Wigtownshire Ramblers-Auchenmalg to Stairhaven

It's Saturday the 14th of March,and i'm heading out with the Ramblers.This will be my first walk with them since my back operation.I hope i'm up to it.
Todays walk starts at the car park of the Cock Inn at Auchenmalg.

There are 17 or 18 walkers today.They're mostly regular walkers,and i'm warmly welcomed back with lots of encouragement for todays walk.

We're heading north on the coastal path.It's very overcast and there's some rain in the wind.Behind us,Auchenmalg bay looks broody.

There's no urgency today,so lots of mini breaks are taken.I do a lot of catching up on what's been happening...

...and thanks to my fellow 'Scoop',i get in the picture.

We're now at Garliachen,where once stood a promontory fort.Our walk leader reads out dimensions and directions.With little evidence in sight we can only imagine how it must have looked in it's heyday.

It's a shame about the weather as we continue on over burns, stiles and the undulating cliff tops.

Just south of Stairhaven now,and there's a Broch down here.I'll come back on a dry day and get some better pictures.
This is from the 'Free Dictionary'.
The Broch is an Iron Age dry stone hollow-walled structure of a type which is only found in Scotland. The brochs of Scotland include some of the most sophisticated examples of dry stone architecture ever created. Brochs belong to the classification complex Atlantic Roundhouse devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s.

Now with Stairhaven below us we're almost at our halfway point.Half a dozen new residential properties dominate the hamlet.Known locally as 'The Craws Nest',it once had it's own pier.Only a few stumps remain now.I'd guess that most of the properties have been purchased as holiday homes.I wonder how it used to look.

There's no tourists or holidaymakers about as we take our lunch.There's not a great deal of seabirds about either.The last time the ramblers did this walk seals were spotted.It looks like all living creatures apart from the ramblers have hibernated.
Lunch over and our route back to Auchenmalg takes us across country.Here near South Milton is a field of stocky bull necked sheep.I guess they're a type of Texel.

Another break as we discuss the meaning of 'Laigh'.Apparently it could be Low,Low Down(As in Laighland,meaning lowland)or Loch.I'm plumping for 'Low' in this case.Hopefully i'll confirm that sometime in the future.

Now we see the almost standard nowadays,quad, sheepdogs and shepherd or in this case shepherdess.No more long days in the hills for the modern sheepfarmer.My brother in law over in County Cavan has only recently stopped climbing the Cuilcagh Mountain looking for sheep.Then again he is 83!.
I shared my last apple with these lovely creatures.They didn't want to know me once it was finished.

Now at this point there should have been a picture of a rambler in mid leap over a burn on the seashore,but some silly relative of those in the previous picture managed to delete it before even viewing it.Ah well,must have been one of those oh too frequent senior moments i've been having.

Considering the poor weather,i've really enjoyed today's walk.And in the knowledge i'm well on the mend i joined my fellow ramblers in the Cock Inn for some light refreshment.This is a picture hung inside of how it used to look.It hasn't changed a great deal.