Creetowns Larg Hill October 2010

N.B
Regular readers will recognise the name Slewtrain or Slew as I commonly call him.
Well, Gordon (His real name) has become a blogger.He's new to the game so bear with him.Here's a link to his blog.
Gordon and Anne


It's Wednesday the 10th of November and the forecast is for today to be the only good day this week.
A small hill and good views will suffice,so I'm off to Creetown.
I've parked up at Kirkmabreck church behind a vehicle I recognise.They're recceing Saturdays walk.

There was a fair old frost last night.

I'm soon alongside Castle Cary woods and level with Larg farm (Above picture to the right)

Gaining a bit more height I can zoom in to get a picture of Wigtown.
Creetown is also known as Ferrytown.Less than five miles by boat,but thirteen miles by road.There's no ferry these days.

Another zoom up the estuary sees Newton Stewart.

A bit more height and I'm looking at the traffic along the A75.

Same view from a little higher.

And now it's opened up a little more.The top of Ailsa Craig can just be seen.

Larg Hill's only 276 Metres or 905 feet,but it's great on a sunny day for views.In the above picture with the lowlands of the Machars in the foreground,stands the Isle of Man.

To the north I can see Cairnsmore and the Minigaff Hills.
From the left I can see the two peaks of the bigger Larg Hill,then Lamachan,then a little peek at the snow covered Merrick.Next comes Curleywee and then Millfore,Red Gairy and Drigmorn.

To the south is Cambrett and Cairnharrow.

A zoom shows the snow on the Merrick beyond Curleywee and Lamachan.

I'm on the top and it's time for a cup o' tea while i look at the markings on the stones.
97's obviously recent,but I believe some of the others are fairly old.

I try out my ten second delay...there's no one else up here today.

Panorama of Cairnsmore of Fleet and the Cree Estuary on CleVR.com

I get a 180 degree panorama from the Clints of Dromore round to the Mull of Galloway.


Another zoom to Solway Structural.Apparently they use a lot of Scunthorpe steel.

Here's a similar panorama to one earlier,but i'm a peak to the west with this one.

It's time to descend.
A rabbit,a small bird (My twitcher pal Slew tells me it's a Great Tit) and a crow with a broken wing complete my pictures of the day.
Very enjoyable !

Wigtownshire Ramblers-Newton Stewart Circular Feb 2010

N.B My experimentation with altering templates is over,and i've decided to stick with a tidy standard template.I had fun doing it,but you poor reader probably wondered where you were.This will probably affect some of the more recent blogs,which i may or may not get around to making compatible with this template

Todays walk is one of my own which has become fairly popular,and will be included in this years Newton Stewart Walks Festival.
We did it in August and April which you can find here.
August Walk
April Walk
We totalled thirty three walkers today,three of whom were guests from the Galloway Strollers group,and since i was at the front for most of the time,i must thank 'Scoop' for her contribution of pictures.

The report for the local press will be my shortcut once again.Any similarity to the August and April walks is purely intentional.

A mild but slightly overcast morning greeted the thirty three walkers gathered at the Riverside Car Park,Newton Stewart for todays walk.Included in the group were three guest walkers from the Galloway Strollers.The Cree flowed steadily as the group made their way across the Sparling bridge and alongside the river to the Bridge of Cree.It's recorded that Robert the Bruce forded the Cree at this point in 1329 on a pilgrimage to St Ninians.




Next they made their way through Minnigaff via the golf course clubhouse and up past the log cabins of the Conifers Leisure Park.The snowdrops were in full bloom here.
At Kirroughtree House Hotel,a short history,and the Robert Burns and Heron family connections were read out.One or two of todays walkers have had the pleasure of a stay in the house.

That's me with the map board.What do i look like ?

Now they headed onto the golf course near the sixth fairway.The hole being named the 'Doocot' after the circular stone dovecote standing there.
Ongoing alterations to the course meant there was no fear of stray golf balls.They then walked up to the 17th at the north end of the course and into Bower Wood.


They now walked through the woods till they reached the Old Edinburgh road,from where they made their way to the Queen Mary bridge.
A number of walkers were successful in dropping pebbles into the wishing pot.
They also learned of the flood which washed away the bridge in 1961.

Now they headed up to Monnigaff Parish Church.
The 900 year old yew tree and the listed Heron memorial were among the many points of interest.Unfortunately the historic old church in the grounds was screened off for safety purposes.


