Red Kites and coastal paths a great week in Galloway: Part 3

Port Logan Fishpond

In Part 2 I mentioned the decent time we had visiting Port William and St Ninians Cave.  The next trip from our base in Newton Stewart was to head about 30 miles or so west to the small village of Port Logan, about 12 miles south of Stranraer.

We spotted a sign for an attraction described as Port Logan Fishpond.  I would say, if you are ever in the area it really is well worth checking out.

It’s basically a 200 year old fish pond created from the natural features of the coastline. It was originally used as a ‘fish larder’  for the Laird of Logan. So the way to pictures this is to think fish being kept fresh almost right up to the point of eating them!

The man who runs it, has a real expertise in his subject and the enthusiasm and passion to match. Fish in the pond include: rays, cod, pollock, mullet and more. It really is worth a visit to this pretty unusual place.

You can read more about it online at the Visit Scotland website using this link. The first image in the picture set below is taken from the Visit Scotland site.

 

Port Logan

Just a short way from the Port Logan Fishpond is Port Logan itself. It’s another of those classic coastal villages nestled in a sheltered bay. There’s a long sandy beach – the fish pond is at one end of it and the harbour at the other. Interestingly the harbour bell tower was designed by Thomas Telford – whose name seems to crop up so often in our travels.

Drunmore Harbour

Next up we headed for the lighthouse at the Mull of Galloway, but not before stopping at yet another small harbour – this time at Drunmore.

There wasn’t a great deal here, but it was quiet and peaceful with magnificent views and was worth the short stop to ‘take it all in’.  I gather the small harbour is popular with those who sail.

Mull of Galloway

Anyone that has travelled around the wild coastline of Scotland will know there are a lot of lighthouses there. The lighthouse at the Mull of Galloway is one of over 200 dotted around the coastline all maintained and operated by the Northern Lighthouse Board.

I think the last lighthouse we saw when we travelled together was at Fannad Head in Ireland (you can read about that here). Before that maybe it was the Loophead Lighthouse when I was on one of my bike trips (read about that here).

There’s something about the ruggedness and isolation that went with the life of a lighthouse keeper (and family) that I find sort of fascinating and quite inspiring. Of course you normally get some pretty spectacular coastal views when you visit a lighthouse as well.

The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse was no exception and we loved our visit to this one that was designed and built in 1830 by Robert Stevenson. Unfortunately the tower wasn’t open for us to climb at the time of our visit.  Apparently the cost to build the lighthouse in 1830 was £9,000 … that works out at about £9 million now!

And just a stones throw away

It’s worth knowing there is a very decent coffee house nearby called the Gallie Craig.  It’s an amazing location with decent refreshments available, including something called Ecclefechan tart … named after the town in Dunfries and Galloway.

The tart  is a traditional Scottish baked pastry filled with butter, muscovado sugar, dried fruit such as raisins and cherries, in addition to a small quantity of vinegar. The filling forms a treacle as it bakes … and yes it does sound like a weird concoction but actually it’s pretty good!

You can see a picture of the tart in the picture set below. The aerial shot of the cafe and lighthouse is taken from the cafes own website.

 

Portpatrick

Our last trip of the day after visiting the lighthouse was to head back up the peninsular and drive about 25 miles to the pretty holiday town of Portpatrick.  We absolutely loved our visit here.

In previous times the port used to be busy with a ferry service across the water to Northern Ireland (the shortest sea route between the two countries). Now the town is quiet, peaceful and pretty although there is still a ferry service running to and from Belfast from the town.

The bay is beautiful, with pretty houses and plenty of benches to sit and take in the views.

It felt like one of those places that’s inviting you in to slow down and take it easy, in a slightly quaint and ‘old fashioned’ way.

I can’t imagine you would be disappointed if you called that way.

 

Just another good day

We had enjoyed another excellent day – great weather, amazing scenery and all of the places we went to were new to us. We finished off with a decent pub meal and once again finished a day with magnificent views of the River Cree