Cairngarroch Bay in the South Rhins

A look at Cairngarroch Bay and Red Cave on the South Rhins in South West Scotland.
Back in WW2,Cairngarroch Bay was the scene of a very poignant and tragic air crash.
Two American Dakota planes carrying wounded D-Day survivors flew into thick fog as they approached the Rhins coast on their way to Prestwick and then the United States.
But the men in one of them never returned home, nor did the crew and one RAF man from Ayr who had hitched a lift home with his bicycle - 22 in total. For it flew too low and crashed into cliffs at Cairngarroch Bay near Portpatrick.
Now out of print,Sandy Rankins book 'The Rhinns' Forgotten Air Disaster' tells the harrowing story.
The floor of Red Cave is totally covered with flotsam and jetsam,hence the dodgy camera work.
Occasionally above the sound of the waves can be heard a noisy Oystercatcher.

Wigtownshire Ramblers-Garlick Hill

It's Saturday the 16th of May,and the weather forecast isn't a very good one.For that reason,i'll use one or two pictures i took on Tuesday's recce.I'll leave it to blog readers to decide where i've used photographic license.

Twenty three ramblers gather for todays circular walk up Garlick Hill.We're starting from Auchinleck Bridge.

One of our most regular canine friends,Curly,is joining us today.

We're along forest roads to begin with.First half a kilometre west,then north along Queens hill for a couple of kilometres.I'm not sure what our walk leader was describing here,but it must have been big!.
Now leaving the forest road we begin a zig-zag westwards and upward.

There's a nice view of Auchinleck below us.

The going's steady enough...
...this was previously forest,and there's lots of old wood to contend with.

Gaining height and reaching the slopes of Benera,the wind strengthens.We've been out in worse weather than this,but it always amazes me how upbeat the group are.

Behind us,the Cree meanders it's way out into Wigtown Bay.

Reaching this drystane dyke,we're heading north again.

To the north and east is a patchwork of forestry colour,with the peak of Curlywee prominent.

Bog and tussocks underfoot,but there's still lots of colour down there.

Now almost at the summit,with Risk farm in the foreground,an even more open view of the Cree valley.


Now at the summit it's a fairly quick photo call,we'll have lunch somewhere more sheltered.
Garlick hill may not be one of the highest or most popular of the Galloway hills,but for all round views it takes a lot of beating.
The sun was too hazy for good pictures on the recce-today we have the problem of cloud.
On Tuesdays recce we could see north west to Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre,south to the Isle of Man,and all points west.

Just below the summit and out of the wind is where we take lunch.We even had the sun break the clouds for thirty seconds or so.Heather makes a lovely bed.

Lunch over too soon,we're heading south down a precarious forest ride.We're heading for the forest road in the middle of this picture which will take us back to Auchinleck.

Now on terrafirma,and with Garlick just a wee brae behind them,the group take another breather.

It's forest road all the way back now,but there's still lots to see.You won't see rocks like these in many cities.

The Black burn tumbles it's way down to join up with the Glenshalloch burn.

Into the forest we take another short break to allow the group to close up.

We're still heading south as Glenshalloch and Risk farms come into view.
Here at Glenshalloch we take the left fork eastwards again.

Now here below Glenshalloch hill is our last point of interest,Murdochs cave.
Our walk leader has worked out fairly precisely where the cave should be.
I seem to think i've mentioned Murdoch's cave in a previous blog,but i'm not sure under what label.
I've looked for the cave before,but without success.It seems others have failed as well.Murdochs Cave

But we have found something manmade,and it's possibly the entrance.
In the top picture,obscured by the undergrowth is a wall of six or eight alternate upright stone slabs.Perhaps a knowledgeable reader can shed some light on it.

With cave exploration coming to nothing,it's just a short walk back to the cars.
Even with the inclement weather most walkers declare the walk a good one.
I know i enjoyed it.

Sasquatch

In my post from last Saturday entitled 'Wild Wood' was an odd looking moss covered top stone in a drystone wall.The Galloway Gazette were asking for any odd pictures,so i sent it to them.

I love their very witty header.

Garlick Hill Recce

I'll be deputy walk leader for Saturdays climb with the Wigtownshire Ramblers.Were climbing Garlick Hill from Auchinleck.

Today we did the recce.


Lets hope the weather stays as good on Saturday.

Wild Wood and the Old Edinburgh Road

Saturday the 9th of May 2009.There's no Ramblers walk today due to the Newton Stewart Walkfest taking place.
There are a few separately isolated parts of the Galloway Forest Park,and one of these is just north west of Minnigaff just off the Old Edinburgh Rd.
I headed off for a little circular walk through Wild Wood.

I veered off the main path through the coniferous plantation to head up Torwhinnoch Hill.
Up here there's about eight magnificent old beech trees.The top picture is a stitching of nine separate photographs.The bottom picture is to show some perspective.It's of the centre tree from the other side of the drystone wall.

Through the woods and i make my way back over fields on the route of the Old Edinburgh Road.Lambs and Wild Garlic are abundant.

Back on tarmac heading down towards Cumloden,i thought i'd seen the Sasquatch man,but it was only an eerie looking moss covered drystone wall and a fallen leaf making faces at me.

Adventures in Galloway featuring Callum and Erin

A video clip of photographs recently taken around Galloway.The stars of the show are a couple of scamps called Callum and Erin.The long trip from North Lincolnshire all becomes worth it when they hit the Cream O' Galloway.
Music obtained via Youtube's Audio Swap is La Belle Catherine/Le Step á Ti-Phonse/Reel á Toto (Celtic Fiddle Festival)

Pretty adorable

Just back from visiting these lovely young folk.

This is the ever singing and dancing Charlotte...

...who's brother Jack's painted a great picture and has lots to tell his grandad about his school


The very grown up princess Erin,and her big brother Callum.If Callum doesn't know it,it's not worth knowing.

And the lovely Charlotte again.I didn't take this picture(well i suppose i did,but it's a picture of a picture).
This is a copy of a professionally taken photo by Wrates Scholastic Photographers Ltd of Skegness (thanks for the use),who can be found on the internet here
Wrates or here Studio