There followed an early lunch on the banks of the Cree at the King George V Suspension Bridge.By now the cloud was lifting giving occasional glimpses of the sun.

After lunch they crossed the bridge then headed up the Girvan road turning left up the hill at Duncree.
I've never really taken any notice of this engraved standing stone,but apparently it had something to do with Glasgows Garden Festival of 1988.Possibly locally carved and sent to the festival?

After crossing the old coach road which originally went from Old Hall Farm to House O' Hill, open views to Penninghame and the Galloway hills were enjoyed .

The group now headed south above Old Hall farm,with views over Douglas Ewart High School and the town.Prior warnings about pregnant sheep at this time of the year were heeded,and the Leicesters in the fields were not unduly disturbed by the presence of so many two legged creatures.

They then made their way through Doonhill Woods and Blairmount Park to the Barnkirk road.Quite a number of finches,tits and blackbirds were spotted,but no sign of the red squirrels that are known to frequent the woods.

After carefully crossing the A75,the group then made their way to Barbuchany.
Now they turned east through green fields,to begin climbing up to the telephone mast above Barrhill Wood.One particular gate proved to be an interesting 'Climb over or squeeze through' decision.

At the mast,another short break was taken to admire the views,and to identify landmarks within the town and beyond.
And another excellent contribution from Scoop.

I doubt that even a quarter of the population of Newton Stewart realise that the best view of the Cree Valley is right on their doorstep.

The descent eastwards towards Corvisel House afforded wonderful views of the Cree Valley.The descent also took them over the embankment of the old railway line into Newton Stewart.


After crossing the A714 the new cycle and pedestrian path alongside the river took the walkers back to the car park and the walk finish.

To complete a very enjoyable walk,the Riverbank Tea room and Coffee shop proved to be a magnet to a large number of the group.

A fresh fall of snow over Galloway

It's Tuesday the 5th of January Twenty Ten,and overnight we've had a fresh fall of snow.I'm recovered well enough from Sundays outing to get my wellies on and head up to one of my favourite places.
It's the mast above Barrhill Farm Woods.I wonder if i'll get to see the creature that's made these tracks.



The snow really highlights the embankment of the old railway line to Wigtown and beyond.

The hills are easier to recognise with a white blanket.

I'm having a drink as Mister Fox casually lopes past,and as usual he's gone before i can get a picture.I must have seen him or his brothers half a dozen times up here now,and one day i'll get the picture to prove it.

This is the view down the Cree valley...
...does it look better in a frame.I've been using Picasa as my main photo editor for sometime now,and have only just discovered it can put a border of any colour on a picture or collage.
Heading down to the road,there's another remnant of the railway(Dumfries to Newton Stewart),the sheep are on the move,and i do believe my prediction of the Cree freezing over is coming to fruition.
I head home back along the river,and across Dashwood Square...

...and take a few more wintery scenes.
That was a pleasant walk.

A frosty morning

Monday 9th of November 2009 began with a heavy frost around Newton Stewart.I decided on an early morning walk. Even before sun up it was nice and bright over the Cree valley. I thought i'd try and film the sunrise again,but the resulting video turned out very boring. I did notice though,that as i speeded the 45 minute footage up,the sounds of the occasional traffic became more interesting.

Compressing the clip to just under 3 minutes,the noises now take on more of an animal and bird life quality.The only exciting visual section of the clip is the last few seconds as the sun rises Once the sun's risen it's an enjoyable descent via the fields round Barrhill Farm.I must remember to save my apple cores when walking.This little pony kept nudging my pocket as i stroked him. There's little pockets of mist visibly rising as the morning sun gains height. Now over Barbuchany,i take some panoramas.

Panorama of Newton Stewart and the Galloway Hills on CleVR.com

From a hill above Barbuchany Newton Stewart on the first heavy frost of the season,the picture shows Cairnsmore of Fleet and the Minnigaff hills to the left panning through to the rolling meadows at Barbuchany.

The Cree Valley

Another view of the Cree Valley.This ones taken from the braes above High Baltersan.


NB
With reference to the previous blog,South West Sound now have the Emma Louise clips on their website.
They can be seen at
Emma Louise Dance Club at Bladnoch

Cree Valley Panorama-squashed

A compression of the previous post.

Cree Valley Panorama

Recovering from a cold and blocked sinuses,i took a walk just south of Newton Stewart for this view.Hopefully i'll be able to incorporate it in a future walk for the Wigtownshire Ramblers.

Panorama of The Cree Valley on CleVR.com