Day 15

Date: 15/08/09
Time: 20:00
Miles Travelled Today: 113
Location: Campsite in Glenluce
Weather: Raining this morning then sunny

When I was thinking about undertaking this trip, my original plan was go to around the whole coastline of Scotland. Then I did a rough and ready roadmap using Google Maps and it came to 2000 miles which I thought was way too much to do in 3-4 weeks so I narrowed it down to just he North and West coasts. Well, today I broke the 2000 mile mark. When I decided to just do the two coasts, I didn't replan the trip, just though 'well that will be less miles'. But, of course, I still had to get to John o'Groats and, even taking the direct route, that is still a lot of miles which I don't think I really factored in. Ah well, no matter. It has meant that I haven't really stayed at one place more than a couple of days which, perhaps with more time or less travelling, I may have done. I haven't helped myself by wanting to travel up and down every little road looking at things, but then that was the point of the trip in the end...

Today was a much much better day than yesterday. It started badly with me still being awake at 2am last night thanks to two sets of noisy neighbours; one set who were camped 6 feet away and and just kept on moaning at each other (no not in that way) for what seemed like hours – do people not understand that there is someone 6 feet away and only two very thin bits of material between us? Added to that was the party caravan a bit further away who seemed to having a great time, lots of laughs and Scottish music. Really loud laughs. At 1.30am. I went through a range of responses up to and including firebombing the caravan, but it was throwing it down and I was warm and comfy so I just stayed where I was and swore to myself. Eventually they got tired and went to bed. This morning I awoke to yet more rain. Eventually, at about 9.30, it seemed to slacken off so I took the opportunity to pack the car (I LOVE my tent), get washed and go. Indeed, as I went further south, the clouds broke up and the sun arrived again and then stayed all day. I headed down to Stranraer and a couple of beaches that I had identified as possibly interesting. The first was in the middle of nowhere to the point where it didn't even justify a name on the map. It was lovely, remote, secluded with only a couple of other people there. To add to that it not only had it's own lighthouse, it had it's own waterfall, gratuitous and over-ambitious shots of which you will find in the photos. The was my second favourite beach on this trip, only beaten by Talin. After a few hours pretending I knew what I was doing with my camera plus lunch spent on this beach, I went to Portpatrick which was only just down the road and I am glad that I did. Finally, a nice little Scottish town, like the other couple that I have liked, this one was a port/harbour. Little brightly coloured houses, several pubs, a harbour, very nice. I then went over to Sandhead which seems like a promising name for someone in search of beaches. There was indeed a long beach there but it was a bit uninteresting, much like the town. Time was marching on and I started to look for a campsite. After rejecting another 'Holiday Park' (15 quid, I don't think so), I ended up driving to the Mull of Galloway, the most southerly point of Scotland to yet another lighthouse (these pictures are for you Emma ;) ). Then it was back past Sandhead, past a random MOD signed bit of coastline and eventually to Glenluce and my current location. It is quite a nice site, mostly static caravans with a 'walled garden' for campers complete with stream. Sleeping near a stream didn't go well last time, lets see...