Great photos. I really need to make an effort to visit.

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  7. you have a couple of photographs with a huge amount of birds, so fun to see. looks like you had a brave group walking in cold wind and maybe some rain too.

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  8. Hi Andrew,there are certain walk leaders who would happily leave me and the other two avid photographers behind,but we keep pointing out that we are 'Ramblers',not fell runners.We usually get our way.

    Thought about you at the mast Gordon.

    Thanks for dropping in Sandy,I don't get over to the east much these days.When my dad lived on the Bankend Road just out of Dumfries he'd take us all around the area,sadly he's been gone a few years now.

    Hi Tammie,there's a hardy core of walkers who come out in all weathers,I don't know how it came about,but I'm one of them.We had a great show of birds on this walk.

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  9. Might pop down that way for a new year stay at a bothy.Still to see how much time we have off.
    It,s a Nice part of the coast.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for all your comments. I may not get to reply to them all, but you may be sure they'll be appreciated.

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